*CALL FOR PAPERS*

*Citizenship and Sociopathy in Film, Television, and New Media*

*2018 Film & History Conference*

November 7-11

Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club

Madison, WI (USA)

The screen can tell us how people fit or do not fit with each other--with
their families and neighbors, their schools and sanctuaries, their nations
and natural environments. And those depictions, whether in film,
television, or new media, frequently compete. Why might the good citizen of
one crime drama become the sociopath of another? Social standards are
pliable, but how far can visual media reshape them, and how long can they
persist? Could the portrayal of buddies in a comedy from the 1930s offer
a viable model of friendship in a modern comedy? In what ways have the
models of civic discourse, from Europe and Asia to Africa and the Americas,
evolved in reality television, in news programs, in online video? The
"good" citizen might seem easy to define, but when do some portrayals of
citizenship succeed, inspiring audiences, while others backfire? Visions of
citizenship, from the historical dramas to the futuristic adventures,
reveal deep assumptions about ethical behavior, which, of course, the
sociopathic vision can challenge—sometimes dangerously, but often
helpfully. When might citizenship itself be dangerous?

 Film & History invites paper submissions for the November conference. The
deadline for submissions is June 1, 2018. We welcome proposals for papers
and full panels from a broad range of academic fields, topics, and
theoretical perspectives, including:

 Building Better Citizens: Education on Screen

Women’s Studies

Westerns: Frontier Citizenship

Citizen Soldiers: The Armed Forces on Screen

Classical Antiquity

Documenting Immigrants, Migrants, and Refugees

Hollywood’s Golden Age and American Culture

Marriage and the State

The Horror: Psychopaths, Sociopaths, Slashers, and Other Monsters

Queer Studies

Paranoid Politics in the Long 1950s

Television Heroes: Saviors or Sociopaths

Nation and Family

Race and Ethnicity in Film, Television, and New Media

Render unto Caesar: Dilemmas of Church and State

Teaching Film

Declarations of Independence: Independent Film

Destroyer of Worlds: Citizenship and Sociopathy in Science Fiction

Subjugated Masculinities: “Cowboys,” Gangsters, and Drag Kings

Transnational Film

The Good Citizen: Dystopian Narratives

We are honored to feature philosopher Robert B. Pippin as this year’s
keynote speaker.  Dr. Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished
Service Professor of Social Thought, Philosophy, and in the College at the
University of Chicago. Dr. Pippin has published numerous articles and
essays on the intersection of film, philosophy, and ethics across genres,
including articles on *The Thin Red Line*, *Out of the Past, The Searchers*,
*Talk to Her, *and *In a Lonely Place.*

Please send your 200-word abstract submission to area chair manager Cindy
Miller at [log in to unmask] for consideration.

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