Bodies in Action Films and TV Series in the Digital Era<\/p>\n
Call for papers, International conference, March 6-7, 2025
\nPaul Val\u00e9ry Montpellier 3 University \u2013 EMMA-RIRRA21
\n(French version below)
\nThe idea for this conference arose from the renewed attention paid to the profilmic body in US-American audiovisual action productions since the mid-2010s, at a time when the transition to all-digital production favored the hegemony of other adventure genres centered on the prowess of virtual bodies. In the 1990s, action movies were largely characterized by the centrality of the physical body in motion, confronted with extraordinary constraints, and carried out by actors who performed the majority of their own stunts. This type of stunt cinema has never really left the screen, if the longevity of franchises such as Mission Impossible (1996- ), Fast and Furious (2001- ) and the James Bond films starring Daniel Craig (2007-2021) are anything to go by. But the industrial environment dominated by digital technologies from the late 2000s onwards has encouraged the emergence of a spectacular cinema based on digital bodies, notably in superhero movies after Iron Man (2008) and science fiction after Avatar (2009). The growing success of the John Wick franchise (2014; 2017; 2019; 2023), however, has transformed the landscape of contemporary action cinema, inspiring a series of productions reviving the physical dimension of the classic action film, such as Atomic Blonde (2017), Anna (2019), The Old Guard (2020), Extraction (2020; 2023), Nobody (2021) or Bullet Train (2023). This trend can also be seen in action series such as Arrow (The CW, 2012-2020), Banshee (HBO, 2013-2016), Daredevil (Netflix, 2015-2018), Into the Badlands (AMC, 2015-2019), Hawkeye (Marvel, 2021), Echo (Marvel, 2023) or The Brothers Sun (Netflix, 2023).<\/p>\n
This inflexion in audiovisual action productions corresponds to the fact that a number of stunt coordinators became directors (David Leicht, Chad Stahelski, Sam Hargrave), but it is also linked with the creation of specialized production companies (AGBO, 87Eleven), the emergence or return of stars of the genre, known for their ability to do their own stunts (Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel), and promotional strategies and reception discourses emphasizing the physical dimension of acting performances. It also corresponds to a moment in the industry’s history in the mid-2010s, when critics increasingly deplored the excesses of the digital spectacular, when the promotion of big productions like Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) or Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015) emphasized their profilmic anchor and the importance of their physical effects, and when digital spectacular cinema itself started incorporating the classic action film (Captain America: Civil War, Logan, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, or Shang-Chi).<\/p>\n
The fact that the spectacular aspects of films like Atomic Blonde or the John Wick franchise rely on the stunts of their lead performer does not mean that digital technologies play no part in them. On the contrary, these films depend entirely on digital imagery for their aesthetics and the staging of their action sequences. The hegemony of the digital spectacular in audiovisual action productions at large now favors an ontological and phenomenological hybridization of the action body rather than an opposition between profilmic and digital (Ayers). The main characteristic of the contemporary action body would thus be its ability to articulate profilmic materiality and digital photorealism. The recent incorporation of the classic action film in spectacular digital cinema is certainly a part of this logic of hybridization. But it may also reflect the reaffirmation of the materiality of the profilmic body as the main principle of action on screen.<\/p>\n
