Saturday, June 1, 2013

CFP: Edited Collection on "Arrested Development"

Today I out myself as a big fan of Arrested Development -- because I am going to post this CFP:
Over the course of its original three-year run on Fox, the television series Arrested Development quickly became a cult favorite and earned twenty-two Emmy nominations and six wins, including Outstanding Comedy Series in 2004. Unafraid to push boundaries, the series routinely satirized issues of race, sexuality, family, love, politics, and class, to name only a few. Combined with its sophisticated writing and its perfectly cast group of series regulars, the show became a layered and intricate look into modern society and one of the funniest sitcoms to emerge in the last decade. With this in mind, Dr. Kristin M. Barton is seeking proposals for an edited volume under consideration at McFarland which will explore Arrested Development from a scholarly perspective.
For more info, follow the link. (Hat tip: H-Law)

I would love to see some legal historians get in on this action. I've even thought of some potential topics:
"When Marrying Your Cousin Became a Crime" (on the legal-historical antecedents of the (seemingly) ill-fated love of George Michael and Maeby).
"From the Cornballer to the Magic Coffin" (Arrested Development as a window onto the evolution of products liability law in the late twentieth century).
"Law and the Conditions of George Bluth's Freedom" (a comparison of Willard Hurst's Pike Creek squatters to the notorious squatters in the Bluth company's model home).
"Does the SEC Really Have Police Boats?" (a history of SEC enforcement tactics - which will surely include this quote, from former SEC commissioner Paul S. Atkins: "We don’t carry guns; we have no boats . . . We do not even have authority to arrest people.").
Any takers?