Another Nice and Accurate Call for Papers #CFP #GoodOmens

Another Nice and Accurate Call for Papers #CFP #GoodOmens August 16, 2019

Another call for papers about Good Omens came to my attention:

Editors: Erin M. Giannini and Amanda Taylor

Written as a collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens(1990) had an active and long-term fanbase before the debut of the Amazon Prime miniseries. Its adaptation, brought to fruition by Gaiman as a promise to Pratchett before Pratchett’s 2015 death, however, has not only brought new fans into the fold, but increased the visibility of the original text.

This collection seeks to examine the book and the series, separately and together, in the numerous contexts in which both exist (text, television, fandom, etc.) This collection is under contract with McFarland & Company and will be peer-reviewed.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

  • Examining the adaptation from book to series. What’s inferred from the text but not explicit (eg, the use of Queen), what is highlighted, what is excluded.

  • Performance studies; eg, influence of previous roles or Michael Sheen’s (Aziraphale) contention that fanfic informed his interactions with Crowley (David Tennant); casting choices

  • Platform: Do streaming platforms offer greater opportunities? Would it have been released on broadcast or cable?

  • ”Ineffable Husbands”: Queer readings of Crowley/Aziraphale

  • Gender presentation: eg, Pollution, God, Crowley as Nanny, etc.

  • Names/naming: how and why names matter (book or series) (eg, Dog, Adam, Crawley to Crowley, Sister Loquacious)

  • The theology of Good Omens: interpretation, satirization, prophets/prophecy, angels/demons

  • Reception, including the ill-fated petition to Netflix

  • Collaboration (Gaiman/Pratchett; Crowley/Aziraphale, BBC/Amazon)

  • Portrayals of Britishness: Crowley/Aziraphale, the Them, etc as “quintessential” or stereotypical; Easter eggs (eg, Who references, Python-esque opening titles

  • The power of imagination as seen in the book/series

  • Power dynamics in the book/series: e.g. heaven vs. hell, adults vs. kids, humans vs. supernatural beings, etc.

  • Fandom: differences/intersections/contentions between book and series fans

  • Implications of shifting the time in the book from the early 90s to contemporary times

  • Series as tribute to Pratchett (per interviews with Gaiman)

  • Rise in apocalyptic texts: How does Good Omens speak to our current times/fascination with/need for apocalyptic texts? What does it offer?

  • Literary influences on Good Omens

  • Cinematic/filmic influences on the small-screen adaptation

250-500 word abstracts/proposals with current CV due: September 30, 2019

Completed final manuscript due: July 30, 2020

Send inquiries or proposals to: goodomensessays@gmail.com

Completed manuscripts should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words (not including Works Cited or notes) and should conform to MLA 8 style and formatting. Please use endnotes instead of footnotes as applicable.

You can watch Good Omens (if you haven’t already, or want to watch it again) through Amazon.

And on another Good TV show, Mike Schur recently spoke about his own understanding of goodness has changed as a result of his work on The Good Place, and the show’s message has changed along with him:

That was my internal shift over the course of making the show: The newfound belief that the important thing wasn’t actually—and it’s counterintuitive to say this—being good. The important thing was that you’re trying.

It feels like a huge part of the problem, from my point of view, is that not enough people are just trying. And trying means failing. Everybody fails, all the time. Even people with the best of intentions will fail. It doesn’t matter whether you follow this theory or that theory, or this belief or whatever. You’re going to fail a lot. We all fail all the time at this.

I regret that I did not manage to share this call for papers about the Good Place before the deadline. I’m sure that punishment awaits me in the afterlife because of this…

https://relcfp.tumblr.com/post/186404792142/cfp-scms-2020-the-good-place-morality

https://relcfp.tumblr.com/post/186888816522/cfp-cfp-good-omens-nice-and-accurate-analyses


Browse Our Archives