Medieval Films Area Reborn

The "Medieval Films/Television Area" has been resurrected for the upcoming Film & History Conference. I will post a call for papers ASAP, but, in the meantime, I have posted the main call for papers below. Initial proposals are due by 1 August 2009.

Representing Love in Film and Television
2010 Film & History Conference
November 11-14, 2010
Hyatt Regency Hotel Milwaukee, WI (USA)

The 2010 Film & History conference will look at how love—as psychology, as dramatic principle, as historical agent, as cultural stage, as ethical standard—has been represented in film and television. How has the depiction of love defined a society or a period? Which people—or institutions or ideas or animals—have been promoted as subjects (or objects) of love, and which ones have not? In what ways do we love or not love because of film and television? How has the screen represented the love of country, the love of one's neighbor, the love of God, or the love of family? How has it represented the repudiation or reformulation of love, and what are the historical ramifications?

Questions about the nature of love define not just couples or parents and their children but whole communities and nations, shaping their religions, their economic policies, their media programming, their social values, their most powerful fears and ambitions. Love in each era defines the struggles worth enduring and the stories worth telling, from Gone With the Wind and Casablanca to Hamlet and Cleopatra, from The Jazz Singer and The Sound of Music to The Graduate and Boogie Nights, from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Ten Commandments to Easy Rider and The Right Stuff, from The 400 Blows and Life Is Beautiful to Amelie and Muriel's Wedding. This conference will examine the aesthetic representations of love on screen and will assess their historical, cultural, and philosophical implications.

The Center for the Study of Film and History invites proposals from prospective chairpersons of topic areas (under which multiple panels will be organized). Chairs are encouraged either to propose their own areas or to propose versions of the areas suggested below. (Each area should be related directly to film and/or television.)


Across the Tracks: Love and Class Addictions, Compulsions, Obsessions
Affairs of Race Agape: Faith, God, Mission
Animals of the Wild
Beasts of Burden…and Breakfasts
Broadway Motifs in Cinema
Cartoons and Pornography
Censorship and the Code
Charismatic Leaders
Citizen Love: Flag Wavers, Flag Burners
Classic and Classical: The Romance Genre
Cowboy and Cowgirl Love
Families and Society
Fetish and Function: The Love of Things
Flings and Fantasies
Fraternity and Sorority
Freudian Readings and Approaches
Hetero, Homo, Sapiens: Theories of Sexuality
Jane Austen on Screen
Laboratory Love: Documentary-Style Treatments
Love American Style
Love and Community
Love and Violence
Love Gone Awry
Lovers on the Side: Rogues and Tramps
Lust in Space: Science Fiction and Romance
Leitmotivs of Love: Music, Song, and Film
Mon Amour: French Kisses and French Misses
Office Romance
Pets and Companion Animals
Reality-TV Love: Bachelors and Bachelorettes
Responsible Love: Marriage and Parenthood
Romantic Comedies on Television
Romantic Dramas on Television Separation, Divorce, Reconciliation Sex and Love in Asian Contexts
Sex and Morality
Soul and Self: Love and Identity Stereotypes: Old, Young, and Mid-Life Crises
Suicidal Lovers
Teachers and Students
Team Ethos: Buddy Films and Chick Flicks
The First Romantics: Italy on Screen
The Secret Agent: James Bond…or the Women
The Weight of History: Body Image and Love
Uniform Love: Military and Romance
Vampire Love
Women and Children First: Gender and Ethics


These topics are suggested as an inspiration for thought, but CFP proposals for any area should articulate a clear theme and historical context. Send your proposals (200-400 words) to FilmandHistory@uwosh.edu by August 1, 2009 for early consideration. Proposals will continue to be accepted, but early entries will receive priority.