MPhil thesis in the University of Bristol's e-thesis collection

 I'm very excited to announce that I have now been officially awarded the Degree of Master of Philosophy following the submission of the final copy of my thesis to the University of Bristol's e-thesis collection. Embarking on a research degree has been such a rich and fulfilling experience. I quickly realised that it is nothing like studying a taught degree, and that part of the process is to learn how to be a researcher and to manage the challenges and opportunities of a completely independent project. I became very ill towards the end of my first year which presented a further challenge - I am grateful to all those and the University, who supported me through this and enabled me to finish my research project. I am now working in a role where I get to help other students navigate the research degree process so I am finding this particularly rewarding. My thesis is available to read online and you can find the abstract below:

The Harry Potter film franchise and the representation of traditional Britishness: a paratextual study, 2000 - 2011

The relationship between film and national identity is an enduring topic of scholarly interest. Focusing on British national identity in particular, Sarah Street discusses the important role of film: ‘we have inherited a dominant conception of what it is to be British…which has, in part, been constructed by cultural referents including cinema’ (2009: 1). With this in mind, what role might the British characters and settings in the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise have played in forming ideas about British national identity?

This thesis uses textual analysis of the Harry Potter film paratexts (promotional materials surrounding the films) in an attempt to answer this question. Phil Wickham explains the usefulness of this approach arguing that analysing these types of materials ‘can make meaning and provide historical evidence of the place of a film in its world and in the lives of those who saw it’ (2010: 316). These texts can tell us how the film’s visual representations of traditional Britishness were framed for audiences at the time, even for those who never even ended up seeing the films.

This thesis presents an analysis of paratexts surrounding the first and final two films of the series. This provides a sense of how the series’ representations of traditional Britishness were first introduced to audiences and how their legacy was later established through long-standing experiential paratexts.

Poster Presentation at Breaking Boundaries Conference

I haven't posted in a while as I've been busy finishing my thesis and preparing for my viva. Now that I have finished my research project, I'm really looking forward to some upcoming opportunities to share my findings. The first is at Breaking Boundaries, a virtual interdisciplinary conference for postgraduate researchers in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, taking place 11-13 May. I want to make my research more accessible to a wider audience so I have designed a poster, which will be exhibited on Zoom during the lunch breaks and on the conference's Twitter account. There are also some really interesting presentations being delivered in areas such as group identities, untold histories and Big Media and democracy. You can register as an attendee for free here.

New publication - report on Tourism Cinema and TV Series conference

In October 2018 I travelled to Lille to attend a day conference on Tourism, Cinema and TV Series. This helped me to situate my interest in Harry Potter experiential paratexts within the research field of screen tourism. On the day, the conference topic was discussed from a variety of perspectives (industrial, cultural, practical) as the presenters drew on different case studies. I wrote up a report, which has now been published in Transatlantica journal. You can read it here: https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/13571  

HoMER@Bahamas conference 2019

As a result of such generous donations from a number of individuals and organisations, I was able to attend the HoMER Network conference 2019 in The Bahamas and present my research.

My presentation explored the value in textually analysing a variety of paratexts for the Harry Potter film franchise, since they shed light on the ideas and themes that are emphasised to audiences before, during and long after the films have had their cinema run. My particular focus was to look for ideas and themes that may shape conceptions of British national identity.

I was very grateful for the questions that I received which I will consider as I continue to work on this project:

• While the casting process for Harry, Ron and Hermione in the films was a rather exclusive affair that called for children who looked like the existing illustrations of the [white] characters, the more recent casting of black actress, Noma Dumezweni, as adult Hermione in the stage play prompted Rowling to state that the books do not mention this character's ethnicity and that there is no reason why she should be white. What does this mean in terms of the films' approach to representing ideas on 'Britishness' and Rowling's input throughout the franchise's history?
• At what point do the paratexts (such as the theme park, the studio tour, Platform 9 3/4s) become the main text and the films the paratexts? Have people visited these sites without seeing the films?

