cfp.english.upenn.edu

Call for Papers

“Women and Children First: Gender and Ethics”

2010 Film & History Conference: Representations of Love in Film and Television
November 11-14, 2010
Hyatt Regency Milwaukee
www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory
Second Round Deadline: March 1, 2010

AREA: Women and Children First: Gender and Ethics

“Women and children first!” goes the cry as the ship sinks to its grave. Gallant men die as the fair sex and the babies are protected from harm. This intersection of love, sacrifice, and gender poses numerous questions for our understandings of gender ethics, social roles, and even gendered violence, as over time, they shift in some ways, but in others, remain the same. If love requires the ultimate sacrifice, is that notion subject to different interpretations according to gender? Why does the damsel in distress strike such a chord? Can the damsel rescue the knight in shining armor without tarnishing the knight? How have portrayals of the Female Knight, as well as the demands placed on her, changed, and with them, our cultural evaluations of women and violence? How have gender and ethics in film changed over time, as the equality between the sexes has become the norm in real life?

This area, comprising multiple panels, welcomes papers and panel proposals that examine all forms and genres of films featuring the damsels and knights who test the nature and boundaries of gender and ethics. Possibilities include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• The Female Knight in Shining Armor (Aliens, Terminator, Pitch Black )
• The Heroic Dead (Titanic, Joan of Arc)
• Women in Wartime (Gone With the Wind, Mrs. Miniver)
• Westerns: Rebels and Redemption (Rooster Cogburn, The Outlaw Josey Wales)
• Avenging Angels (Elektra, Kill Bill)
• Serve and Protect: Gender, Ethics, and a Badge (Saving Grace, Law and Order)
• Brilliant Defender: Female Sleuths and Scientists (Bones, CSI, In Plain Sight)

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

Caryn E. Neumann, Area Chair
Miami University of Ohio
4200 East University Boulevard
Middletown, OH 45042
Email: neumance@muohio.edu (email submissions preferred)

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).