Existing research on the action film has already analyzed the profilmic body in action, whether in terms of its socio-political significance (Jeffords’ articulation of physical action with the body politic), aesthetic significance (Tasker’s idea of the body in action as cinematic spectacle) or spectatorial experience (King’s idea of spectacular action as transcending the boundaries of physical experience, or Purse’s focus on the resilience of the body in the face of all kinds of constraints). Faced with the advent of digital bodies on screen, research on action movies initially favored the profilmic body as the only effective dimension of the action body on screen (Purse 2007), before considering that the contemporary action body offered the image of a successful hybridization between profilmic and digital (Ayers). While the digital body is always at least partially the product of images of physical bodies (notably in motion capture), the profilmic body is itself an aggregate of composite images resulting from various operations (shot selection, framing, editing) that produce the illusion of continuous action. The return of classic action cinema forms centered on stunts in an industrial context of spectacular digital hegemony, however, invites us to revisit the question of the physicality of action and what it implies in terms of audiovisual spectacle, realism and, more broadly, in terms of the conceptions of cinema and audiovisual fiction. The consequences of this articulation of physical stunts with digital technologies on the questions of race, gender, age, and other political structures typically naturalized in on-screen bodies also need examination.<\/p>\n
While productions such as the John Wick franchise and its avatars revive the principles of the golden age of the action film and build referential bridges with the history of action cinema, they also represent a new aesthetic turning point that deserves to be analyzed. Built on the hypertrophied bodies of actors projecting an image of power in the 1980s, the action film evolved towards exploring the resilience of more vulnerable bodies after Die Hard (1988). The Matrix (1999) represented a new turning point in the physical performance of the actoral body and the articulation between digital and profilmic, and The Bourne Identity (2002) along with its sequels imposed a more unstable, jerky aesthetic. With its wide-angle, long-shot action scenes combined with sophisticated cinematography (see Coulthard and Steenberg), the John Wick franchise played a major role in establishing a new aesthetic in action cinema that continues to percolate throughout the industry. This neoclassical dynamic, combining a return to the golden age with innovation, raises questions about the development of the genre and the redefinition of the spectacular in cinema. It also reminds us that the action body is produced by a multitude of aesthetic and technical factors that remain to be clarified.<\/p>\n
We welcome proposals that explore aesthetic, generic, technical, economic, ideological, or political aspects surrounding the body in US-American action films and TV series as well as issues of production and reception. The conference will focus on contemporary series and films, but papers examining their connections with the history of the genre are also welcome.<\/p>\n
Proposals in English or French, of 300 words minimum and accompanied by a bibliography and biography, should be sent to claire.cornillon and herve.mayer by June 1, 2024.<\/p>\n
Le corps dans les films et les s\u00e9ries d\u2019action \u00e9tatsuniens \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e8re du num\u00e9rique
\nAppel \u00e0 communication, colloque international EMMA-RIRRA21
\nUniversit\u00e9 Paul Val\u00e9ry Montpellier 3
\n6-7 mars 2025<\/p>\n
L\u2019id\u00e9e de ce colloque part du constat d\u2019une attention renouvel\u00e9e port\u00e9e au corps profilmique dans les productions audiovisuelles d\u2019action \u00e9tatsuniennes depuis le milieu des ann\u00e9es 2010, \u00e0 un moment o\u00f9 le passage de la production au tout num\u00e9rique a favoris\u00e9 l\u2019h\u00e9g\u00e9monie d\u2019autres genres d\u2019aventure centr\u00e9s sur les prouesses de corps virtuels. Le film d\u2019action, dans les ann\u00e9es 1990, \u00e9tait largement marqu\u00e9 par la centralit\u00e9 du corps physique en mouvement confront\u00e9 \u00e0 des contraintes extraordinaires, port\u00e9e par des acteur.ices qui assuraient la majorit\u00e9 de leurs cascades. Ce type de cin\u00e9ma de cascade n\u2019a jamais v\u00e9ritablement quitt\u00e9 les \u00e9crans, \u00e0 en croire la long\u00e9vit\u00e9 de franchises qui en sont les h\u00e9riti\u00e8res comme Mission Impossible (1996- ), Fast and Furious (2001- ) ou les James Bond port\u00e9s par Daniel Craig (2007-2021). Mais l\u2019environnement industriel domin\u00e9 par les technologies num\u00e9riques \u00e0 partir de la fin des ann\u00e9es 2000 a favoris\u00e9 l\u2019\u00e9mergence d\u2019un cin\u00e9ma spectaculaire incarn\u00e9 dans des corps num\u00e9riques notamment dans le film de superh\u00e9ros apr\u00e8s Iron Man (2008) et la science-fiction apr\u00e8s Avatar (2009). Le