That’s Entertainment!
Spectacle, Amusement, Audience
and the Culture of Recreation in the Audiovisual
Contexts of English-Speaking Countries
Spectacle, recreation, amusement, free time, in a word entertainment:
not something accessory, but rather a key element in understanding
not only an aesthetic expression, but also certain socio-economic
transformations, and in reality also political, of 20th century modernity.
And yet the role played by the entertainment dimension in the
codification, in particular, of the cultural specificity of the twentieth
century, over and above the canons imposed by so-called high
culture, is still today undervalued and only occasionally investigated in
a careful and in-depth manner. What relations have been established,
in the era of new means of mass communication, between popular
entertainment and official culture? What effects have been produced
by specific performative and recreational practices, coming from
the various fields of expression (theatre, music, radio, serious and
popular literature, comic strips) not only in the linguistic but also
systemic evolution of cinema and television? What is the role played
by technology in the development of recreational forms, including
audiovisual, in the 20th century? How is the body viewed, engaged, or
conceived, and what notion of personality and actoriality is imposed
after the diffusion of a certain idea of entertainment? And again: to
what extent, in the era of new media and the internet, can the main
ways of entertainment - and their exploitation - that dominated the
last century, still be operative? The twenty-third SERCIA conference
will endeavor to answer these and other questions, trying to offer
new historical perspectives on the cultural forms of entertainment in
the audiovisual production of English-speaking countries, that is to
say in those territories in which greater space has been given to the
conception of amusement that over the years has ended by imposing
itself at a global level, transforming the customs, habits and the very
culture of many nations, not only in the west.
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM
UNIVERSITà DI BOLOGNA
dipartimento
delle
arti
visive, performative mediali
That’s Entertainment!
Spectacle, Amusement, Audience
and the Culture of Recreation in the Audiovisual
Contexts of English-Speaking Countries
Societé d’Etudes et de Recherche
sur le Cinéma Anglophone
23rd SERCIA International Conference
September 7, 8, 9, 2017
Dipartimento delle Arti
Università di Bologna, Italy
Keynote speakers:
Richard Dyer
(University of St Andrews)
Krin Gabbard
(Columbia University)
Conference organized by:
Michele Fadda
Sara Pesce
Scientific committee:
Jean-François Baillon
Giulia Carluccio
Leonardo Gandini
Michele Fadda
Giacomo Manzoli
Enrico Menduni
Franco Minganti
Guglielmo Pescatore
Sara Pesce
David Roche
Gianluca Sergi
Peter Stanfield
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Dipartimento delle Arti
La Soffitta - Centro di promozione teatrale
info: tel. 051 2092400
www.dar.unibo.it
www.facebook.com/lasoffitta.unibo
Logistic and communication:
Articolture
051 18899687
info.dar@articolture.it
darvipem.comunicazione@unibo.it
Organizational secretary:
Costanza Salvi
costanza.salvi2@unibo.it
In collaboration with:
Laboratori delle Arti,
Piazzetta P.P.Pasolini, 5/b
live streaming - free entrance
https://events.unibo.it/serciaconference-darvipem-bologna-2017
7
9,00 Registration
9,30 Auditorium:
Welcoming address
Greetings and Introduction,
Michele FADDA and Sara PESCE,
Università di Bologna
10,00 - 11,20 Auditorium:
Keynote address.
The Space of Entertainment
Richard DYER, University of St. Andrews
Discussant: Giacomo MANZOLI,
Università di Bologna
11,20 coffee break
11,40 - 13,30 Auditorium: Panel 1.
Chair: Veronica INNOCENTI,
Università di Bologna
Entertainment as a Genre in Media,
Social Networking and Consumer
Culture
Enrico MENDUNI,
Università degli Studi Roma 3
14,30 -16 Auditorium: Panel 2.
Chair: Sara PESCE,
Università di Bologna
Retro-active: Pride’s Nostalgia as
Unofficial Heritage
Louis BAYMAN
University of Southampton
Mourning the Studio System: Nostalgia,
Cinephilia, and Entertainment in Feud Bette and Joan
Ilaria DE PASCALIS
Università degli Studi Roma 3
Tears: The Case of Two Silent Clowns in He
Who Gets Slapped (Victor Sjoström 1924)
and The Laughing Man (Paul Leni 1928)
Raphaëlle COSTA DE BEAUREGARD,
Université de Toulouse II - Jean Jaurès
Art, Entertainment, and Spectatorship in
Woody Allen’s Cinema
Gilles MENEGALDO
Université de Poitiers
ore 9,30 - 11 Auditorium:
Keynote address.
