Thursday, April 4, 2019
Heroic Politics on Screen
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5
The last two decades have seen an explosion of superheroic narratives on screen. Meanwhile, the political backdrop of the recent popular fascination with superheroes has been a growing sense of political uncertainty and crisis. At home and abroad, questions over the limits of representation, sovereign authority, and democratic action have defined a political world which, simultaneously, has become saturated with superheroic narratives. This evening event asks what kinds of political life, and what kinds of citizens, these big-screen superheroic stories imagine—and whether these foster, or impede, democratic ends. Our speakers explore this question on several fronts: How do contemporary superhero narratives receive, adapt, modify, or reject traditional heroic models? Who do these stories represent, and how? And can these stories provide resources for a healthier democratic life? Or, following Rousseau, should we conclude that “certain circumstances can make a hero necessary for the salvation of the human race, but at any time, a whole people of heroes would infallibly be its ruin”? Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Reem-Kayden Center for Science and Computation, Room 103 [map]
Date: April 4, 2019
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FULL SCHEDULE
6:00pm: Introduction: Libby Barringer
6:10 pm: Josh Plencer, Presenter
6: 25pm: Bill Dixon, Presenter
6: 45pm: Q&A Session
7:00 pm: BREAK
7:10 Introduction: Libby Barringer
7:15 Joshua Dienstag, Presenter
7: 45: Q&A Session
6:10 pm: Josh Plencer, Presenter
6: 25pm: Bill Dixon, Presenter
6: 45pm: Q&A Session
7:00 pm: BREAK
7:10 Introduction: Libby Barringer
7:15 Joshua Dienstag, Presenter
7: 45: Q&A Session
PRESENTERS

Joshua Foa Dienstag is professor of political science and law at UCLA. He has written on the history of political thought, film, and the American Founding. He is the author of four books, including Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit, which won the book award for Excellence in Philosophy from the American Association of Publishers in 2006. His most recent book is Cinema Pessimism: Film and Representation in Democracy, which will be published this year by Oxford University Press. This year he is a fellow at the Berggruen Institute in Los Angeles.

MODERATOR
For more information, call 845-758-6822.
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST/GMT-5