In an interview regarding John Wick, director Chad Stahelski makes one goal clear: “We just wanted to isolate and show you a hidden world, and believe in the mythology.” But world-making can be accomplished by way of various strategies, and in Ways of Worldmaking Nelson Goodman asks a salient question: “The many stuffs—matter, energy, waves, phenomena—that worlds are made of are made along with the worlds. But made from what?” The “stuffs” that comprise the John Wick films’ “hidden world” open it to investigation from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. And John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum has not only achieved critical success—and taken the franchise’s box office over the $500 million mark—but also added dimension to this world and its mythology.
Film scholars, designers and architects, art historians, folklorists, literary critics, and others will address these and related topics at a conference to be convened at Indiana University Bloomington from November 7-9. In addition, four featured speakers will present their work at the meeting:
- Lisa Coulthard (University of British Columbia) and Lindsay Steenberg (Oxford Brookes University)
- Lauren Steimer (University of South Carolina)
- Charles Tung (Seattle University)
While no contract yet exists for an anthology featuring expanded versions of papers presented at this meeting, plans are in place to do this, and several presses have expressed interest. Plans for this volume will be discussed in a session at the conference.
This conference is presented with the generous support of the following departments and offices at Indiana University Bloomington:
The College of Arts & Humanities Institute (CAHI)
The College of Arts and Sciences
The World(s) of John Wick 