Special interest group:
Science Fiction and Fantasy

Convenors:  

• Amy C Chambers (Manchester Metropolitan University)
• Alexander Sergeant (University of Portsmouth

Overview

Science fiction and fantasy (SFF) have played a role in film, television and video games since each medium’s inception, and in the new millennium dominate global screens. The vast majority of popular media franchises are SFF, and these genres proliferate around the world and at lower-budget levels, with, for example, thousands of SFF shorts released on the internet every year. Science Fiction and Fantasy have also propelled screen media forward through technological developments that have pushed the boundaries of special effects, transformed our understanding of performance, and changed how film, television, and videogames are produced and consumed globally.  

These complexly interrelated genres have long histories of scholarship, with journals dating back decades, including Extrapolation (founded 1959), Foundation (founded 1972), Science Fiction Studies (founded 1973) and Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (founded 1990). Film studies scholarship on SF coalesced in the 1980s and 1990s, with foundational work by Vivian Sobchack, Annette Kuhn, Constance Penley, Lynn Spigel, Andrew Gordon, J.P. Telotte and Scott Bukatman, and on fantasy early in the new millennium, with key contributions by Jack Zipes, Bliss Cua Lim, Elyce Rae Helford and Martin Barker. Television studies scholarship developed slightly later, with extensive work on shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Fringe and Game of Thrones central to rethinking notions of cult and quality TV and to contemporary debates about genre and authorship. Hitherto, games scholarship has not really foregrounded genre in the same way but – building on work by Paweł Frelik, Andrew Ferguson, Esther MacCallum-Stewart and Tanya Krzywinska – the current ‘Games and SF’ issue of Science Fiction Film and Television (founded 2008) is breaking new ground. 

Historically, SFF studies has been dominated by prose fiction, although that is changing, and the SFF scholarship that appears in screen studies often demonstrates very different concerns. The principal aim of the proposed SFF special interest group is to further connect these communities, fostering communication and collaboration in order to establish and maintain SFF studies as a prominent sub-field of screen studies, and vice versa.

Aims

• to build and sustain a welcoming, cohesive and active research community in screen studies focused on science fiction and fantasy 
• to provide a UK-based hub and network for screen SFF scholars 
• to foster, mentor and provide opportunities for postgraduate and EC researchers
• to promote equality, diversity and inclusivity in SFF screen studies 
• to encourage collaboration on projects which contribute to and help shape the field (e.g., publications; events, panels, symposia and conferences; major projects and funding bids)
• to host regular online and FTF events (e.g., book/issue launches, roundtable discussions, watchalongs, 'meet the editor' sessions, work-in-progress groups)

Reports on activities

Any relevant documentation will appear here.

Founding members

• Sarah Artt (Edinburgh Napier University​​)
• Simon Brown (Kingston University)
• David Butler (University of Manchester)
• Amy C. Chambers (Manchester Metropolitan University)
• James Chapman (University of Leicester)
• Alec Charles (University of Winchester)
• Kathryn Collinson (De Montfort University)
• Catherine Constable (University of Warwick)
• Christine Cornea (University of East Anglia)
• Megen de Bruin-Molé (University of Southampton)
• Tony Degouveia (University of East Anglia)
• Rebecca Duncan (Linnaeus University)
• Ross Garner (Cardiff University)
• Janet K. Halfyard (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland)
• Liam Hathaway (De Montfort University)
• Rebecca Harrison (Open University Scotland)
• Matt Hills (University of Huddersfield)
• Keith M. Johnston (University of East Anglia)
• Craig Owen Jones (Bangor University)
• Nick Jones (University of York)
• Rebecca Jones (De Montfort University)
• Miriam Kent (University of Essex)
• Abby Kidd (University of East Anglia)
• Tanya Krzywinska (Falmouth University)
• Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck, University of London)
• Aris Mousoutzanis (University of Brighton)
• Katie Moylan (University of Leicester)
• James Newton (University of Kent)
• Lisa Purse (University of Reading)
• Eamon Reid (Edge Hill University)
• Liam Rogers (University of Warwick)
• David Seed (University of Liverpool)
• Michael Starr (University of Northampton)
• Linda Ruth Williams (University of Exeter)
• Rebecca Williams (University of South Wales)
• Emma Withers (University of Brighton)
• Aylish Wood (University of Kent)
• Jennifer Woodward (Edge Hill University)
• Peter Wright (Edge Hill University)