Blockbuster Futures conference features 3 Media School students; BFCA director keynote speaker
Held Oct. 28-30, the IU Cinema Blockbuster Futures conference focused on the history and evolution of blockbuster films, as well as nuances that are not often talked about in relation to blockbuster films, such as marketing tactics and intersectionality within the films. The event featured eight panels with 24 panelists, three of which were Media School students who presented their work over the three-day conference.
Doctoral candidate Caleb Allison served as the chair and presented his research on Oct. 28, during “Theaters, Streaming, and Beyond: Distribution and Marketing In and Against the Blockbuster Model.”
Doctoral candidate Alex Brannan was both the presentation chair and presented during “Into the ‘Discourse’: Blockbusters, Awards, and Film Criticism” on Oct. 29.
“Participating in the Blockbuster Futures conference has been a great opportunity for me to share my ongoing dissertation research and connect with other scholars in the field,” Brannan said.
“I had a wonderful time discussing the multiple epistemological cross-sections that exist within the idea of blockbuster futures, which exposed me to areas of inquiry I would not otherwise have considered. I’m grateful to the IU Cinema for hosting the event.”
Undergraduate student Keon Clardy spoke on Oct. 30, the final day of the conference, during a presentation on familial thematics. His piece, “The Colonial and Sexual Trauma Within Alien,” was presented during a discussion with Rachel Schaff, an assistant professor at Mercer University.
Clardy, who is a senior at The Media School, wrote and submitted his abstract for a class last semester and was invited to present the essay at the conference in June. Clardy chose his topic to highlight the importance of expressing complex ideas in entertaining ways, despite the challenges of presenting at such an event as an undergraduate.
“As a student, I was very nervous about exchanging my ideas in front of so many accomplished scholars from all over the world,” Clardy said. “I really wanted to take in the honor of being accepted and treat the conference as a learning experience. Everyone was very kind and offered a great deal of advice.”
The conference concluded with “‘Say His Name:’ Blackbusters in a Post-DEI World,” a keynote about the intersections of race, blockbuster resistance, and genre filmmaking. Novotny Lawrence – the director of the Black Film Center & Archive and an associate professor of Cinema and Media Studies at The Media School – gave the talk with Robin R. Means Coleman – professor of Media Studies and of African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia and director of the Black Fantastic Media Research Lab.
The two recently collaborated as co-editors for “The Oxford Handbook of Black Horror Film,” which served as inspiration for their conversation.
As a “Fast and Furious” movie marathon was held to unofficially kick off the conference on Oct. 27, the conversation started with Coleman connecting the blockbuster franchise to elements of Black culture and history. Lawrence then focused on “blackbusters,” which are different from typical blockbusters that have large budgets, are released in the summer, etc.
“[Blackbusters] come in and they kind of use some of the same things. Some of the same tropes, some of the same conventions to tell Black stories,” Lawrence said.
“So, these, a lot of times, will feature A-list producers, directors and actors. They center Black lives, culture and experiences. They entertain, they have timely themes, they highlight and critique past and present societal injustices and issues, and then they also feature that kind of savvy marketing that we were talking about with ‘Fast and the Furious.’”
At the end of the talk, Coleman and Lawrence reflected on the importance of teaching or pedagogy, especially with the polarization associated with activism in education today.
“Pedagogy is activism,” Coleman said. “If we don’t have these kinds of conversations – not only about how to read a media text, but our ways of being and knowing – we fail.”
The conference was presented in partnership with The Media School and was partially funded via a grant from the IU Bloomington Public Arts & Humanities project.