Buffy the PhD Slayer?
Posted by: Katherine Dacey on March 14, 2008 at 12:32 am
Yale has yet to create a graduate program in Slayerology, but folks in the Ivory Tower do seem smitten with Joss Whedon’s most enduring creation, seeking out every opportunity to apply the insights of Derrida, Foucault or, as this fan would have it, Schopenhauer, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (I’m not sure that Wagner would appreciate his operas being lumped into the same category as Firefly and Buffy… he was a bit of an egomaniac.)
If you just so happen to be a Buffy geek with academic street cred and a strong background in music, this call for papers might be right up your alley:
From bands at The Bronze in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Angel singing karaoke at Caritas to the traditional-style fiddling and guitar playing in Firefly, music is an integral part of Joss Whedon’s universes. This collection seeks essays from both established and emerging scholars on the uses of and contributions made by music in the Whedonverse. Discipline-specific and interdisciplinary views are encouraged to address issues of power, relationships, identity, gender, communication, religion, multiculturalism, sanity and madness, and other topics present in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Serenity. Topics might include, but are not limited to:
- Music and performance
- Gender/identity/race and music (including traditional identity topics as well as those of non-human characters)
- Genre representations
- Scoring for action sequences
- Music and communication
- Musical characterization
- Music and camp
- Music and transformation
- Character vocality
- The use of silence and music in unique ways
- Levels and mixing of diegesis and non-diegesis
The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2008. The collection will be published by Scarecrow Press with an anticipated publication date in 2009.
Essays should be between 7,000 and 9,000 words and follow Chicago Manual of Style format. Only electronic submissions sent in a .doc (Word) formats will be accepted. Authors are encouraged to include photographs, but will be responsible for acquiring all materials and permission for use. Please send a cover letter including the title of the essay, an abstract of not more than 200 words, an author c.v, and author biography of not more than 100 words along with the complete blind essay (author’s name should not appear) to Kendra Preston Leonard at caennen_at_gmail.com.
3 Responses to "Buffy the PhD Slayer?"
1 | Jim Austin
I think academia should stay away from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other Whedon productions. From my contacts with college professors, I can say that they are ill equipped to handle all the concepts involved.
2 | Katherine Dacey
Jim: As someone who’s in the process of pursuing a PhD, I also have reservations about Buffy scholarship. I’m skeptical that dragging Schopenhauer and queer theory into the mix sheds much light on why this series continues to find such a devoted audience. But I must disagree with your assertion that academics are “ill equipped to handle all the concepts involved” in Whedon’s work. Anyone who’s taken a good high school English course or a college opera seminar could analyze Whedon’s work–from both a thematic and a technical standpoint, there’s nothing about Buffy that would put it beyond the reach of say, an Austen scholar, a cultural anthropologist, or a Wagner enthusiast.
Aya: This announcement appeared on the AMS member list-serve (www.ams-net.org). To subscribe, you’ll need to join AMS–something you ought to do anyway if you’re planning to get an MA or PhD in musicology.
3 | Drusilla
As a die-hard fan of the show (my handle is actually a tribute to Spike’s Drusilla), I’d be interested in knowing what the academic take on it was, but I’m always a little wary of actually studying pop-culture phenomena I love- over-thinking things can ruin my joy in them, though I’m always up for a good discussion . (I think http://atpobtvs.com/ is awesome)
That said, Buffy had awesome music – it actually used songs that suited the mood of scenes, even if nine times out of ten I hadn’t actually heard of the band (though it never promoted itself as an indie music haven, unlike say, The OC). And five years after the show ended, I’m still a fan of some of the bands I first heard as the background for Buffy episodes, from Cibo Matto to Rasputina to My Vitriol.
