An essential dimension of the Cold War took place in the realm of ideas and culture. A great deal of work, for example, has been done on cinema, especially with regard to the United States although other nations, both East and West, have received increasing attention. But with certain noteworthy exceptions (primarily in the areas of science fiction and espionage series) relatively little has been done on this subject in relation to television. Yet, television was a technology and popular cultural form that emerged during the Cold War. This project hopes to rectify that absence by providing a forum for examining the impact of the Cold War on entertainment television. We intend to underline the comparative aspect by studying programs from both blocs – without forgetting, of course, the outsize impact of American television.

Program

Thursday, 5 June 2014

Morning: Amphithéâtre, Archives Nationales, Métro St Denis Université

9:00 Opening of conference

SESSION #1: CONTROLLING THE MESSAGE, SOVIET-STYLE

Chair: André Filler, Paris 8

• 9:30    “Divertissements étrangers à la télévision soviétique: dosage et censure”, Anatoly Tokmakov, Université de Caen, France
• 9:50     “‘Le droit d’inventaire’ de la culture occidentale quotidienne dans les séries télévises soviétiques de la ‘guerre froide’”, Gueorgui Chepelev, INALCO, France
• 10:10   Questions

SESSION #2: CONTROLLING THE MESSAGE, AMERICAN-STYLE

Chair: Joe Darowski, Brigham Young Idaho

• 11:00   “The Adventures of Robin Hood – Outlawed in Sherwood, Banned from Hollywood”, Scott Brand, University of Zurich, Switzerland
• 11:20   “Comedy on the Front Lines of the Cold War: Bob Hope’s Christmas TV Specials during the Vietnam War”, Uldis Kruze, University of San Francisco, USA
• 11:40   Questions
• 12:10   Lunch

Afternoon sessions: Amphi D004, University of Paris 8

SESSION #3: TENSIONS OF DEMOCRACY: CITIZEN AND GOVERNMENT

Chair: Janice Liedl, Laurentian University

• 14:00   “Treating the Nation’s Wounds: M*A*S*H, 1972-75”, Lori Maguire, Université de Paris 8, France
• 14:20   “Britain’s Last Cold War Series: A Very British Coup”, Tony Shaw, University of Hertfordshire, UK
• 14:40   “The Nuclear Missile that Harrods would Sell You: Yes, Prime Minister as Cold War Satire”, Shannon Granville, Woodrow Wilson Center, USA
• 15:00   Questions

SESSION #4: TENSIONS OF COMMUNISM: DAILY LIFE

Chair: Cécile Vaissié, Rennes II

• 15:50   “Real Socialism, Socialist Realism: Representing Soviet Normality in Day after Day”, Simon Huxtable, Loughborough University, UK
• 16:10   “Comparing Socialist Entertainment: Popular Television Series in Yugoslavia and the USSR”, Sabina Mihelj, Loughborough University, UK
• 16:30   Questions

17:00   KEYNOTE #1: “This World Beyond: The Image of the West in Soviet TV-Series”, Jan Levtchenko, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

Reception 

Friday, 6 June

Morning: Amphithéâtre, Archives Nationales, Métro St Denis Université

SESSION #5: LOOKING AT THE OTHER SIDE: THE WEST

Chair: Joe Darowski, Brigham Young Idaho

• 9: 30    “Hawaii Five-O and the Cold War in Paradise: Wo Fat, Steve McGarrett, and the Chinese Threat in American Television”, Joseph Constance, St. Anselm College, USA
• 9:50     “Communists or Cylons? Soviet Shadows in Western Science Fiction Television”, Janice Liedl, Laurentian University, Canada
• 10:10   Questions

SESSION #6: LOOKING AT THE OTHER SIDE: COMMUNISM

Chair : André Filler, Paris 8

• 11:00 “La représentation contrastée de l’Occident, dans la série 17 moments de printemps”, Cécile Vaissié, Université de Rennes 2, France
• 11:20   “The Reception of American Entertainment Television in China in the 1980s”, Shuxi Yin, Heifei University of Technology, China
• 11:40   “Image-Making in TASS is Authorized to Declare.”, Jonathan Ludwig, Rice University, USA
• 12:00   Questions
• 12:30   Lunch