succ\u00e8s grandissant de la franchise John Wick (2014 ; 2017 ; 2019 ; 2023) a cependant transform\u00e9 le paysage du cin\u00e9ma d\u2019action contemporain, inspirant une s\u00e9rie de productions renouant avec les coordonn\u00e9es physiques du film d\u2019action classique telles qu\u2019Atomic Blonde (2017), Anna (2019), The Old Guard (2020), Extraction (2020 ; 2023), Nobody (2021) ou Bullet Train (2023). Cette influence est \u00e9galement visible dans des productions s\u00e9rielles d\u2019action telle que Arrow (The CW, 2012-2020), Banshee (HBO, 2013-2016), Daredevil (Netflix, 2015-2018), Into the Badlands (AMC, 2015-2019), Hawkeye (Marvel, 2021), Echo (Marvel, 2023) ou The Brothers Sun (Netflix, 2023).<\/p>\n
Cette inflexion des productions audiovisuelles d\u2019action correspond au passage d\u2019un certain nombre de coordinateur.ices de cascades \u00e0 la r\u00e9alisation (David Leicht, Chad Stahelski, Sam Hargrave), \u00e0 la cr\u00e9ation de soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de production sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9es (AGBO, 87Eleven), \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9mergence ou au retour de stars du genre c\u00e9l\u00e8bres pour assurer leurs cascades (Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel), et \u00e0 des strat\u00e9gies de promotion et des discours de r\u00e9ception insistant sur la dimension physique des performances actorales. Elle correspond \u00e9galement \u00e0 un moment dans l\u2019histoire de l\u2019industrie au milieu des ann\u00e9es 2010 o\u00f9 la critique d\u00e9plore de plus en plus les exc\u00e8s du num\u00e9rique spectaculaire, o\u00f9 la promotion de grosses productions comme Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) ou Star Wars The Force Awakens (2015) commence \u00e0 mettre l\u2019accent sur leur ancrage profilmique et l\u2019importance de leurs effets physiques, et o\u00f9 le cin\u00e9ma num\u00e9rique spectaculaire entame lui-m\u00eame un rapprochement avec le film d\u2019action classique (Captain America: Civil War, Logan, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, ou Shang-Chi).<\/p>\n
Que le spectacle de films comme Atomic Blonde ou la franchise John Wick repose sur les cascades de leur acteur.ice principal.e ne signifie pas que le num\u00e9rique n\u2019y joue aucun r\u00f4le. Bien au contraire, ces films d\u00e9pendent enti\u00e8rement de l\u2019imagerie num\u00e9rique dans leur esth\u00e9tique et m\u00eame dans la mise-en-sc\u00e8ne de leurs s\u00e9quences d\u2019action. L\u2019h\u00e9g\u00e9monie du num\u00e9rique spectaculaire dans les productions audiovisuelles d\u2019action au sens large favorise d\u00e9sormais une hybridation ontologique et ph\u00e9nom\u00e9nologique du corps d\u2019action plut\u00f4t qu\u2019une opposition entre profilmique et num\u00e9rique (Ayers). La caract\u00e9ristique principale du corps d\u2019action contemporain serait ainsi sa capacit\u00e9 \u00e0 articuler mat\u00e9rialit\u00e9 profilmique et photor\u00e9alisme num\u00e9rique. Le rapprochement r\u00e9cent du cin\u00e9ma num\u00e9rique spectaculaire avec le film d\u2019action participe tr\u00e8s certainement de cette logique d\u2019hybridation. Mais il refl\u00e8te peut-\u00eatre aussi la r\u00e9affirmation de la mat\u00e9rialit\u00e9 du corps profilmique comme principe privil\u00e9gi\u00e9 de l\u2019action \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cran.<\/p>\n
Les travaux de r\u00e9f\u00e9rence sur le film d\u2019action s\u2019\u00e9taient d\u00e9j\u00e0 largement pench\u00e9s sur le corps profilmique en action, que ce soit dans ses significations socio-politiques (son articulation avec le corps politique chez Jeffords) et esth\u00e9tiques (le corps en action comme spectacle cin\u00e9matographique chez Tasker) ou en termes d\u2019exp\u00e9rience spectatorielle (le d\u00e9passement des fronti\u00e8res de l\u2019exp\u00e9rience physique chez King ou la r\u00e9silience du corps confront\u00e9 \u00e0 toutes sortes de contraintes chez Purse). Face \u00e0 l\u2019av\u00e8nement de corps num\u00e9riques \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cran, la recherche sur le film d\u2019action a d\u2019abord privil\u00e9gi\u00e9 le corps profilmique comme seule dimension efficace du corps d\u2019action \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9cran (Purse 2007) avant de consid\u00e9rer que le corps d\u2019action contemporain proposait l\u2019image d\u2019une hybridation r\u00e9ussie entre profilmique et num\u00e9rique (Ayers). Un des