Join me to view the figure of the vampire through the looking glass of the Victorian age. The evening will include a question and answers session and will be followed by a wine reception. The event takes place at the wonderful Victorian Picture Gallery and is free but you need to book!
Registration is now open. Hope to see you there!
Here’s an up-to-date link to the programme I recorded last week on Dracula. It is broadcast at 20.06 on the 16th September. Do let me know if you enjoy it. Sam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csv0rt
On October 5th 1999, the first episode of Angel – the spin-off to Buffy the Vampire Slayer – aired on the WB. The television show ran for five seasons and ended with a bang – or at least with a dragon – on May 19th 2004. The story continued in comic book form, including Angel: After the Fall (IDW Publishing), Angel & Faith Season 9 and Angel & Faith Season 10 (Dark Horse Comics). While the show has received critical attention in the form of journal articles in Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies, Critical Studies in Television, Refractory, and Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media, as well as a small number of books, the series has never received the same level of critical attention as its parent-text Buffy as well as other Whedon/Mutant Enemy texts. Yet its aesthetic hybridity and horror pedigree, as well as its preoccupation with themes of redemption, masculinity, corporate evil, apocalypse, and the need to keep fighting the good fight in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, make it increasingly relevant. More so than ever, Angel’s epiphany ‘If nothing you do matters, then all that matters is what you do’ speaks to the contemporary reality of our socio-political landscape.
The show’s 20th anniversary in 2019 is an ideal opportunity to reflect once again upon Angel, not only in terms of its significance as a series, but also the legacy and influence of the show, in terms of content, theme, and personnel. The editors of this special issue – Stacey Abbott and Simon Brown – thus invite proposals for papers on any aspect of Angel the television series and/or its comic-book spin-offs. As Angel tells his team as they face a horde of demons and monsters ‘Let’s go to work’.
Proposals may include, but are not restricted to:
• Aesthetics and production contexts
• Discussions of direction, editing, music, set design, and sound
• Representations of the city
• Examinations of key themes such as: masculinity, redemption, apocalypse, and/or Corporate Evil
• Issues of gender
• Angel as apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction
• Angel and genre (comedy, horror, Film Noir, melodrama)
• The Angel finale
• Angel in relation to other Whedon texts
• Angel in relation to other vampire TV series (True Blood, Vampire Diaries, The Originals, The Strain, Penny Dreadful)
• Angel and TV Horror
• The legacy of the sympathetic/reluctant vampire
• Angel: After the Fall, Angel & Faith, and other comics
• Transmediality
• Fandom
• Legacy of the creators of Angel (e.g. Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, Jim Kouf, Tim Minear, Jane Espenson, Steven DeKnight, Ben Edlund, Drew Goddard, Jeffrey Bell, Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain, Marita Grabiak)
• Legacy of the cast
Please send a 200-300 word proposal and a short bio by the 15th January 2018 to Stacey Abbott (s.abbott@roehampton.ac.uk) and Simon Brown (simon.brown@kingston.ac.uk). Decisions will be made, and everyone will be notified, by the 12th February 2018. If your proposal is accepted please note that a first draft will be due by the 29th June 2018.
The full schedule for the Gothic Style(s), Gothic Substance conference (one of the many exciting events in the Gothic Manchester Festival) is now on line.
Both Dr Sam George and I will be representing OGOM; the other papers promise to be very interesting too.
I spent Tuesday at Broadcasting House recording ‘The Forum’ on Dracula. I was one of three guests representing Dracula scholars from around the world for an international audience for the BBC World Service. Joining me from Canada was Dacre Stoker, Great Grand Nephew of Bram Stoker, and representing Irish gothic and Dracula’s forays into film, was Dr Sorcha Ní Fhlainn. I’ve blogged previously about Recording Dracula and getting involved with this project and revealed my hesitation regarding my radio voice but never say never because here I am reporting on my activities on the show! I approached the iconic building with some trepidation and was unprepared for the lengthy security checks at the Beeb but on meeting Fiona, my contact and the editor, I was reassured. She quickly introduced me to the show’s presenter Bridget Kendall. Bridget is a complete professional and very straight talking. She explained that we would record the show, which is in two halves, in one take with Dacre and Sorcha contributing from different studios. The script had been fleshed out so that the producers had a good idea of who would come in on which question and what direction the discussion would take.
We began with some rather quirky questions about world myths concerning vampires and I spoke about vampires as ‘citizens of the world’, who know no temporal or geographical boundaries. Sitting in the studio was quite daunting because you can see the technicians and the show’s producer watching you through the glass. It also takes some time to adjust to the headphones and the comments coming down them from the other contributors (who are not live in the studio). You get a very good sense of the insight and editing skills required to seamlessly stitch the material from such programmes together because they seem so completely effortless when broadcast. The team at the Beeb are highly skilled I found. I could intercept quite easily once in full swing and we had some spooky clips from Christopher Lee to help us on our way. There were some hairy moments though….such as this one…
BRIDGET. What about the suggestion that it’s a gay novel? Dracula at one point says of Jonathan Harker “this man belongs to me.”
SAM. Yes, the notebooks show that this line was the starting point for the whole novel……Stoker had some sort of homo-erotic dream and woke up repeating the words ‘this man belongs to me’ he went on to write this into the novel and it shows that Dracula has male victims too – he is bi-sexual. At Castle Dracula the vampire has marked Harker out as his victim – the vampire brides are warned off when they try to attack the man, Dracula is claiming ownership of Harker himself. We should remember that homosexuality is illegal at this time and Oscar Wilde had just been imprisoned for gross indecency (his trial in 1895 had terrified Stoker – he knew him of course) so this may be a coded reference to male same sex desire in the novel. I don’t want to speculate too much, but Stoker’s death certificate says he died of ‘exhaustion’ but some claim this is a euphemism for syphilis….by all accounts he was fairly promiscuous!
