Andrew sez, “Thought you might like to hear that a DVD of Neil Gaiman’s lecture/interview with Henry Jenkins is going on sale today and
that some great clips are already posted on Henry’s blog: http://henryjenkins.org/2008/12/from_neil_gaiman_to_j_michael.html. Definitely worth a gander.”
Our first speaker, appropriately enough, was Neil Gaiman, whose work spans comics (The Sandman), fiction (American Gods), cinema (Mirrormask), television (Neverwhere), the blogosphere, and much much more. Gaiman gave a memorable opening lecture on the nature of genre and its influence on the creative process, which is best known for an extended rift on how pornography and musicals follow similar conventions. It was inspired by Linda William’s Hardcore, but Gaiman took it in his own idiosyncratic directions. As the evening continued, we had a great conversation, which ranged across his career, talked about some of the key themes in his work, and especially dug deep into his ideas about myth, storytelling, and popular entertainment. Anyone whose ever heard Gaiman knows he’s a charming and engaging speaker with lots of interesting insights into cultural history and media theory.
From Neil Gaiman to J. Michael Straczynski: News on the Julius Schwartz Lecture Series
(Thanks, Andrew!)