[ecrea] Film & History Conference: Film Noir

CALL FOR PAPERS
CFP: Film Noir

An area of multiple panels for the 2014 Film&  History Conference:
Golden Ages: Styles and Personalities, Genres and Histories
October 29-November 2, 2014
The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club
Madison, WI (USA)

DEADLINE for abstracts: June 1, 2014
AREA: The Golden Age(s) of Film Noir

Motion picture audiences have long grown accustomed to dramatic narratives in which the protagonist struggles to discover some element of truth among a myriad of circumstances and characters. As suggested by Kaplan, Spicer, Harvey, Place, and others, the style of Film Noir represented a different entity within the history of film; one that drew upon social eclecticism, and the seamy underbelly of popular culture. This style, or to some, film genre, forced audiences into re-examining American values, including traditional gender roles, race, and sexuality.

While the war years of 1941-46 featured the private eye or hard-boiled detective’s trip through the social fantastic, the post-war years drew upon the social malaise that was a large part of American culture, and a war ravaged Europe. A later construct was that of psychopathic behavior and criminal intent in which villains and villainesses harbored dark childhoods, and psychological wounds of war.

What can be said about the effects Film Noir, and the novels from which they derive, have had upon traditional Western societies? What cultural or historical factors affected audience perceptions of these stories, and their subsequent pleasures? How did female spectatorship factor prominently in postwar narratives? How has the anti-hero figured prominently in the deconstruction of patriarchy, if at all? This area, comprising multiple panels, explores the concept of “Golden Ages” across the production systems surrounding Film Noir. Topics might include the following:

• Decoding the Production Codes through Film Noir
• Feminism, female sexuality, and fandom
• Gay, Lesbian characters and Queer considerations
• Racial relations, and social disruption
• The existence, or non-existence, of Neo-Noir
• The Family in Film Noir
• The military man or woman in wartime Films Noir
• The recognizable star vs. the unknown actor in Films Noir
• The Tough Guy guise, and the fascination with the Femme Fatale
• Wet, dangerous, and dark: the visual tropes of the Film Noir city

Proposals for individual papers should include a 200-word abstract and the name, affiliation, and contact email of the presenter. Proposals for complete panels (three related presentations) are also welcome, but they must include an abstract and contact information, including an e-mail address, for each presenter.
Deadline for Abstracts: July 1, 2014. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see:www.filmandhistory.org/The2013FilmHistoryConference.php

Please send submissions or queries to the area chair:

Darrell M, Newton
Salisbury University
(dmnewton /at/ salisbury.edu)



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