cfp.english.upenn.edu

Call for Papers

“Love at the End of Life”

 2010 Film & History Conference: Representations of Love in Film and Television

November 11-14, 2010

Hyatt Regency Milwaukee

www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory

First Round Deadline: November 1, 2009

AREA: Love at the End of Life

How does the understanding of love change with the death and dying experience? This area explores films that deal with love in the end of life experience for the dying, caregivers and their loved ones. Love at the End of Life can explore many themes related to love, including love for oneself in the face of existential suffering, or a new understanding of love in the face of one’s mortality. There are a wide range of films to explore in this area in a cross-section of genres, ranging from successful box office films such as Love Story (1970) and Whose Life is it Anyway? (1982) to documentaries such as Silverlake Life: The View From Here (1993).

This area, comprising multiple panels, welcomes papers and panel proposals that examine all forms and genres of films featuring love at the end of life. Possibilities include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Love and Sacrifice in Pediatric End of Life (Lorenzo’s Oil)
• Love and Family at the End of Life (Marvin’s Room, My Life, Philadelphia)
• Closure and Forgiveness at the End of Life (Magnolia, Truly, Madly, Deeply)
•  Love and Existential Suffering in the film, Wit
• The Dying Friend: (Silverlake Life, The Doctor, Fried Green Tomatoes; Amadeus)
• Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: (Arsenic and Old Lace, Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Dax’s Case, Whose Life is it, Anyway?)
• Love and Death in times of War (Schindler’s List; Apocalypse Now, M*A*S*H)
• Documentary Films About End of Life (Silverlake Life)

Please send your 200-word proposal by e-mail only to the area chair:

M. Sara Rosenthal, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Bioethics

Director, Program for Bioethics

University of Kentucky

Email: msrose2@email.uky.edu

Panel proposals for up to four presenters are also welcome, but each presenter must submit his or her own paper proposal. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website (www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory).