About
I am a film and media historian and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media in the College of Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Alabama.
My research focuses on the relations between motion pictures and other industries throughout the second half of the twentieth century. The majority of my current work focuses on connections between film and popular music, but I have also published on how the worlds of electronics and finance have shaped motion pictures. Through these research areas, I am interested in investigating how power has operated historically, particularly how images of difference and new potentialities for using moving image media have been made possible (or not) through the complex industrial parameters in which people have worked.
My first book, Rock Star/Movie Star: Power and Performance in Cinematic Rock Stardom, explores the casting of rock stars for feature films during the second half of the twentieth century, from Elvis Presley to Madonna, showing how such casting served media industries' attempts to adapt to a changing media landscape. I am currently preparing a second book project on the history of Motown Productions, the motion picture and television arm of Motown Records, tentatively titled From Hitsville to Hollywood. My work has been published several academic journals including Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Screen, Media Industries Journal, The Moving Image, Celebrity Studies, and Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, as well as various scholarly anthologies. I've also written publicly for outlets such as The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and IndieWIRE.
Since 2010, I have taught a range of university courses across media studies and communication curricula. As part of the Creative Media major at UA, I specialize in teaching critical approaches to film and television. For majors and non-majors alike, I seek to enrich students' abilities to analyze media texts and consider the contexts that inform what they see and hear onscreen. At the graduate level, I am interested in working with students who want to pursue humanistic and/or qualitative approaches to media studies and/or cultural studies topics.
My research focuses on the relations between motion pictures and other industries throughout the second half of the twentieth century. The majority of my current work focuses on connections between film and popular music, but I have also published on how the worlds of electronics and finance have shaped motion pictures. Through these research areas, I am interested in investigating how power has operated historically, particularly how images of difference and new potentialities for using moving image media have been made possible (or not) through the complex industrial parameters in which people have worked.
My first book, Rock Star/Movie Star: Power and Performance in Cinematic Rock Stardom, explores the casting of rock stars for feature films during the second half of the twentieth century, from Elvis Presley to Madonna, showing how such casting served media industries' attempts to adapt to a changing media landscape. I am currently preparing a second book project on the history of Motown Productions, the motion picture and television arm of Motown Records, tentatively titled From Hitsville to Hollywood. My work has been published several academic journals including Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of Popular Music Studies, Screen, Media Industries Journal, The Moving Image, Celebrity Studies, and Music, Sound, and the Moving Image, as well as various scholarly anthologies. I've also written publicly for outlets such as The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and IndieWIRE.
Since 2010, I have taught a range of university courses across media studies and communication curricula. As part of the Creative Media major at UA, I specialize in teaching critical approaches to film and television. For majors and non-majors alike, I seek to enrich students' abilities to analyze media texts and consider the contexts that inform what they see and hear onscreen. At the graduate level, I am interested in working with students who want to pursue humanistic and/or qualitative approaches to media studies and/or cultural studies topics.
Education
Ph.D. Communication and Culture, Indiana University-Bloomington, 2017
M.A. Cinema Studies, New York University, 2009
B.A. Cinematic Arts (Critical Studies), University of Southern California, 2007
M.A. Cinema Studies, New York University, 2009
B.A. Cinematic Arts (Critical Studies), University of Southern California, 2007
Primary Research Interests
- film and media history
- media industries
- popular music studies
- stardom and media performance
- sound and moving image technologies
Contact
Course List
JCM 112 Motion Picture History and Criticism
JCM 212 Film and Media Theory
JCM 311 Critical Study of Television
JCM 312 International Cinema
JCM 412/512 Seminar in American Cinema
CIS 605 Cultural and Critical Theory in Communication
CIS 610 Foundations of Doctoral Study in Communication and Information Sciences
JCM 212 Film and Media Theory
JCM 311 Critical Study of Television
JCM 312 International Cinema
JCM 412/512 Seminar in American Cinema
CIS 605 Cultural and Critical Theory in Communication
CIS 610 Foundations of Doctoral Study in Communication and Information Sciences