Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 22, 2006|Volume 35, Number 3

The Lamar Center conference will feature a keynote address by Emmy Award-winning director David Milch.

Conference to explore frontier
violence in American history, culture

The topic of violence and justice in the American West and its depiction in American popular culture will be explored in a symposium on campus that will feature a keynote address by Emmy Award-winning director, writer and producer David Milch '66, creator of the controversial HBO series "Deadwood" and co-creator of the long-running television series "NYPD Blue,"

The symposium, titled "Got Yourself a Gun: Frontier Violence in American History and Culture," will take place Friday and Saturday, Sept. 29 and 30, in Linsly-Chittenden Hall (LC), 63 High St. The event, which is free and open to the public, is jointly sponsored by the Lamar Center for the Study of Frontiers and Borders, the Department of History, the Autry National Center in Los Angeles and the John and LaRee Caughey Foundation, which supports civil rights and the study of the American West.

"Since the late 19th century, some critics have argued that the frontier was never so violent as it was represented, while others have emphasized the relationship between the depiction of violence and the implicit violence of colonization," the organizers say. "The problem of violence has been a preoccupation of the best movie westerns from 'The Virginian' to 'Unforgiven,' and 'Deadwood' continues in that tradition."

Milch will discuss his choices in the portrayal of violence, as well as his more general thoughts on violent performances in popular culture, during his keynote address at 5 p.m. on Friday in Rm. 102 LC. Milch, of Red Board Productions in Santa Monica, California, taught English at Yale before embarking on a career as a scriptwriter. In 1982, while still at Yale, he wrote a script for "Hill Street Blues"; the episode premiered in the show's third season and won an Emmy Award, the Writers Guild Award and the Humanitas Prize. The script marked the beginning of his career in dramatic television. He worked five seasons on the show, beginning as executive story editor and then as executive producer, and won a second Emmy and Humanitas Prize and two more Writers Guild Awards.

Milch co-created "NYPD Blue" with Steven Bochco and served as executive producer of that series for seven seasons. The show won an Emmy for best drama series in the 1994-1995 season. After "NYPD Blue," he created a CBS series called "Big Apple."

His creation "Deadwood," based on actual events in Deadwood, South Dakota, during the 1870s, is now in its third and final season.

On Saturday, four noted American historians will participate in a panel discussion at 10 a.m. in Rm. 101, LC. They are William Carrigan of Rowan University; Robert Dykstra of the State University of New York at Albany; Elliott Gorn of Brown University; and Melody Graulich of Utah State University.

For further information, call (203) 432-2328 or send e-mail to lamar.center@yale.edu.

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