Rome
20°
Prof. Paul Zinder recently presented his paper “Osama bin Ladin Ain’t Here: Justified and the Post-9/11 Western” at the 2012 national conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association in Boston, MA. The annual PCA/ACA conference gathers international scholars who dissect, discuss, and propose theories related to American popular culture.
Prof. Zinder’s presentation included his analysis of the American television series Justified, a complex Western set in the contemporary American south. The paper contends that the series serves as an allegorical response to activities initiated by the Bush Administration following the attacks of September 11, 2001 through its intricate narrative structure, its deconstructive approach to Western archetypes, and its thematic concerns related to American freedom in the wake of a national crisis.
The paper adheres closely to Prof. Zinder’s teaching interests. He teaches a variety of media studies courses at AUR, including Film Genres and Cult Film and Television. Prof. Zinder is Chair of the Department of Communication and English at AUR.
