Henderson State University is holding an academic conference on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and other works by scholar and all-around nice guy Josh Whedon. No joke.
Among the papers: “Buffy and Feminism,” “Buffy and Identity,” “Gender Stereotypes and the Image of Domesticity in ‘Firefly,'” “‘Firefly:’ The Illusive Safety of Big Damn Heroes” and a Durand favorite by a British scholar, “Hero’s Journey, Heroine’s Return: Buffy, Eurydice and the Orpheus Myth.”
Have the conferenced on Harry Potter, I’d like to know? How about “The Simpsons?”
I’d attend a conference on Wallace and Gromit. I wouldn’t pretend it was an academic conference, though.
Whether this conference is valuable or the standard post-modernist “western culture sucks, everything that changes is in whatever direction is good” I don’t know. But thinking(1) about TV is useful. Our kids and teenagers watch a lot of television, and it’s important to think about what it teaches.
(1) “Researching” in the humanities is usually shorthand for “thinking and seeing what other people think and thought about a subject”. By sounding more serious you get more grants, and have a higher chance of getting tenure.
Yes, Ori, I agree. In fact, everything needs to be considered to some degree, but holding a conference on Buffy doesn’t strike me as profitable academics. But a conference on Marquis de Sade could be just as fruitless. The air of academia doesn’t assure serious thinking on any subject.
I think there are two huge problems with academia, especially in the humanities.
1. Intellectual inbreeding. Academics tend to be career academics with not enough experience doing other things. They mostly talk to other academics who also don’t have a lot of other experiences.
They argue all the time, but they are likely to argue over the details and assume the big picture.
2. Lack of accountability. Above a certain level, academics get tenure and they can’t be fired. When they are accountable, it is to other academics who evaluate their work theoretically – not to people who apply it.
Sadly, this makes it hard for academia to do a good job. The science and technology departments have experiments, so reality itself keeps them honest. The humanities don’t have that.
I’d love to take remote classes from a university that didn’t have these problems. Unfortunately, the people I trust to comment on TV programs tend to be Phil Vischer types and too busy with real work.
There is a Harry Potter conference, this summer I think, held in Boston. They’re going to hold a Yule Ball in a castle and everything. It sounds like good (non-academic) fun.