int\u00e9r\u00eats de cette derni\u00e8re position est d\u2019\u00e9clairer les limites \u00e9pist\u00e9mologiques de l\u2019opposition entre incarnation profilmique et num\u00e9rique : si le corps num\u00e9rique est toujours le produit au moins partiel d\u2019images de corps physiques (notamment capture de mouvement), le corps profilmique est lui-m\u00eame un agr\u00e9gat d\u2019images composites r\u00e9sultant de diverses op\u00e9rations (s\u00e9lection de prises de vue, cadrage, montage) qui produisent l\u2019illusion d\u2019une action continue. Le retour de formes du cin\u00e9ma d\u2019action classique centr\u00e9 sur la cascade dans un contexte industriel d\u2019h\u00e9g\u00e9monie du num\u00e9rique spectaculaire invite cependant \u00e0 reposer la question de l\u2019incarnation de l\u2019action et de ce qu\u2019elle implique en termes de spectacle audiovisuel, de r\u00e9alisme et plus largement de conception du cin\u00e9ma et de la fiction audiovisuelle. Les cons\u00e9quences de cette articulation de cascades physiques avec les technologies num\u00e9riques sur les questions de race, de genre, d\u2019\u00e2ge et sur d’autres structures politiques typiquement naturalis\u00e9es dans les corps \u00e0 l’\u00e9cran m\u00e9ritent \u00e9galement d’\u00eatre r\u00e9examin\u00e9es.<\/p>\n
Si des productions comme la franchise John Wick et ses avatars renouent avec les principes de l\u2019\u00e2ge d\u2019or du film d\u2019action et construisent des ponts r\u00e9f\u00e9rentiels avec l\u2019histoire du cin\u00e9ma d\u2019action, elles constituent \u00e9galement un nouveau tournant esth\u00e9tique qui m\u00e9rite d\u2019\u00eatre analys\u00e9. Construit sur les corps hypertrophi\u00e9s d\u2019acteurs projetant une image de puissance dans les ann\u00e9es 1980, le film d\u2019action a \u00e9volu\u00e9 vers l\u2019exploration de la r\u00e9silience de corps plus vuln\u00e9rables apr\u00e8s Die Hard (1988). Matrix (1999) a repr\u00e9sent\u00e9 un nouveau tournant dans la performance physique du corps actoral et l\u2019articulation entre num\u00e9rique et profilmique et The Bourne Identity (2002) et ses suites ont impos\u00e9 une esth\u00e9tique plus instable et saccad\u00e9e. Avec ses sc\u00e8nes d\u2019action film\u00e9es en grands angles et plans longs combin\u00e9es \u00e0 un travail sophistiqu\u00e9 sur la prise de vue (voir Coulthard et Steenberg), John Wick a largement contribu\u00e9 \u00e0 asseoir une formule esth\u00e9tique dans le cin\u00e9ma d\u2019action qui ne cesse de percoler dans toute l\u2019industrie. Cette dynamique n\u00e9oclassique combinant retour vers l\u2019\u00e2ge d\u2019or et innovation soul\u00e8ve des questions de d\u00e9veloppement du genre et de red\u00e9finition du spectaculaire au cin\u00e9ma. Elle rappelle \u00e9galement que le corps d\u2019action est produit par une multitude de facteurs esth\u00e9tiques qui restent \u00e0 \u00e9clairer.<\/p>\n
Les propositions pourront notamment explorer les enjeux esth\u00e9tiques, g\u00e9n\u00e9riques, techniques, \u00e9conomiques, id\u00e9ologiques, politiques, de production ou de r\u00e9ception des incarnations de l’action dans les s\u00e9ries et le cin\u00e9ma \u00e9tatsuniens. Le colloque porte sur les s\u00e9ries et le cin\u00e9ma contemporains mais des communications mettant en perspective leur lien avec l’histoire du genre sont les bienvenues.<\/p>\n
Les propositions en anglais ou en fran\u00e7ais, de 300 mots minimum et accompagn\u00e9es d\u2019une bibliographie et d\u2019une biographie, sont \u00e0 envoyer \u00e0 claire.cornillon et herve.mayer avant le 1er juin 2024.<\/p>\n
Comit\u00e9 d\u2019organisation \/ organization committee
\nClaire Cornillon (Universit\u00e9 de N\u00eemes, RIRRA 21), Herv\u00e9 Mayer (Universit\u00e9 Paul Val\u00e9ry Montpellier 3, EMMA)<\/p>\n
Comit\u00e9 scientifique\/ scientific committee
\nDrew Ayers (Eastern Washington University), Lisa Coulthard (University of British Columbia), Amandine D\u2019Azevedo (UPVM3), Marianne Kac-Vergne (Universit\u00e9 de Picardie Jules Verne), Mathias Kusnierz (Universit\u00e9 Paris Diderot), Monica Michlin (UPVM3), Lisa Purse (University of Reading), David Roche (UPVM3), Lindsay Steenberg (Oxford Brookes University), Yvonne Tasker (University of Leeds)<\/p>\n
Bibliographie\/bibliography Source: Herv\u00e9 Mayer <hervmayer><\/p>\n
\nAyers, Drew. \u201cBleeding Synthetic Blood: Flesh And Simulated Space In 300.\u201d In Special Effects: New Histories\/Theories\/Contexts, edited by Dan North, Bob Rehak, and Michael S. Duffy, 101\u2013113. London: BFI\/Palgrave. 2015.