The theme of the conference, Anchoring New Cinema History, invited presentations on a variety of different methodologies for research, such as: collecting audience memories, analysing the programming for a particular set of cinemas throughout a specific time period, utilising DVD rental data to determine audience preferences. Wider questions were also raised throughout, such as what is contemporary cinema history and how do we study it?

Conference participants

BAFTSS Conference 2019

In April I was very pleased to be able to speak about my research at the annual conference for the British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies. The 3 day event took place at the University of Birmingham and I was able to attend presentations covering a wide range of research topics, from the troubling representation of male rape on screen to the intersectionality of race, gender and class in French banlieue films.

My presentation on Harry Potter film paratexts and representations of Britishness (click here for abstract) was followed by a really interesting discussion in which the following questions were raised:

How have paratexts such as Platform 9 3/4s evolved beyond the original film texts? What ideas about Britishness have they added/amended?
What more could I find out about Platform 9 3/4s' part in the redevelopment of Kings Cross Station?

I am very grateful for the encouraging feedback I received on my presentation and I am currently implementing the suggestions made.

Blog post on the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum website

The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum in Exeter has been an invaluable resource for my research, holding ephemera for the James Bond and Harry Potter film series as well a huge range of materials related to the moving image in Britain. Last year I was very grateful to receive a visiting researcher stipend to fund my trips to the museum. A blog post on the outcome of these trips has now been published on the museum's website: http://www.bdcmuseum.org.uk/news/harry-potter-and-the-representation-of-british-culture-a-paratextual-analysis/

#PGRTakeover

Yesterday it was my turn to run the Bristol Doctoral College's Instagram account as part of their #PGRtakeover series. This was an opportunity to answer that often asked question: what does a PhD student actually do? Of course it does depend on discipline, mode of attendance and proximity to campus. I used my #PGRtakeover to demonstrate some of the things I have learnt to incorporate into my day in order to maintain good mental health and wellbeing, since PhD life can come with many pressures and feelings of isolation.

HoMER Conference 2019

I am very pleased to announce that I have been accepted to speak at the HoMER conference in Nassau in June. I will be presenting more of my PhD project to a network of academics that I am very keen to work with due to our shared research interests. With regards to the costs for this trip, I am seeking sources of funding since I am already on a very tight daily budget as a self-financed PhD student (with a small contribution from the University). I have created a gofundme page: https://www.gofundme.com/presenting-at-homer-conference-201… I would be very grateful if you could help in any way - any form of donation or suggestions for funding sources would be so amazing. Many many thanks.

Universal's Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter

I recently travelled to Orlando, Florida, to visit Universal's two Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter. I was intrigued to see which elements from the films these worlds recreate, particularly in relation to the representation of ideas about British culture and identity.

The first world, which opened to the public in June 2010, is a mock up of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, with its flagship ride - Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - located within the castle building. Upon entering, visitors are immediately presented with the front section of the Hogwarts Express steam train (complete with an English accented guard) as well as the Victorian architecture of the Hogsmeade buildings (snow-capped to reflect their presentation in the films).

These sights are in line with a nostalgic vision of Britain's past and thus reinforce the ideas that the films represent around British cultural heritage. It can be argued that this world serves as a site for film tourism. Many of the settings for the Harry Potter films were comprised of several different shooting locations (for example, scenes at Hogwarts were shot in Oxford and Gloucester), which makes a fan pilgrimage rather tricky and somewhat underwhelming. Universal's worlds create a site for film tourism where the public can immerse themselves in a 'real' Harry Potter setting (purchasing Butterbeer and their very own wands too!). The implication for this is the extension of the ideas on British culture and identity that are represented by the films.

A fully operating Hogwarts Express steam train ferries the public to the newer world - a recreation of Diagon Alley - which first opened in July 2014. Providing an even larger Victorian-esque setting, fans can reenact Harry's first magical shopping trip, visiting replicas of Ollivanders wand shop, Flourish and Blotts book shop and Gringotts bank. 

Of particular interest is the world's location, hidden behind a mock up of modern day London (the exteriors of Kings Cross and Leicester Square stations, a telephone box, the Wyndham Theatre, and a row of houses made to look like the north London-based Grimmauld Place). 

