Blackpool in the moving image and popular music

Call for Chapter Proposals

We would like to invite contributions for an upcoming edited collection exploring the historical and contemporary presence of Blackpool in popular music and the moving image.

“Whilst something of a ‘late developer’ as a tourist location, Blackpool’s geographical proximity to the densely populated industrial centres of Northern England coupled with the nineteenth century growth of the railway network dovetailing with increased working-class spending power led to Blackpool becoming the world’s first – and largest – working-class seaside resort.  By the end of the nineteenth century, with its three piers, a tower, as well as the country’s first electric tramway amongst other initiatives, Blackpool was hosting four million visitors a year and is pre-eminence amongst British seaside resorts catering for a working-class demographic was firmly established.

A consequence of this status for Blackpool was that, driven by the demands of the tourist industry, it was established as a leading entertainment venue where performers of national and international renown would routinely appear in one of the dozen theatres or similar entertainment centres dotted around the town.  The location of Blackpool as both working class playground and important cultural centre afforded a unique conceptual location for the town whereby its identity resonated throughout mass and popular cultures and across a range of cultural media.  As an important location in the consumption and production of popular music – coupled with the popularity, familiarity and prominence of the town within the national consciousness – Blackpool was, in its capacity as a provincial town geographically removed from the established centres for the ownership and control of the culture industries, significantly over-represented in film, television, and positioned as a key site in the consumption and production of popular music.”

The collection will address the historical and contemporary presence of Blackpool in film and television, and highlight the significance of the town as a principal location in [British] popular music.  Contributions are invited on these subjects, particularly in the areas of film and television.  Proposed chapters can be thematic, chronological, or subject-specific in scope.  For example and by way of illustration, possible areas for consideration might be, Blackpool in the television docusoap; Blackpool and film comedy; or Blackpool and Sixties beat groups.  Published chapters will be c. 6,000 words in length and can include tables, and two illustrations per chapter.

Interested authors should send a chapter title, a brief description of the proposed chapter (300-500 words), and a short bio, including contact information, to the editors, Ewa Mazierska and Alan Hughes

[email protected] and [email protected] by 15/04/2018.