Ooh er…this was a bit tricky to talk about with Dacre listening in as I didn’t know his opinion on this! Overall though it was very enjoyable and it did make me think about engaging with a non specialist audience and one that is made up of listeners from around the world. Any references need to be explained so there are little asides or interceptions when say Wilde or Darwin are mentioned etc so there is some clarity and it is inclusive. I really hope listeners enjoy the finished programme. I’m beyond excited to see how it all fits together.
There are several broadcasts depending on where in the world you are. But for UK listeners, the first programme goes out at 19.06 on Saturday 16th September. There are repeats also, which look to be on the following Monday and Tuesday.
Anyone outside the UK should go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio/help/faq#faq for broadcast times and how to listen in your location.
The programme will also be available from the following Monday online on its own webpage, which you can find via the Forum homepage
They will be publicising the programme via the Forum Facebook page too.
If you are inspired to reach for your copy of Dracula take heed from this early review (discussed on the programme)
Persons of small courage and weak nerves should confine their reading of these gruesome pages strictly to the hours between dawn and sunset….
(Daily Mail, June, 1897). Enjoy!
Here’s an Exciting Preview of the Being Human Festival 2017 showing OGOM’s Big Bad Wolf as one of the most anticipated events! Put November 18th in your diary and get ready to redeem the wolf!
We have just added an exciting new item to our OGOM and Supernatural Cities present: The Urban Weird Conference programme: A Boggart workshop!!! Dr Ceri Houlbrook, an ECR at University of Hertfordshire and folklore specialist, will be using a wide range of material, from the pens of antiquarians to local ballads and oral histories, to explore the history and folklore of Boggart Hole Clough, where today, still, ‘there lurks that strange elf’.
Here are some extracts from the curious history of the Mancunian Boggart from Ceri (I love that he resides in Manchester, it is my first city):
Not far from the little snug smoky village of Blakeley, or Blackley, there lies one of the most romantic of dells, rejoicing in a state of singular seclusion, and in the oddest of Lancashire names, to wit the “Boggart-Hole.” … You descend, clinging to the trees and scrambling as best you may, – and now you stand on haunted ground! Tread softly, for this is the Boggart’s clough; and see in yonder dark corner, and beneath the projecting mossy stone, where the dusky sullen cave yawns before us, like a bit of Salvator’s best, there lurks that strange elf, the sly and mischievous Boggart. (John Roby, Traditions of Lancashire, 1829)
‘This description of Boggart Hole Clough dates to the early 19th century. Nearly 200 years later and the area has changed dramatically. No longer a ‘little snug smoky village’, Blackley is now a Manchester suburb, and this ‘most romantic of dells’ has become an urban park. The Boggart, however, is still very much in residence’ (Ceri Houlbrook).
I’m beyond excited about this! Ceri has recently joined our FB group so please give her a warm welcome at OGOM!
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the trailer for Valley of Shadows, a Scandinavian Gothic tale directed by Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen. From the trailer, it appears that the narrative follows a young boy whose community is plagued by a series of attacks on sheep which occur at the full moon. The imagery is very atmospheric and the sudden shot of Lucas Cranach’s woodcut ‘The Werewolf’ (1512), along with the full moon, suggest that there may be a lycanthropic element. It certainly looks like a refreshing take on this monster.
The film premiers at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8th September, 2017 and will be released in Norway this October. However, there is no news yet on if it will be released in any other countries. Hopefully, if it receives good reviews and lives up to its trailer, then this will change.
I spent this morning engaged in a lengthy phone interview for a BBC World Service Programme on Dracula. The call lasted over an hour and a half. I was asked about my thoughts on first reading Dracula and if I could deliver a lively plot summary for listeners. I was quizzed about Stoker’s research for the novel, where we had got to with vampire lore by this point and literary vampires pre Stoker. We then went on to talk about the novel’s reception in the Victorian period and the impact of the theatre, together with the its lasting legacy in the present. Also the novel’s love affair with the cinema and how this might have shaped the Dracula myth and finally Stoker’s importance regarding my own research. I was a little unsure about my radio voice which is hardly RP (having grown up in Cumbria and Manchester) but my enthusiasm seemed to get me through, together some rather handy sticky notes (see pic). I’m pleased to say I got through the interview and will be at Broadcasting House recording the programme on 5th September. The format is an ‘In our Time’ for international audiences. I am told it will feature the voice of Christopher Lee reading passages from the novel, Dacre Stoker, Great Grand Nephew of Bram, and an international film critic. It’ll be interesting working on the script in the days ahead. I’ll write a little follow up post about my experiences during the recording and editing process as it might be useful for other scholars. I’m posting this to show that sometimes you might not see yourself as others see you and projects that might at first not seem the perfect fit can turn out to be some of the most exciting! We might not always welcome the media glare but it is part of academic life for the new impact generation and we’ve been fortunate at OGOM as the project has offered lots of opportunities for engagement and comment.
Something to howl about ….on 18th November OGOM will seek to Redeem the Wolf at the Being Human Festival!!!
This is a free event held at the University of Hertfordshire. You should book through the Being Human website from September!