This setup mimics the films' representation of an old-fashioned magical world that could plausibly exist amongst our own reality. This in turn gives the British heritage aesthetic of the magical world more 'real-world' grounding. These particular modern-day mock ups also reinforce wealthy London-centric representations of Britain.

I intend to discuss Universal's Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter in my thesis as it can be argued that they serve as paratexts for the films.

HoMER@NECS Conference 2018

At the end of June I was very honoured and grateful to receive funding from the University of Bristol's Alumni Foundation in order to present my research at the HoMER strand of the NECS conference in Amsterdam.

Key contributors to the field of New Cinema History (NCH) were present - Daniel Bittereyst, Robert Allen, Melvyn Stokes, Annette Kuhn, Philippe Meers - and their presentations provided much food for thought in terms of my research interests:

• Annette Kuhn's work on cinema memory has made me think about the possibility of organising focus groups, interviews and/or questionnaires that invite participants to share their experiences of and interactions with Harry Potter and James Bond movie marketing, merchandise and publicity. Other presenters at the conference had conducted this sort of cinema memory research and asked their participants to bring along artefacts.
• Annette Kuhn also talked about making a plea for memory studies to be included in NCH. I thought that my research could similarly act as an argument for the value of analysing movie marketing and publicity and its inclusion in NCH.
• A question was raised with regards to NCH's tendency to look so far back in time rather than dealing with more recent history. My focus on materials from 2001-2012 should address this gap in the field.

A presentation on the collectible movie star cards sold in cigarette packets and chocolate bars also emphasised the importance of analysing merchandise and memorabilia since they prolong the movie experience for audiences (in turn prolonging certain ideas and themes). 

A fascinating keynote from Professor Henry Jenkins argued for the empowering and positive effects of social media and participatory culture (rather than the usual negative scholarship on this subject). He referred to a range of activist movements that had appropriated popular culture texts for their cause: for example The Harry Potter Alliance and Parkland student activists performing 'Rent'. He also demonstrated empowerment through Harry Potter fans' successful campaign to make the chocolate frog products fair trade as well as calls for a black Hermione, which resulted in the casting of Noma Dumezweni in the stage play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'.

Prof. Henry Jenkins' keynote

Following my own presentation, a conference attendee commented on my discussion of the Harry Potter films subsuming the Scottish landscape into an Anglo-centric representation of British culture and they asked about whether I would look at what the Scottish tourism industry has done since then to capitalise on this i.e. Harry Potter walking tours in Edinburgh. I do intend to explore this in my research as I consider this type of tourism a paratext to the films and I find the emphasis on 'real life' heritage iconography particularly interesting with regards to my thesis argument.

A photograph of my presentation courtesy of Sarah Culhane

Research Without Borders

In May I showcased the beginnings of my research at the University of Bristol's event 'Research Without Borders': a day-long exhibition of PhD students' work, which was open to members of the public.

Focusing on the topic that will form one of the early chapters in my thesis, my stall was entitled 'Harry Potter and the marketing of movies: what ideas about British culture are represented?' My poster board summarised the What, Why and How of my research and I also ran two activities.

I had set up a simple voting task to encourage visitors to think about whether or not they considered Harry Potter to represent British culture. 'Yes' gained more votes and I noticed that many of these were cast by international visitors, who referred to specific aspects such as the food (roast dinner and Yorkshire puddings) and Ron's use of the word 'bloody'. A lot of home visitors weren't so sure (voting 'Yes' and 'No' to reflect this) as they felt that it represented a type of British culture but not all British culture.

I also encouraged visitors to analyse the film poster for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, taking into consideration issues of representation, with prompts such as: who is included? What is their race, gender, age? What are they wearing and what is their position on the poster? What else is included? By the end of the day the poster was surrounded by post-it notes with really interesting comments from the visitors.

I am looking forward to the next opportunity to showcase my PhD work: the NECS conference in Amsterdam, where I will be presenting my research to academics in the field of cinema and media studies.

