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Visiting Scholars in Art History Series presents “Fantasies of Neglect,” April 5

March 30, 2017

The NIU School of Art and Design’s Elizabeth Allen Visiting Scholars in Art History Series presents “Fantasies of Neglect: Imagining the Urban Child in American Film and Fiction,” a lecture by Dr. Pamela Robertson Wojcik, Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

The lecture will take place Wednesday, April 5, 2017, at 5 p.m. in Room 100 of the School of Art and Design’s Jack Arends Building. It is free and open to the public.

In her lecture, Professor Wojcik asks: Why does the child’s solitary exploration of urban spaces persist as a source of empowerment and delight even as it goes against the grain of social reality? She explores the self-sufficient, mobile urban child, from Little Orphan Annie to Harriet the Spy to Hugo Cabret and Shirley Temple.

Pamela Robertson Wojcik is Professor in the Department of Film, TV, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame, where she also directed the Gender Studies Program from 2009 to 2015. She is author of many books, including “Fantasies of Neglect: Imagining the Urban Child in American Film and Fiction” (Rutgers UP 2016), “The Apartment Plot: Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945 to 1975” (Duke UP 2010), and “Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna” (Duke UP 1996). She has also edited several collections of essays, including “New Constellations: Movie Stars of the 1960s” (Rutgers UP 2011), “Movie Acting: The Film Reader” (Routledge 2004), and (with Arthur Knight) “Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music” (Duke UP 2001). Professor Wojcik is President-Elect of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.
The Elizabeth Allen Visiting Scholars in Art History Series is hosted by the Art History Division and funded in part by the NIU School of Art and Design Visiting Arts and Scholars Program. For further information contact rhouze@niu.edu.