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| It's February, it must be Albuquerque, New Mexico |
I make a
yearly trek to downtown Albuquerque, home of Route 66 and the location of a
budding film community known as Tamale-wood, for the Southwest Popular/American
Culture Association’s annual conference. During the day, this high desert city
has a modest bustling business district and each night as darkness takes root
and the streets become sparse of activity, many of the business buildings are
bathed in beautiful hues of soft light, revealing why this place is known as
the city of light. And centered in the Hyatt, a couple of thousand
undergraduate, graduate and independent scholars assemble to discuss all things
pop culture over three days each February.
In my third
year as the James Bond, Espionage and Eurospy Area Chair, this year there was a
marked increase in interested presenters for my area. I had 14 presenters that
made up four panel sessions. Three sessions were scheduled Wednesday afternoon
and the fourth was Thursday morning.
Here’s a
recap of presenters and their presentation titles. All gave informative
presentations that solicited intriguing Q&A sessions.
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| Panel 1: Brody and Rafael |
Session
1: Literary Bond
Brody
Wedgeworth of Stephen F. Austin State University
“Mechanical
Spies and Female Sidekicks: Ludlum's Response to Fleming's Bond”
Rafael
Hernandez of University of Florida
“Secret
Agency: Fanon, Algeria, and the Female Double Agent in Spy Fiction”
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| Panel 2: Tom and Sarah |
Session
2: Gender and Identity
Tom McNeely
of Vernon College
“The
Feminization of M, Revisited: Gender and Authority in the Bond Films”
Sarah Kelley
of University of Bristol
“For Queen
and Country: James Bond and National Identity in the Daniel Craig Era”
Session
3: Audio Interpretations
Ian Dawe,
Independent Scholar
“ 'Archer':
A Spy Parody for the Ears”
Michele
Brittany, Independent Scholar
“Spectra*Paris'
Murder Show: The James Bond Rock Opera”
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| Panel 4: Elyn, Hannah and Nick |
Session
4: Cold War Spies
Elyn
Achtymichuk of University of Saskatchewan
“Women on
Fire and Men Bleeding Spades: The Audio-Visual Signifiers of Masculinity in the
Opening Sequence of James Bond Films”
Hannah
Means-Shannon of Georgian Court University
“Super-Spies
Face the Collective Shadow of the Cold War in Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT”
Nicholas
Diak, Independent Scholar
“Spionagio
all'italiana: Exploring Italy's Spy Film Phenomenon and Its Importance to
Italian Film Canon”
Film
Screening: The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
This was my
second year hosting a film screening. Last year, my showing of Michel
Hazanavicius’ OSS 117 Cairo Nest of Spies
(2006) packed the room, so I decided to reach back into the spy vault and
selected The Quiller Memorandum
(1966, Michael Anderson). This spy-thriller was shot on location in Berlin and
at Pinewood Studios and was based on the 1965 spy novel by Elleston Trevor
titled The Berlin Memorandum. The
film starred Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow (timeless!), and a young George Segal
as Quiller. The score was composed by John Barry, who scored Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. The film received three BAFTA nominations for Best
British Screenplay, Best British Art Direction, and Best British Film Editing.
The film
meets up with Quiller, who has been assigned to assist the British secret
organization stationed in Berlin where there are covert Neo Nazi fractions operating.
The relationship between Quiller and his handler (Guiness) is filled with
controlled animosity and nothing of the almost stern fatherly relationship Bond
has with M. Much emphasis is placed on the non-descript – “could be anyone” –
enemy that Quiller is trying to uncover. Along the way, Quiller continually
ditches the shadow agent that is meant to protect him, but he is completely
inept at losing the henchmen of the main villain (Sydow). Quiller’s spy
abilities are consistently called into question: does he know what he is doing?
Is he lucky, or unlucky, depending on the situation? Part of interesting part
of the film is its pacing, which compliments a sense of anxiety and tension,
never really crossing into an action film – it is a pot that never boils.
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| Film Screening Panel: Ian, Rob, Nick, and Hannah |
Given the
“anti-Bond” nature of the film, I felt it was less approachable as a result, so
I invited Ian Dawe, Nicholas Diak, Hannah Means-Shannon, and Robert Weiner to
sit for a round table discussion at the conclusion of the showing. Each summarized
their thoughts on the film, but one common theme they all agreed on was the
surrealistic nature of the film. Quiller’s efficiency as a spy was another
topic of conversation by the panel, and the audience.
The movie
did not attract nearly the same numbers as the previous year, but I think it
was a valuable film to contrast with the Bond films of the 1960s. While I do
want to screen a film next year, I’m not sure what film it will be. Initially,
I am interested in showing Agent Vinod
(2012), but I’m concerned about the length (160 minutes).
Since my
panels were over Thursday morning, I did spend time visiting the booksellers
that were set up outside of the various meeting rooms: Intellect, McFarland,
and University of New Mexico Press, stand out each year. This is the time to
snag books you have been wanting, but couldn’t afford since some of the presses
will offer conference discounts. I was fortunate to come across a book on Brian
de Palma from Intellect, which fits nicely with my research on SPECTRA*Paris.
I cannot
express how very important and beneficial it is to spend time networking at
these academic conferences. The open lobby area of the Hyatt was conducive for re-establishing
professional friendships and making new connections. You never know what
conversations you’ll end having with others. It can be a wonderful organic
experience. This is in addition to presenting of course. Most of the panels are
smaller, allowing 15 – 20 minutes of speaking time. Audience size varies,
depending on the time of day, what other panels are going at the same time, and
popularity of the subject matter. Time spent presenting is always to one’s
advantage.
Thursday
evening, I attended the film screening of the later silents The Man Who
Laughs (1928) starring Conrad Veidt (one of
my favourites!) and Mary Philbin in the German film directed by Paul Leni. Rob
Weiner hosted the screening as a study of the first portrayals of a Joker
character in film. What a treat to experience such films on a big screen and
amongst other cinephiles. I just wish I had not been sick and suffering from
intermittent bouts of laryngitis throughout the conference, otherwise I would
have enjoyed participating in the discussion afterwards.
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| Networking and making friends Thursday night |
The rest of
the evening and into the wee hours of the morning was spent chatting with a
fantastic group of folks and then it was on an early Friday morning flight back
home. My shuttle driver was an older man dressed in leathers and from the East
Coast. He was quite a character: he quizzed three very sleepy-eyed and rather
incoherent pop culture scholars about Andy Warhol and Velvet Underground. While
exiting, he whispered he was 72 – well, he was definitely still young at heart
and I wish I could have been more engaging at 5 AM.
The
conference continued through Saturday with a scheduled Breaking Bad trip for conference-goers interested in seeing the
various places around Albuquerque featured in the series. I understand it was a
fun time and the weather quite mild for February. I know I’ll be back next year,
so if you are interested in attending a friendly, smaller pop culture
conference and presenting on James Bond, spy-fi, espionage and/or Eurospy, check back here for my call for
proposals later this year.