Research without Borders 2018

My stand: 'Harry Potter and the marketing of movies: what ideas about British culture are represented?'

BAFTSS symposium and conference 2018

I recently attended two events organised as part of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS).

The first was a one day symposium 'Investigating Regional Creative Clusters', held at The Watershed in Bristol. I was interested in finding out more about the development of the British film industry over the last 20 years. An emerging theme relevant to my research was the impact of New Labour's neo-liberal approach to the arts and culture industries. This was repeatedly called out for being 'top down' and driven by capitalism and commerce, squeezing out diversity in filmic representations in the process. This is particularly relevant to the Harry Potter films, as Warner Bros were exactly the type of big studio producers that New Labour wanted to encourage to invest in the British film industry. In return for their UK based work on the films, Warner Bros. benefitted from incentives such as tax breaks.

I later attended the annual BAFTSS conference at the University of Kent. This was an opportunity to keep abreast of current issues of interest in the field, to meet fellow scholars and to find out about the BAFTSS community. It was particularly useful to learn more about the history of the British film industry through panels on 1960s British cinema, the Eastmancolor revolution and the completion bond guarantor company Film Finances. A highlight of the conference was a Q&A with Ken Loach and Tony Garnett who collaborated on many influential British productions including the television play Cathy Come Home and the film Kes.

Q&A with Ken Loach and Tony Garnett

Attending the BAFTSS conference with fellow Bristol PGRs and Professor Sarah Street

And so the PhD journey begins...

It has been a while since my last post but I am pleased to say that this is because I have been busy navigating the first few months of my PhD at the University of Bristol. I was very honoured to receive an Alumni Research Scholarship from the University, without which I could not pursue my research into representations of British culture in the Harry Potter and James Bond films, with a particular focus on paratextual analysis.

My PhD journey began in September when I attended 'Ken Adam: Designing Bond and Beyond' at the V&A Museum. This event gave me an insight into the work of the production designers for many of the James Bond and Harry Potter films and the role that their sets play in representation by 'simplifying and making meaning clear'.

Since then I have been refining my research question and methodology while reviewing existing literature around paratextual analysis, approaches to cinema history and British film.

I have also undertaken two research trips to the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum in Exeter to analyse promotional material and merchandise for the first two Harry Potter films (Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets). Over the Christmas break I also visited Edinburgh and participated in one of the city's many JK Rowling walking tours. Arguably, these are also paratexts for the Harry Potter franchise since they tell a compelling story about the author, her influences and the rocky road to publication. They also reinforce many of the representations of British culture conveyed by the films through the inclusion of supposed real-world inspirations for certain settings and characters.

My next trip will be to the British Library and the BFI in London to analyse news media materials from the build up to the cinematic release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

From the walking tour: Inspirations for Hogwarts, Prof McGonagall and the graveyard in book/film 4

Published work: The Power That Lies Within: Ideologies in Daniel Craig's Bond Films

In 2015 I was very honoured to present at the IAFOR MediAsia conference in Kobe, Japan. Speaking at the time of Spectre's release worldwide, my paper discussed this film's apparent shift in themes and ideas from its predecessor, Skyfall, and the socio-political context that may have influenced this. Having previously written about Bond's national identity in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, my 2015 presentation attempted to look more widely at the relationship between the ideologies in Bond films and contextual socio-political factors. As such this paper provided what I hoped was an accessible discussion of this concept with opportunities to explore aspects in further detail as I moved forward with my research interests and ambitions for PhD study.