La La Land Is a Hit. But Is It Good for
Jazz?
Krin GABBARD, Columbia University
Discussant: Franco MINGANTI,
Università di Bologna
11,00 coffee break
Woody Allen and the Spectacle of
Magic
Isabelle SCHMITT-PITIOT
Université de Bourgogne
The World as a Toy. On Miniaturization,
Nostalgia, and Atmosphere in Wes
Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel
Lorenzo MARMO
Università di Napoli ‘L’Orientale’
Entertaining with Movement: the Essence
of Animation
Pierre FLOQUET
Université de Bordeaux
14,30 - 16 Teatro: Panel 3.
Chair: Luca BARRA,
Università di Bologna
16,20 - 18,10 Teatro: Panel 5.
Chair: Hervé MAYER,
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre
The Perfection Series. Informercial
Demonstrations as Entertaining
Programs
Adriano D’ALOIA
Università Uninettuno Roma
Des étoiles au dés/astre: le monde
entropique de Maps to the Stars de
David Cronenberg
Isabelle LABROUILLERE,
Université de Toulouse II - Jean Jaurès
Texts and Audiences in the New TV
Entertainment Environment
Piergiorgio DEGLI ESPOSTI, Antonella
MASCIO, Roberta PALTRINIERI
Università di Bologna
That’s Infotainment
David LIPSON
Université Paris Sud
Who’s Running the Show? Structure and
Governance in Hollywood Today
Gianluca SERGI,
University of Nottingham
You Cannot Spell Supernatural Without
Fandom: Dynamics of Entertainment
and Parasocial Relationship inside
Supernatural Fandom
Olimpia CALÌ,
Università di Messina
Show Must Go On. Hollywood à travers
les spectaculaires métamorphoses du
film A Star Is Born (1937, 1954, 1976)
Jean Baptiste CHANTOISEAU
Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle
13,30 -14,30 lunch
8
A star is porn. Part obscène de
l’entertainment dans Showgirls de Paul
Verhoeven (1995)
Xavier DAVERAT
Université de Bordeaux
16,00-16,20 coffee break
16,20 - 18,10 Auditorium: Panel 4.
Fatima CHINITA,
Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa
What Price Hollywood? Grooming Daisy
Clover for Stardom
Zeenat SALEH
Université de Franche-Comté Besançon
Entertainment Between Laughter and
19,00 Cocktail
11,20 -13 Auditorium: Panel 6.
Chair: Leonardo GANDINI,
Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
The Bitter Politics of Audio-visual Metafiction
in the Digital Age: Bourdieu, Rancière,
Black Mirror 1.1 (Channel 4, 2011) and I,
Daniel Blake (Ken Loach, 2016)
David ROCHE
Université de Toulouse II - Jean Jourès
Debating the War on Terror in
Entertainment Cinema: The Politics of
Spectacle in Batman v Superman: Dawn
of Justice (Zack Snyder, 2016)
Hervé MAYER
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre,
Land of Wolves: The Spectacle of the
Border/The Border as Entertainment in
Sicario
Celestino DELEYTO
Universidad de Zaragoza
11,20 - 13 Teatro: Panel 7.
Chair: Isabelle LE CORFF,
Université de Bretagne Occidentale
Theatre Performance in Wes Anderson’s
Films: Meaningful Games or Mere
Entertainment?
Julie ASSOULY, Université d’Artois
Danny Boyle’s The Beach (2000), The
Most Dangerous Game?
Anne-Marie PAQUET-DEYRIS
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre
From The Sixth Sense (M. Night
Shyamalan, 1999) to Memento
(Christopher Nolan, 2000): Re-viewing as
Entertainment
Christophe GELLY
Université Clermont Auvergne
Avatars, Spectacle, and Identity in Atom
Egoyan’s Adoration (2008)
Chloé MONASTEROLO
Université de Toulouse II - Jean Jourès,
Would keep a person entertained
whether he or she wanted to be or not
- le potentiel d’entertainment des films
musicaux hollywoodiens classiques à
l’épreuve des discours de spectateurs
Fanny BEURÉ,
Université Paris Diderot
L’Entertainment, une nouvelle science
cinématographique?
