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ASCA Events for Fall 200422 Sept Video screening: An American Election 1: Primary (Robert Drew, 1960) John F. Kennedy is often thought of as the first President of the television era. In at least as many ways, however, he was a cinematic figure: though he was quick to respond to the potentials of television, his persona, social life and public relations were all marked by his long-standing engagement with Hollywood. In this pioneering documentary, made during the Wisconsin Primary election in 1960, we see not only a master media operator in action but also a new kind of reportage (cinema verité) complete with its own claims ('behind the scenes,' 'close up,' 'truthful') in the making (58 minutes). Place: Room 416, Building 465; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
Having made his name for his cinematography in Primary, D.A. Pennebaker went on to make a number of documentary films before co-directing a celebrated account of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign for the US Presidency, The War Room. Organized around the contrasting figures and methods of Clinton aides George Stephanopoulos and James Carville, The War Room covers the full campaign and explores not only the selling of the candidate but also the challenges that Clinton's private life and controversial past posed to his public relations team (96 minutes). Place: Room 416, Building 465; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
A feature film about rival candidates for their party's presidential nomination, Franklin Schaffner's The Best Man draws close parallels to the politics of the late 1950s and early 1960s: both Henry Fonda's well-meaning, liberal intellectual and Cliff Robertson's ruthless, power-hungry operator being based in part on leading politicians of the age. Though made 40 years ago, this first-rate taboo-testing campaign drama also shows that scandal and the private lives of public officials were the stuff of politics a long time before the world had ever heard of Monica Lewinsky or Bill Clinton (104 minutes). Place: Room 416, Building 465; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
The 2004 presidential election is unlikely to be as close-run as the last contest. Nevertheless, during the late summer of 2004 polls showed the two candidates to be closely-matched, and in such circumstances, any number of issues might tip the balance. Whereas polls usually show President Bush to have a lead over Democratic Party candidate John Kerry in voter preferences on national security issues, the domestic agenda is another matter. In this guest lecture, Edward Ashbee focuses on domestic issues and discusses why and how they might influence the outcome of the campaign. Edward Ashbee is Associate Professor of American Studies at the Copenhagen Business School, where he teaches courses on various aspects of American politics and society. A regular contributor to political magazines and journals, his many publications include American Politics Today (2nd ed. 2004), American Society Today (2002), The Politics Today Companion to American Government (with Alan Grant, 2002), and Get Set for American Studies (2004). Professor Ashbee's main research interests focus on cultural politics, political parties and policymaking. He is currently studying the attitudes of the Bush administration and the Republican Party in relation to sexual morality, and compiling a Dictionary of American Studies (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming). Place: Room 415, Building 467; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
Bob Roberts differs from earlier screenings in this series in that it deals with a race for the US Senate rather than a US presidential campaign. In addition, while the other films emphasized their documentary qualities or implications, Bob Roberts offers a satire (or 'mockumentary') on contemporary American politics. Released as Bill Clinton entered the White House, the movie was a forerunner to films such as Wag the Dog (1997) and Primary Colors (1998); it also constituted an index of the dominance that media images and public perceptions had come to play in American politics towards the end of the twentieth century (105 minutes). Place: Room 416, Building 465; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
In the United States the quest for equality has often been thought of in terms of race. In recent decades, however, the struggle for gender equality has also been waged across many areas of public and private life, not least in the nation's universities and colleges. In this guest lecture, Professor Colatrella discusses how her work on Georgia Institute of Technology's computer-based ADEPT program has drawn on feminist science studies to enable members of academic search and promotion committees improve the effectiveness of their work, and to help applicants enhance their prospects. Carol Colatrella is Associate Professor of Literature in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology, at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her scholarly interests focus on the cultural study of 19th and 20th century American and European literary, historical, and scientific narratives. Her current book project is entitled Toys and Tools in Pink: Cultural Narratives of Gender, Science, and Technology. Place: Room 216, Building 467; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
Throughout the twentieth century, judges in the United States began citing social science as legal authority and findings from social science and natural sciences as matters of fact in court opinions. While the increased reliance on social and natural sciences has been well documented, little work has examined how social and natural sciences displaced appeals to traditional morality in legal opinions. In this paper, Jody Pennington examines judicial opinions handed down in cases ruling on freedom of expression and birth control to discern whether the shift in appeals to scientific rather than moral authority was a by-product of rationalist modernist legal thought. Jody W. Pennington is Associate Professor of Media Studies at the Department of English, University of Aarhus, where he teaches Media and Cultural Studies as well as American Studies. He has published articles and presented papers on various aspects of film and popular music, as well as American constitutional law. Place: Room 415, Building 467; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
Documentary film and movie-makers have their own perceptions of American politics; so too do political scientists, historians and other academics. But what Washington Post publisher Phil Graham once called the 'first rough draft of history' comes in the form of day-to-day journalism. Yet US Presidential elections are also often described as a media circus. In this guest lecture Tom Buk-Swienty gives his own account of the challenges faced by journalists seeking to cover the 2004 US Presidential campaign B in his case for a Danish audience. The author of Amerika Maxima (1999) and Fellow at the New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers in 2002-03, Tom Buk-Swienty is US Bureau Chief for Weekendavisen, and in that capacity has covered many aspects of American life, both inside and outside the so-called Washington Beltway. In addition to his work as a reporter, he is currently writing a book (Gyldendal, 2005) on the career of one of his distinguished Danish predecessors in the United States: Jacob Riis, author of the path-breaking How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890). Place: Room 415, Building 467; Department of English, University of
Aarhus
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