I was very pleased to receive recent correspondence from IAFOR requesting permission to feature this work on their publishing platform, THINK. This paper can be viewed by clicking on the image below:

Cinema Rediscovered 2017

I recently volunteered at this year's Cinema Rediscovered film festival. Predominantly hosted by the Watershed in Bristol, the eclectic programme included digital restorations, lesser known film gems and classics 're-viewed' through thought-provoking introductions and Q+As. It was fantastic to be part of this truly cinephilic event. Of the festival's offerings I particularly enjoyed Dr Peter Walsh's walking tour of Bristol's cinema history and filming locations, and a screening of Sweet Smell of Success (1957): a dark portrayal of corruption in the press industry, forming part of the festival's 'Manipulating the Message' strand. Having recently watched Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, it was also interesting to see another depiction of WWII on the big screen, this time through the British Government commissioned Millions Like Us (1943), which follows several women as they take up work in a British wartime aircraft factory. You can read more about Cinema Rediscovered here: www.watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered

Volunteers and organisers of Cinema Rediscovered

National Cinema(s) course at 20th Century Flicks

This Spring I completed a film course run by the wonderful 20th Century Flicks in Bristol. The subject matter of National Cinema(s) sparked many discussions that I felt were particularly relevant to my research interests and I produced a short summary of my experience that has been posted on the 20th Century Flicks blog.

BAFTSS conference

I recently attended the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) conference at the University of Bristol. It was wonderful to return to the film and television department at Bristol and to see the lecturers that had made my masters degree study and subsequent teaching there such rewarding experiences. I am returning to start a PhD in Film and Television in the Autumn and the conference was an opportunity to listen to the work of other PhD students as well as some bigger names in the field of screen studies.

I attended some panels that I thought could be relevant to my research interests and noted the following key points/questions that could feed into my project:

Heritage and Quality Genres

Which socio-political events could be linked to the recent resurgence of British heritage film and television texts such as Downton Abbey, Great British Bake Off, The Imitation Game (and arguably Skyfall and Harry Potter)?

Twitter and social media brings a new element to British heritage discourse and may provide sources for analysing the audience reception/implications for these texts.

The concept of capitalising on British heritage and imperial nostalgia, not just through film and television texts but paratexts such as merchandise, theme parks and literature, and the particular ideas these texts reinforce.

Diversity in the UK Screen Industries

The top down influence of the Oscars on the business case for diversity at production level (only white males win awards and therefore make money).

Film Academics and Film Festivals

What role do film festivals play in the case for diversity on screen and, as a possible practical aspect to my research, how could a film festival challenge ideas about British heritage cinema?

Euro-Bollywood

The representation of British culture and landscapes in the products of film industries from other countries (e.g. Bollywood) and the relationship this has with exported images of Britain/Britishness.

A Thoroughly English movie Franchise: The James Bond Films

The successful ‘backwards and forwards looking’ formula of the James Bond and Harry Potter films and the implications for this.

MAPACA and Yale Conferences

Sorry this post is rather delayed as I have been busy with various things including applications for PhD study and funding.

My recent travels around North America culminated in two tri-state conferences. I very much enjoyed returning to the PCA/ACA community (I have previously attended SWPACA and EuPOP) and presenting at the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Drawing on the construction of the films' posters to demonstrate my points, I compared Daniel Craig's latest portrayal of James Bond in Spectre with his initial interpretation in Casino Royale, and I discussed some of the possible influences on and implications for this. My abstract can be viewed here: https://mapaca.net/conference/2016/p/contemporary-british-hero-daniel-craig-james-bond

The discussion following my presentation raised some really interesting questions around differences in the international reception of Bond and the franchise's relationship with an ever evolving cultural context.

- Why do different countries receive different cuts of these films e.g. China received a different cut of Skyfall
- Why did US and UK audiences respond differently to Spectre?
- Why is Bond still so popular when we have moved away from misogyny?

I was very honoured to find out that my presentation had been nominated for a Ralph Donald Award and I hope to hear the outcome of this soon.

As always I very much enjoyed watching presentations from fellow scholars, particularly those on Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, as I found them to be relevant to my research and indicative of a general interest in representations of British culture in popular entertainment texts.

I also attended a conference on Photography and Britishness, held at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, CT. It was particularly interesting to see representations of British culture in another medium and the differences in these images depending on the producer. Bristol based photographer Martin Parr gave a keynote on his career 'capturing' Britain and the following Q&A highlighted an association with tradition as the audience drew on his images of events of the British Establishment that haven't changed for hundreds of years (the odd ceremonies at Oxford University, the Epson Derby, the uniforms at Christ's Hospital School). This association was particularly interesting to me as I considered its application to the representations of British culture in some hugely successful film and television texts of recent years (Downton Abbey, The Queen, The King's Speech etc.). I found myself thinking of Riz Ahemd's quote again: 'The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies.' (from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/riz-ahmed-typecast-as-a-terrorist)

Keep Calm and Carry On... Travelling!

I haven’t posted in a while as I have been busy travelling across the USA on a trip that is serving multiple purposes: 1) visiting potential PhD programs, 2) attending two conferences, 3) satisfying my general curiosity (and hopefully PhD research topic) regarding representations of British culture abroad, 4) holiday!

My travels began on the West Coast giving me time to explore Los Angeles and California before I moved onto Texas and up through the mid-west to the East Coast for the final leg of the trip. It has been particularly interesting to see elements of British influence and presence and to try to understand what ideas this might be conveying about ‘Britishness‘ today.

The title of this post is appropriate because the Keep Calm and Carry On motto has made it across the Atlantic and adorns many notepads and pencil cases in the stationary stores I have visited in the States. As a phrase originating from World War II this can be considered a more old fashioned representation of Britishness: the idea of maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of wartime adversity (insert picture of Winston Churchill here!). This association of Britishness with a sort of old fashioned chic was repeated to me when visiting the highly regarded British works of art and literature at the Huntington Library and Art Collections in San Marino, CA. In the early 1900s, American railway pioneer Henry E. Huntington sought older pieces from Britain to display in his Californian ranch and with Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (ca. 1770) being considered one of the most highly prized items in the collection I felt that Britain was again being associated with an enduring past. Moving onto Texas a conversation with a local revealed that he very much associated Britishness with the television show Downtown Abbey (a drama depicting British aristocrats in the early 1900s) and the idea of old-fashioned sophistication. I felt this theme prevail again in Michigan when, upon revealing my nationality, I was asked on more than one occasion what I thought of various members of the Royal family. Of course this is in no way a reliable picture of the influence and presence of Britishness in the USA today but from the snapshots I experienced I could feel a sense of admiration for Britain’s long history, the traditions that have come with that long history and remain today, and the sense of sophistication that seems to be associated with these traditions. The stiff upper lip motto Keep Calm and Carry On could be seen as encompassing aspects of both tradition and sophistication with the phrase’s connotations of robustness and quiet pride.

My experience in the USA has reminded me of a piece by Riz Ahmed, which was published in the Guardian in September 2016: Typecast as a Terrorist. In discussing his experiences as a British Muslim actor working in the USA, Ahmed writes, ‘The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies.’ I had certainly felt this in my travel observations and now the big question is why is this myth exported? Why does British culture manifest abroad in ways such as the ones I experienced on my travels? What are the implications for this?

The Other Art Fair, Bristol 2016

Straying slightly from my research focus, I wanted to write about my recent experience attending The Other Art Fair at Bristol's Arnolfini. Part of the fair included performances by BitterSuite's Debussy String Quartet: a fully sensory concert in which the audience members are blindfolded, given tastes and scents, and are physically moved by the performers in ways that enhance the experience of listening to the music. It was an enriching experience as I imagined colourful scenes, even jumped a little at times and felt liberated moving with the music in a physical manner. BitterSuite are performing at Wilderness Festival this weekend and are looking to set up more concerts in the long term: http://www.bittersuite.org.uk

The Other Art Fair also included The Art of Dining: a pop-up restaurant scene celebrating quintessentially British food and drink (think fish and chips, bread and butter, lots of tea, and crockery adorned with members of the Royal Family). This immersive experience is created by Ellen Parr and Alice Hodge and includes the work of photographer Martin Parr, whom I have recently become more interested in due to his documentation of British life through photographs. Parr is interested in the difference between the mythology of the place and the reality of it and I feel that this in some ways intersects with my interests in representations of Britishness in popular culture. I hope to attend Parr's keynote address at a conference on Photography and Britishness, which is being held at the Yale Center for British Art this November.
http://www.martinparr.com/2013/pop-up-magic/