While scholars once lamented the lack of critical attention paid to color in film, in recent years a number of publications have reversed this trend, making color a lively and dynamic field of enquiry for film scholars. Color television has yet to benefit from this new wave of chromophilia however, and has not received the close scrutiny afforded to film.  Question of color aesthetics have been almost entirely absent from discussions of color broadcasting. Histories of the post-war period tend to focus exclusively on the international diplomatic wrangling over which color system each country would adopt (PAL, SECAM, or NTSC) amidst a cold-war climate where content-sharing was freighted with geo-political importance.

This panel will examine the aesthetics of televisual color in post-war visual culture, with a particular focus on early color broadcasting from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s.We are particularly interested in receiving proposals dealing with the arrival of color to broadcasting networks outside of North America and Britain. Papers might like to consider:

– How did the arrival of color affect programming choices – which subjects were selected to showcase or demonstrate color?

– How did the technological limitations of broadcasting systems (PAL/SECAM/NTSC) impact color design?

– How did televisual color operate in relation with other color media (painting, cinema, fashion)?

– How did the gendered connections between color, femininity and domesticity impact color television aesthetics?

– Did nations positions themselves in opposition to, or in dialogue with political ideologies through color aesthetics?

– How did early adopters of color television (Japan and North America) impact the aesthetic choices made during subsequent conversions to color globally?

– How did the ability to broadcast in color impact racial representation on television?

– How did the arrival of color affect costuming, set-design and make-up?

Please email a paper proposals, including a title (120 characters), abstract (2500 characters), 3-5 bibliographic sources, and a bio (500 characters) by August 6th to Kirsty Sinclair Dootson (Kirsty.dootson@yale.edu) and Professor Susan Murray (sdm5@nyu.edu).