Afternoon Sessions: Amphi D004, University of Paris 8

SESSION #7: THE COLD WAR IN BROADER CONTEXT

Chair: Lori Maguire, University of Paris 8, France

• 14:00   “Czechoslovak Documentary Film Propaganda in the Cold War Context 1948-1989”, Katerina Brezinova, Metropolitan University, Prague, Czech Republic
• 14:20   “The South African Broadcasting Corporation and the War in Angola”, Monica Popescu, McGill University, Canada
• 14:40   “Imagined Geographies of the USIS Television Shows in the 1960s’ South Korea”, Han Sang Kim, Harvard University, USA
• 15:00   Questions

SESSION #8: MACHO MYSTERIES: THE COLD WAR AND GENDER 

Chair: Nancy Reagin, Pace University

• 15:50   “Call Five-O a White Male Imperialist Fantasy: Steve McGarrett as a Vision of American Cold War Masculinity, Race and Empire”, Michael Vann, Sacramento State University, USA
• 16:10   “The End of the Cold War Masquerade: Magical Women on TV, 1964-2003”, Anne Rubenstein, York University, Canada
• 16:30 Questions
• 17:00 KEYNOTE #2:  “‘A Long Twilight Struggle’: Entertainment Television Fights the Cold War, 1948-1991”, Rick Worland, Southern Methodist University, USA

Reception

Saturday, 7 June

Amphi D004, University of Paris 8

SESSION #9: NATIONAL AIMS AND AUDIENCES

Chair : Cécile Vaissié, Rennes II

• 9:30     “La musique à la télévision nationale roumaine: entre glorification nationale et démarcation occidentale”, Irène Costelian, Education Nationale, France
• 9:50     “Entertainment Television in Cuba: An Ethnographic Consideration of Programs and Practices”, Anna Cristina Pertierra, University of Queensland, Australia
• 10:10   “Soviet Television, Popular Culture and Cold War Entertainment”, Kirsten Bönker, Bielefeld University, Germany
• 10:30   Questions

SESSION #10: EAST VS WEST IN GERMAN TELEVISION CULTURES

Chair: Lori Maguire, Paris 8

• 11:20   “Socialist Indians, Capitalist Cowboys: the Ideologies of Westerns in East and West Germany.", Nancy Reagin, Pace University, USA
• 11:40   “Playing Socialist Games: The East German Show ‘Together It’s Fun’ and Alternatives to Consumption”, Laura Honsburger, New York University, USA
• 12:00   “Social Images of Poverty – Social Inequality and the Construction of Otherness in GDR Television (1960s to 1980s)”, Christoph Lorke, University of Muenster, Germany
• 12:20   Questions
• 12:50   Lunch

Afternoon Sessions: Amphi D004, University of Paris 8

SESSION #11: SMALL SCREEN SPIES AND WARRIORS

Chair: Janice Liedl, Laurentian University

• 14:30   “Ninjas, Spies, and Cold Warriors: Rethinking Japanese Children’s Television as Cold War Culture”, Michael Baskett, University of Kansas, USA
• 14:50   "Politiser le mal : figure d'espion dans les (télé)films policiers soviétiques des années 1950-1970", André Filler, Université de Paris 8, France
• 15:10   “Prime Time Cold Warriors: American Cold War Policies and Stances in TV War Dramas Combat! And The Rat Patrol”, David Pierson, University of Southern Maine, USA
• 15:30   Questions

SESSION #12: TECHNOLOGY AND MYTHS OF PROGRESS

Chair: Nancy Reagin, Pace University

• 16:20   “Men into Space, the Space Race and the Cold War”, Margaret Weitekamp, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian, USA
• 16:50   "Propaganda and the Atomic Age: The Adventures of Superman and American Cold War Rhetoric.", Joseph Darowski, Brigham Young University Idaho, USA
• 17:10   Questions
• 17:30   Conference Conclusion