CFP: The Imperial Presidency on Film and TV Paper submissions are sought for the area, "The Imperial Presidency on Film and TV" The imperial presidency has haunted the country since its founding, from Washington's fear of being anointed a new king to Nixon's secretive obsession with power and contempt for the democratic process. This area (multiple panels) invites papers that investigate how the aesthetic and historical similarities between the president and the king can be traced in filmic images and narratives for a conference to be held in the shadow of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, November 10-12, 2000. Papers might address the issue of how the iconography of the president does, or does not, parallel that of the king in Hollywood film. Or, panelists might explore the propensity of Hollywood to make of the president a star and how this affects the representation of democracy. Does the president as star produce in the spectator a mystified relation to the political leader, and does this have implications in terms of the health of democracy? Arthur Schlesinger's landmark work on the imperial presidency proposes that the exponential growth of the presidency since World War II has radically altered the nature of the balance of power. How might this be indicated in filmic portrayals of presidential power during the post-war period? Films such as Gabriel Over the White House, Dr. Strangelove, All the Presidents Men, Executive Action, Murder at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Clear and Present Danger, Seven Days in May are clearly eligible, but all presidential films, inclusive of documentaries, touch on this subject at one time or another due to its continuing relevance within our constitutional system. A broad range of topics and approaches are encouraged. Papers are limited to twenty minutes in length. Send papers or proposals by Sept 1 to: Isabelle Freda [log in to unmask] After Sept 1: Isabelle Freda Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge New York University FAX 212-995-4904 Phone: 212-998-8993 The Presidency on Film and TV conference is sponsored by the Film and History League and Film & History. Full details about the conference, the registration procedures, travel benefits, and the organizations can be found on the national web site for Film & History: http://h-net.msu.edu/~filmhis ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite