"Rural Americas" – 1. Block: Film "Badlands" & Panel zu "Flyover Fictions: A New View on Literature, Film, and Politics"

Das Zentrum für Interamerikanische Studien (ZIAS) der Universität Innsbruck lädt Sie herzlich zum ersten Themenblock der Veranstaltungsreihe Rural Americas (WiSe 22/23) ein, der am 07. und 08. November 2022 stattfindet:

Am Montag, den 07. November 2022 (19:00–21:00 Uhr, Hörsaal 6), wird im Rahmen der VO Screening America der Film Badlands (USA, englische Originalfassung mit englischen Untertiteln, 1973) von Terrence Malick gezeigt. Am Folgetag wird Prof. Adam Ochonicky (University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh) während seines Vortrags auf diesen Film eingehen und selbigen besprechen (siehe unten).

Zum Film:

"It's the late 1950s. Mid-twenty-something Kit is a restless and unfocused young man with a James Dean vibe and swagger which he has heard mentioned about him more than once. Fifteen year old Holly has a somewhat cold relationship with her sign painter father, if only because she is the primary reminder of his wife, who died of pneumonia when Holly was a child. The two meet when Holly and her father move from Texas to the small town where Kit lives, Fort Dupree, South Dakota. They slowly fall in love, something about which she cannot tell her father because of their age difference and Kit coming from the wrong side of the tracks. When he tries to take Holly away with him, Kit, on an impulse, shoots her father dead. After letting the initial emotions of the situation settle down, Holly decides voluntarily to go with Kit, they trying to make it look like they committed suicide in a house fire. But they soon learn that their plan did not work, there being a bounty on their heads. As such, Kit continues his murderous ways in order to protect the life he wants to eke out with Holly. She, on the other hand, wants to support Kit, especially as he begins to feel more and more trapped, but she may only be able to endure what looks increasingly to be a battle they cannot win as a couple. Through it all, they openly and privately muse about their philosophies on their life considering their current circumstance." (Quelle)

Am Dienstag, den 08. November 2022 (19:00–20:30 Uhr, Hörsaal 4), werden Mag. Mag. Dr. Cornelia Klecker (Institut für Amerikastudien, Universität Innsbruck), Prof. Adam Ochonicky (University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh) und Prof. Dr. Sascha Pöhlmann (Institut für Amerikastudien, Universität Innsbruck) zum Thema "Flyover Fictions: A New View on Literature, Film, and Politics" sprechen. Im Anschluss daran werden Sie wieder die Möglichkeit haben, Ihre Fragen zu stellen und mitzudiskutieren.

Zu Dr. Kleckers Vortrag:

This talk will consider the flyover trope in conservative political discourse, which offers a simple yet appealing premise: Flyover is real America. Tracing back the political use of this trope, this talk will demonstrate how its increasingly radical rhetoric culminated in the election victory of Trump and even the storm on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and also address what is at stake in the US Midterm elections held on November 8.

Zu Prof. Ochonickys Vortrag:

My talk examines the symbolic and fluctuating identity of the Midwest, which is often dismissed as “flyover country” within American culture. Since at least the early twentieth century, this middle region has been associated with rural spaces, while large Midwestern cities (such as Chicago) have been regularly excluded from regional labels. Various forms of nostalgia strongly impact such regional perceptions. To address these topics, I use Badlands (dir. Terrence Malick, 1973) as a case study. This film showcases the nostalgic performativity of regional identity and, accordingly, is an important work for connecting past visions of the Midwest to contemporary relationships between regionalism and politics.

Zu Prof. Pöhlmanns Vortrag:

My talk will introduce the flyover trope as a particular way of thinking about rural America in terms of a simplistic binary between dominant cultural centers on the coasts and irrelevant spaces in between. I will outline the cultural and literary history of the concept to suggest ways in which it transcends its once local specificities and has now become a symbolic condensation of struggles over hegemony or recognition.

• Sprache: Englisch
  
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