\nAyers, Drew. \u201cThe Composite Body: Action Stars and Embodiment in the Digital Age.\u201d In A Companion to the Action Film, edited by James Kendrick. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2019. 165-186.
\nAyers, Drew. Spectacular Posthumanism: The Digital Vernacular of Visual Effects. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
\nBolduc-Cloutier, Hubert. "Musique et immersion spectatorielle dans les sc\u00e8nes de poursuite des films d\u2019action du cin\u00e9ma hollywoodien contemporain." Revue musicale OICRM, volume 5, number 2, 2018, p. 48\u201378. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7202\/1054147ar<\/a>
\nChung, Hye Jean. \u201cThe Reanimation Of The Digital (Un)Dead, Or How To Regenerate Bodies In Digital Cinema.\u201d Visual Studies 30 (1): 54\u201367. 2015.
\nCoulthard, Lisa and Lindsay Steenberg. \u201cRed Circle of Revenge : Anatomy of the Fight Sequence in John Wick.\u201d In the World of John Wick: One Year\u2019s Work at the Continental Hotel, edited by Caitlin G. Watt and Stephen Watt, Indiana University Press, 2022, pp. 41-62.
\nDelcroix, Olivier. Le cin\u00e9ma d’action am\u00e9ricain. Paris : Ho\u00ebbeke, 2017.
\nFlynn, Susan. The Body Onscreen in the Digital Age: Essays on Voyeurism, Violence and Power. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2021.
\nGallagher, Mark. Action Figures: Men, Action Films, and Contemporary Adventure Narratives. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2006.
\nHamus-Vall\u00e9e, R\u00e9jane. Les effets sp\u00e9ciaux. Paris : \u00c9ditions des Cahiers du cin\u00e9ma, 2004.
\nHolmund, Chris, Lisa Purse and Yvonne Tasker. Action Cinema since 2000. London: Bloomsbury, 2024.
\nJeffords, Susan. Hard Bodies : Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993.
\nJones, Nick. Hollywood Action Films and Spatial Theory. New York: Routledge, 2015.
\nKac-Vergne, Marianne. \u00ab Une hypermasculinit\u00e9 vuln\u00e9rable : le paradoxe du h\u00e9ros blanc face \u00e0 la crise des autorit\u00e9s et \u00e0 la trahison des \u00e9lites \u00bb. Le cin\u00e9ma des ann\u00e9es Reagan. Un mod\u00e8le hollywoodien ? \u00c9d. Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Gimello-Mesplomb. Paris : Nouveau Monde, 2007, p. 213-223.
\nKendrick, James (editor). A Companion to the Action Film. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2019.
\nKing, Geoff. Spectacular Narratives : Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster. London ; New York : I.B. Tauris, 2000.
\nKusnierz Mathias, \u00ab Le regard impossible \u00bb, Transatlantica [En ligne], 1 | 2018, mis en ligne le 01 septembre 2019, consult\u00e9 le 10 f\u00e9vrier 2024. URL : http:\/\/journals.openedition.org\/transatlantica\/11812<\/a> ; DOI : https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4000\/transatlantica.11812<\/a>
\nLichtenfeld, Eric. Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle and the American Action Movie. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2007.
\nMiddlemost Ren\u00e9e and Gerrard Steven. Gender and Action Films 1980-2000: Beauty in Motion. Royaume-Uni, Emerald Publishing Limited, 2022.
\nMoine, Rapha\u00eblle. Les femmes d’action au cin\u00e9ma. France, A. Colin, 2010.
\nNorth, Dan. 2008. Performing Illusions: Cinema, Special Effects and the Virtual Actor. London: Wallflower Press.
\nO\u2019Brien, Harvey. Action Movies: The Cinema of Striking Back. London: Wallflower, 2012.
\nPurse, Lisa. \u201cDigital Heroes in Contemporary Hollywood: Exertion, Identification, and the Virtual Action Body.\u201d Film Criticism 32 (1): 5\u201325. 2007
\nPurse, Lisa. Contemporary Action Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, 2011.
\nPurse, Lisa. Digital Imaging in Popular Cinema. Edinburgh University Press, 2013.
\nSoberon, Lennart. \u201cThe Ultimate Ride: A Comparative Narrative Analysis of Action Sequences in 1980s and Contemporary Hollywood Action Cinema.\u201d Journal of Film and Video, 2021, Vol.73 (1), p.18-32.
\nTasker, Yvonne. Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre, And The Action Cinema. London: Routledge, 1993.
\nTasker, Yvonne. The Hollywood Action and Adventure Film. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2015.<\/p>\n