Yola LE CAÏNEC
Université de Rennes 2
13,00 - 14,00 lunch
14,10 -16 Auditorium: Panel 8.
Chair: Michele FADDA,
Università di Bologna
Film Documentary, Government
Propaganda, and Entertainment: The
Case of Lorentz’s Films of Merit
Zachary BAQUÉ
Université de Toulouse II - Jean Jaurès
Crooners & Cowboys: How 1930s
American Sensibility Was Shaped by
Vocal Tracks
Costanza SALVI, Independent Scholar
They Had Faces: Max Factor and the
Making of the Star Close-up in 1930s
Hollywood
Silvia VACIRCA
Università di Roma La Sapienza,
Richmond University
14,10 - 16,00 Teatro: Panel 9.
Chair: Gilles MENEGALDO,
Université de Poitiers
When is Entertainment? Multi-level Reality
in Hollywood Musicals (from 42nd Street
to La La Land) and a Few Other Genres
Dominique SIPIÈRE
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre
The Aura of Entertainment: Baz
Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! and The Show
that Must Go On
Fatima CHINITA
Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa
16,00 coffee break
16,20 - 18,00 Auditorium: Panel 10.
Chair: Gino SCATASTA,
Università di Bologna
Re-creating the West: Robert Altman’s
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s
History Lesson (1976)
Penny STARFIELD
Université de Caen Normandie
The Role of Audiovisuals in Building the
Pop Celebrities’ Identities: The Case
of The Beatles and a Comparison with
Contemporary State of the Art
Lucio SPAZIANTE
Università di Bologna
TV Party and Social(ist) Events in No Wave Films
Céline MURILLO,
Université Sorbonne Paris Cité
Excitingly Different and Disquieting
Unusual: Entertainment and the Incredibly
Strange Culture
Alessandra CHIARINI
Università di Bologna
16,20 - 18,00 Teatro: Panel 11.
Chair: CELESTINO DELEYTO, Universidad
de Zaragoza
“ …Presents”: The Framing of Horror
Entertainment in Television Anthology
Series
Philippe MET
Pennsylvania University
None Are Immune: The Spread of
Zombietainment in 21st Century Film,
Television and Beyond
Elizabeth MULLEN
Université de Bretagne Occidentale
Framing Reality Entertainment in
Contemporary Cinema: The Case of
Humilitainment
Sébastien LEFAIT
Université Paris 8 Vincennes-St.Denis
Vampire?… Vous dites toujours
vampire? (ou quel(s) genre(s) de
«divertissement(s)» le vampire nous
propose-t-il aujourd’hui ?)
Stella LOUIS
Université Paris Ouest Nanterre
20,00 dinner
9
9,30 - 11,00 Auditorium: Panel 12.
Chair: Penny STARFIELD, Université de
Caen Normandie
The World Is a Stage: Entertainment,
Spectacle, and Mike Leigh’s Discourse
of Class
Jean-François BAILLON
Université Bordeaux-Montaigne
British Nonsense and the Culture of
Recreation in Film
Isabelle LE CORFF
Université de Bretagne Occidentale
From Kitchen Sink to Bollywood:
Differing Regional and Ethnic
Constructions of Filmic Entertainment
in 1960s Britain
Melvyn STOKES
University College London
Post-Bollywood: Entertainment
Through Globalization?
Kristian FEIGELSON,
Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle
9,30 - 11,00 Teatro: Panel 13.
Chair: Elizabeth MULLEN,
Université de Bretagne Occidentale
You Know The Trope: But Do We?
Entertainment on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Anaïs LE FÈVRE-BERTHELOT
Université de Rennes 2
Without Schwarzie: Female Bodily
Performance in Terminator: The Sarah
Connor Chronicles (Fox, 2008-2009)
Marianne KAC-VERGNE
Université de Picardie Jules Verne
“Big Ben Said Stop!”, Portobello, When
Entertainment Shocked the Italian
Public Service Broadcaster
Anna BISOGNO
Università degli Studi Roma 3
11,00 coffee break
11,30 Auditorium
SERCIA General Meeting
Conclusions