Several faculty members presented at PCA/ACAS conference this past weekend.

See details below.

Your task: Create a media release for this event. Write in the style of the university. Develop an appropriate set of quotations for Dr. Tindall, one of the professors, and one of the students.

The best release will be used by the Department of Communication and Media.

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2018 PCAS/ACAS NEW ORLEANS CONFERENCE

2018 Conference New Orleans, LA   October 4-6

JW Marriott  New Orleans

614 Canal Street

New Orleans, LA 70130

http://pcasacas.org/dir/2018-pcasacas-new-orleans-conference/2018-conference-program-draft/

Friday 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 am

Crossing Boundaries: Time, Mortality and Psychology [ORPHEUS ROOM]

Chair: Nicki L. Michalski, Lamar University

● Revival vs. Reboot: Psychological Time Travel — Nicki L. Michalski, Lamar University

● Angels Among Us: Boundaries Between Mortal and Immortal — Mahmoud Salimi, Lamar University

● A Comparison of the Most Popular Time-Travel TV Series in English and Chinese — Qingjiang Yao,

Lamar University

● The Infinite Quality of Forgiveness — The Concept of Forgiveness in Time Travel Films — O’Brien

Stanley, Lamar University

Friday, 1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m.

Society and Film [ENDYMION ROOM]

Chair: Laszlo Fulop, The University of New Orleans

● Disney World as Promised Land in Sean Baker’s 2017 The Florida Project — Beckie Flannagan,

Francis Marion University

● Looking at the Audience: Socially Conscious Fictional Films Break the Rules — Laszlo Fulop, The

University of New Orleans

● Returning to Aztlan: How Chicano Films Have Challenged Stereotypes By Embracing Indigenous

Heritage — C.J. Delgado, Lamar University

Saturday, 10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. 

S 15.6 Video Games: The Changing Frontier [BABYLON ROOM]

Chair: April Marble, Lamar University

● Grand Theft Auto V, Capitalism, and Commodification: How the Virtual Economy is Changing

Video Games — April Marble, Lamar University

● Video Games and the Neo-Liberal Hero: Capitalism, Postmodernism, and American Exceptionalism –

– Aaron A. Toscano, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

● A historical look at fictional virtual reality — Chad Wilson, University of Houston

SATURDAY, 12:30 p.m. -2:00 p.m.

S 16.3 CGI, Film Analysis and Engagement [MUSES ROOM]

Chair: Barrett McDonald, Warner University

● Arrival Film Analysis — Kylee Moreland, Lamar University

● Mathematics in Movies: When Looks Are Deceiving — Barrett McDonald, Warner University

From the conference program: 

WHAT ARE POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES?

Popular Culture Studies have come to consist of those scholarly inquiries which deal with the customs, artifacts,

events, myths, language, and the like that are shared by a significant portion of a culture or sub-culture.

Some persons refer to such sharing as mass mediated. Whenever one watches TV, attends a football game, reads

advertisements, selects a soap or tire or suit, makes a grocery list, takes the kids to Disney World or to a carnival,

reads a detective novel, helps select a homecoming queen, or communicates with common gestures, he or she

participates in popular culture. When scholars study such a culture, or sub-culture, they may focus on the people who

share the attitudes, myths, languages, artifacts, or the like, or they may examine features of the culture, its history, or

the phenomenon itself.

Scholars of the popular culture find such common — some might even say trivial — matters worth serious study, for

they believe these matters reflect the values, convictions, and the patterns of thought and feeling generally dispersed

through, and approved by, a significant portion of the culture in which they occur. Some scholars may also consider

certain popular culture texts to be art, recognizing that Elizabethan drama and Victorian novels, for example, were

once considered popular culture.

WHO ARE THESE SCHOLARS?

They come from a variety of disciplines, though they need not come from academia itself. Within the national and the

PCAS regional membership are persons interested in literature, film, television, radio history, ethnic studies,

American studies, computer sciences, and some of the natural sciences. They include a wide range of young and

bright, older and accomplished — many of national reputation — as well as field professionals, such as architects,

artists, and journalists. All share a common interest in the serious study of culture and in its popular aspects.

ABOUT THE PCAS

The PCAS, organized in 1971, is among the largest, and, from the view of those who have visited several regional

meetings, the most thriving of the regional associations. Members of the organization come primarily from eleven

Southeastern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South

Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Its activities are financed by conference registration fees and sponsoring

institutional support. Young and diverse, this energetic organization has brought together scholars who share an

interest in inquiring into all sorts of mass phenomena through a wide variety of disciplines and approaches. Its

journal, Studies in Popular Culture, is now more than twenty years old, and recently added an issue devoted to

American Studies topics. Studies in American Culture is now in its tenth year and has its own editor and editorial

board. Scholars working with topics in popular culture or American culture are invited to submit

papers for consideration to the appropriate editor.

The PCAS thus offers an opportunity for the coming together of scholars from colleges, universities, community

colleges, and even from the general public, who have something worthwhile to say on matters involving mass society.

It affords these individuals an occasion for direct response to the society which produced them. The result of this

coming together has been a rich and exciting event. We welcome you and invite you to partake of the richness,

diversity, and friendship that this conference holds.