Call for Papers
“Monsters, Mad Scientists, and Men from Outer Space” Area
2008 Film & History Conference
“Film & Science: Fictions, Documentaries, and Beyond”
October 30-November 2, 2008
Chicago, Illinois
<http://www.filmandhistory.org>www.filmandhistory.org
First-Round Deadline: November 1, 2007

Area:  Monsters, Mad Scientists, and Men from Outer Space

What happens when science goes horribly wrong?  When nature spins out of 
control?  What do we make of unknown beings that boldly menace the 
frontiers of civilization, or silently infiltrate them and walk among us?

This area takes an in-depth look at science gone awry in the “B”s ­ the 
low-budget films of Hollywood’s Golden Age that delivered thrills and 
adventure to local movie houses and drive-in theaters for more than three 
decades.  Often dismissed as “quickies” made on-the-cheap that drew 
audiences through sensationalism and exploitation, B-Movies nonetheless 
were active participants in America’s imaginings of science, technology, 
nature, and human nature.  The “Monsters, Mad Scientists, and Men from 
Outer Space” Area explores the cultural, social, and political fantasies, 
fears, and morality tales given shape and form in the classic “B”s and 
their off-shoots.

Paper topics might include films on invasions, mutations, zombies, the 
undead, madness, space exploration (“Attack of the Crab Monsters,” 
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”); science-fiction hybrids (“Phantom 
Empire”); classic “B” or exploitation directors (Sam Newfield, Roger 
Corman, Don Siegel); along with interrelated historical, theoretical, and 
socio-cultural concerns.

Please send your 200-word proposal by November 1, 2007 to:

Cynthia Miller, Area Chair
Scholar-in-Residence
Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies
Emerson College
120 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116
Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]  (email submissions 
preferred)

Panel proposals for up to four presenters are also welcome, but each 
presenter must submit his or her own paper proposal. Deadline for 
first-round proposals: November 1, 2007

This area, comprising multiple panels, is a part of the 2008 biennial Film 
& History Conference, sponsored by The Center for the Study of Film and 
History. Speakers will include founder John O’Connor and editor Peter C. 
Rollins (in a ceremony to celebrate the transfer to the University of 
Wisconsin Oshkosh), and Wheeler Winston Dixon, James Ryan Professor of Film 
Studies at University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and author of Visions of the 
Apocalypse and Disaster and Memory. For updates and registration 
information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website 
(<http://www.filmandhistory.org>http://www.filmandhistory.org).


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