Society for Cinema and Media Studies
March 4-7, 2004
Atlanta, GA
DEADLINE: August 15, 2003

"From Bubble to Burst: Alienation, Economics, and Film and Media Representations of the 'Middle-Class Squeeze' of the 1990s": Just as the upward spiral of new media technologies spurred the economic boom of the 1990s, so its collapse exacerbated the middle-class squeeze that has come to characterize life so far in the 21st Century. Papers are sought for a panel analyzing the impact of the boom and bust cycle on the representation of the American middle class during this period, with specific focus on the ways in which the political economy of new media has influenced film and media representation. What effects, for example, have new digital technologies such as the Internet or the availability of low cost video equipment had on representations of middle-class life and economic problems (e.g., Bowling for Columbine; Startup.com)? How have constraints on big media budgets and the availability of instantaneous/ interactive satellite broadcasting changed news coverage and inspired new genres (Reality TV)? What is the significance of the representation of the middle-class squeeze in narrative feature films such as American Beauty, Fight Club, Happiness, The Matrix, Natural Born Killers, and Falling Down? Sponsored by the SCMS Caucus on Class.