CALL FOR PAPERS
“They Work Hard for the Money: Gender, Labor, and Livelihood”

An area of multiple panels for the 2013 Film & History Conference on
Making Movie$: The Figure of Money On and Off the Screen November 20-24, 2013
Madison Concourse Hotel (Madison, WI)
www.filmandhistory.org/The2013FilmHistoryConference.php
DEADLINE for abstracts: July 1, 2013

AREA: “They Work Hard for the Money: Gender, Labor, and Livelihood”

Work and the workplace serve as the context and the focus of countless film and television narratives.  In some, who makes money – and how – seems to be taken for granted, while in others it is the central problem.  This area seeks submissions that consider the ways in which money, and the work done to earn it, are – or are not – gendered in cinematic and televisual representations.

On television, comic working-class figures such as Laverne and Shirley, complex crime fighters such as Mary Shannon (In Plain Sight) and Grace Hanadarko (Saving Grace), and post-divorce professionals such as Alicia Florrick (The Good Wife) or Dani Santino (Necessary Roughness) create a robust definition of “working girl.” Those images are reinforced and amplified on the silver screen in Cinderella stories such as Maid in America, family dramas such as Baby Boom, and even action films such as Salt and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  Do these characters, as wage earners and career women, face challenges and concerns that are different or similar from those of generations past? In what ways does their status as women inform their orientation to work and money?

Similarly, what are the taken-for-granted norms for male workers on the big and small screen?  Do Don Draper of Mad Men and Harvey Spector of Suits respond differently to the pressures to succeed than did their television predecessors in series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show or L.A. Law?  Has the era of the land/oil/big money patriarch passed (Dallas), or is it experiencing a revival?  Is the disaffected working class in television (Movin’ On) and film (Swing Shift) portrayed as predominantly male?  How do cinematic and televisual narratives portray those who earn no money at all (Mr. Mom)?
This area, comprising multiple panels, welcomes proposals on the subject of gender, class, and wealth in films and television programs. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

•        Rags to Riches (Maid in Manhattan; The Pursuit of Happyness)
•        It’s a Man’s World (Mad Men, Suits,)
•        (Un)equal Partnerships (Mr. and Mrs. Smith; Moonlighting)
•        Patriarchs and Powerbrokers (Dynasty; Dallas; Citizen Kane)
•        The Glass Ceiling (9-to-5, Remington Steele)
•        Gender and the Dissatisfied Worker (Working Girl; Norma Rae; Tootsie)
•        Just Another (Doctor, Executive, Cop, Lawyer) Looking for Love (The Proposal; Saving Grace; Necessary Roughness)
•        She’s Such a B—-: Women On Top (The Devil Wears Prada; Network; Mildred Pierce)

Please send your 200-word proposal by e-mail to the Area Chair by July 1, 2013:

Dr. Laura Mattoon D’Amore, Area Chair
They Work Hard for the Money: Gender, Class and Wealth
Roger Williams University
Email: ldamore@rwu.edu

Proposals for complete panels (three related presentations) are also welcome, but they must include an abstract and contact information, including an e-mail address, for each presenter. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website (www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory).