DePaul's A Celebration of Slashers or the importance of study

This year was a little different for me from the past DePaul Conferences I have gone to because Slasher films are not one of my fandoms and despite some token effort I did not watch any beforehand. But if anything while I did not get most of the references I was reminded of the importance of the academic study of fandom. And the universal power of such study. We can collectively think about issues around gender, sexuality, movie production even if we don't know a particular fandom. And this critical look at what we enjoy and what we don't is vital in this world.

Side Note:

A need for these conversations has been made very clear to me watching the discussion around a friend's post not recommending seeing a certain blockbuster movie which just came out. And the "But I liked it so you can't say anything bad about it" which many individuals are expressing. Examining a work does not mean you don't like it or the work is bad it simply means there were good bits and bad bits and bits that are wibbly wobbly and need more discussion 

The first panel I went to was the Academic Keynote by Dr. Wickham Clayton which looked at how Slasher Films and Slasher Film merchandise has been marketed. There was a discussion around how spaces include both Immersion and Physical engagement. Space is both concert and abstract. The actual function of things is less important than the meanings we give them. And finally collecting is both a personal and social process

The next panel was on "Questioning the Slasher: Genre Consideration". This was an interesting panel but it felt more like a miny literature review on various works instead of a conversation around a topic. This was an issue I had with a few of the panels.

On to "Feminism and the Final Girl" which looked at the various troops around the final girl or the girl who survives until the end of the movie. There was also a discussion that more recent remakes of classic slasher films have been getting worst in terms of how women are represented.

Next was the Key Note by Rachel Talalay who happens to have Directed for SuperWhoLock among lots of others. So a much bigger name then I thought. In this talk, Talalay gave an interesting behind the sense look at making "The Nightmare on Elm Street" series which I gathered is about a villain who travels into peoples dreams and nightmares to kill them. (So instead of a Dream Lover a Dream Killer?) She discussed how video changed how horror films were made and promoted. One aspect I really found interesting was her discussion of intent

"The Issue is using hindsight to give intent, in hindsight there might be something in a film but that does not mean it was the intent"

In addition, there was interesting commentary around the problem of the studio making too many films in too short of a period of time.  In one case they did not have time to actually have a writer write a script and had to film and edit a film in 8 weeks. Suprise surprise there was not much of a story beyond the individual special effect pieces. Overall it was a very interesting talk about making movies in the 1990's.

Next panel was "Slashing Away at Values: The Ethics and Politics of the Slasher Film". This panel had many of the same challenges of the first panel I went to. Again part of this might have been this is not a fandom I am apart of so too much went over my head but the pacing was also challenging.

Next was one of the highlights of the day for me "Handicrafting Horror Workshop" where we were given materials and instructions on how to do two projects at home.

My Final Panel of the day was "Marginalized Identities in Slasher Films" which covered a few interesting topics and recovered how Final Girls show a world where saying no to sex is ok. And there was a brief mention of the idea that using a queer lens you can see the Final Girl as expressing Ace ideas. It just made me happy someone mentioned Ace/Asexual Identities :)

So while this year was not on a fandom I was really acquainted with I am still glad I went and got to spend a day exploring such topics.