Program

Public Programs: America's Media Makers: Production Grants

Period of Performance

9/1/2013 - 3/31/2015

Funding Totals

$250,000.00 (approved)
$141,022.31 (awarded)


Popular Romance Project Website

FAIN: TR-50409-13

George Mason University (Fairfax, VA 22030-4444)
Kelly Schrum (Project Director: August 2012 to August 2014)

Production of an interactive, multifaceted website that would serve as an anchor for the "Popular Romance Project," a multimedia project on the writing, production, and consumption of popular romance literature.

The impulse to tell stories about courtship, love, and intimacy is universal and timeless. Romance fiction, which holds the largest share of the consumer book market, taps into archetypal stories in ways that are culturally and historically revealing. "The Popular Romance Project Website"--combining 600 video segments and 150 scholarly essays with games and primary sources--will shape and facilitate a substantive discussion about the writing, production, and consumption of popular romance. It will engage a mass audience in thoughtful and provocative exploration of the roles romance narratives play in popular culture and individual lives. The website serves as the core component of the larger Popular Romance Project that includes a feature-length film, an academic symposium (Library of Congress), and a national library program (American Library Association). The film received full production funding in 2012 and is scheduled for release in 2015.





Associated Products

Popular Romance Project (Web Resource)
Title: Popular Romance Project
Author: Kelly Schrum (Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media)
Abstract: The impulse to tell stories about courtship, love, and intimacy is universal and timeless. Romance fiction, which holds the largest share of the consumer book market, taps into archetypal stories in ways that are culturally and historically revealing. The Popular Romance Project Website — combining video segments and scholarly essays with games and primary sources — will shape and facilitate a substantive discussion about the writing, production, and consumption of popular romance. It will engage a mass audience in thoughtful and provocative exploration of the roles romance narratives play in popular culture and individual lives. The website serves as the core component of the larger Popular Romance Project that includes a feature-length documentary film, an academic symposium (Library of Congress), and a national library program (American Library Association).
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://popularromanceproject.org/