Literature and film have an affiliation since the early years of cinema as filmmakers and scriptwriters adapted or were inspired by mythology, drama, poetry or biblical stories. Although they are two distinct mediums of representation, their associations lie in methodology and object of study. Film can be read following theories like Marxism, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Postcolonialism, Posthumanism and so on. At the same time, a film can also play a pivotal role in popularizing literary texts. Travelling texts across time, space and mediums, book to screen or vice versa add multi-dimensionality to themes of culture, history, gender, class and identity formation. Some of the pertinent queries raised thereby may be: what are the ways of using images for words? How does acting and casting of star actors impact characterization in film? How does set designs reflect themes? Does censorship of particular nation-states influence creativity? Does cinematic grammar like colour, sound, shot and misc-en-scene reinforce ideology of the filmmaker? Does it make a difference when a novel or poetry written in the nineteenth century is made into a film in the twenty-first century or a Shakespearean play adapted for a Japanese film, for instance Akira Kurusawa’s Ran or Throne of Blood?
In view of the wide range of publications on and marketing of Hollywood films and lesser-explored Asian films, the journal Drishti: The Sight intends to focus upon “Asian Literature and Film” in its May, 2022 issue (Volume: 11, Number: 1).
The Guest Editor(Honorary) of this issue would be: Dr. Farddina Hussain, Associate Professor in English of the Gauhati University(Assam).
Research papers are invited from scholars, academics, filmmakers, film critics, literary critics and film enthusiasts on ways of reading a film in terms of cinematography, dialogue, setting and mise-en-scene as discussed in works of Andre Bazin, Sergie Eisenstein, Walter Benjamin and Gill Deleuze to name a few theorists. Eisenstein, a Russian theorist wrote the first major film poetics and his views on word and image, colour and its significance and filmmaking laid the foundation of film theory as an academic discipline.
Using film as a cultural text, the prospective writers can explore cinematic narratology, aesthetics and representation on screen. One might look at the works of legends like Satyajit Ray, Abbas Kiarostami, Akira Kurusawa or consider the styles of directors like Ang Lee(Life of Pi), Wang Kar-wai (Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love)or any other cinematic text from Asian countries. One can also look at feature films in the language and dialects of the North-eastern region of India and their indebtedness to literature like in films of Director Aribam Syam Sharma, writer-screenwriter-director Bhabendranath Saikia or more recently in Kothanodi by Bhaskar Hazarika.
The call for papers anticipates research articles on any of the following list of sub-topics, though not limited to:
- Cinema from India
- Asian Epic Film
- The City in Literature and Film
- Realism in Film
- Slow Movement in Literature and Film
- Casting and Star Actors in Films
- Capitalism and Marketing of Film/Literature
- Chinese Period Film
- Biopic
- Korean Film
- Contemporary Fiction to Film Philosophy
- Anthropocene and Dystopian Imaginary
- Alternative Cinema
- Human Rights and Literature
- Shakespeare in Films
- Crime Fiction and Gangster Films
- Violence and Trauma
- Posters and Art
- Experimental Film
- Film and Gender
- Film and Folklore
- Myth in Film
- Film and ‘Popular Culture’
Scholars are requested to submit their papers by following the norms(please read the ‘Mode of submission’ portion of the Call for Papers on our website: www.drishtithesight.com). For paper submission, the window will remain open on our website for the period between December, 01 and December, 15, 2021.
(Contributors may also submit papers on subjects other than this focus area for the forthcoming May, 2022 issue. Regarding the modalities to be followed for submission, they are requested to go through the CFP published on this website).
