糖心TV

Research interests

My research primarily explores the aesthetic strategies of popular film and media, with a particular focus on the narrative conventions and stylistic properties of mainstream and indie American cinema, as well as (most recently) YouTube. My approach is influenced by philosophical aesthetics, and by traditions in art criticism dedicated to acknowledging the interdependence of style and meaning. I have written books about the nature of irony in film and the Hollywood 'happy ending'. Current research interests include the aesthetics of YouTube, the role of intention in film interpretation, and the critical possibilities of audiovisual essays. I also make video essays on my YouTube channel, .

 

Selected publications

Monographs:

Audiovisual essays [see all here]:

• , The Lesser Feat (YouTube), September 2024.
• ', The Lesser Feat (YouTube), June 2024.
• , The Lesser Feat (YouTube), November 2023.
• (co-authored with Tom Hemingway), The Lesser Feat (YouTube), March 2023.
• ', The Lesser Feat (YouTube), June 2021.
• , The Lesser Feat (YouTube), July 2020.
• 鈥樷��, The Lesser Feat (YouTube), October 2019.

 

Selected articles/chapters:

• , The Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 42: 6, (2025), 1399–1434.
• (co-authored with Tom Hemingway), [In]Transition Vol 11; Issue 2 (2024).

• 'Richard Dyer on interpretation, aesthetics and textual analysis; a dialogue with James MacDowell', Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, Issue 11 (2024), 40-51.

• Screen, vol 65, no. 1 (2024), 121-31.
• 'Ironies in Film', in The Cambridge Handbook of Irony and Thought, eds. Ray Gibbs Herbert L. Colston (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023), 367-84.
• 'Is The Room Worse Than Vertigo? The Aesthetic Philosophy of "So Bad it's Good"', in You Are Tearing Me Apart, Lisa! The Year's Work on The Room, the Worst Movie Ever Made, ed. Adam Rosen (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2022), 55-63.
• 'Romance, Narrative, and the Sense of a Happy Ending in the Before Series', in Philosophers on Film: The Before Trilogy, eds. Hans Maes & Katrien Schaubroeck (London: Routledge, 2021), 174-93.
• 'Comedy and Melodrama from Sunrise to Midnight: Genre and Gender in Linklater鈥檚 Before Series', in After 鈥淗appily Ever After鈥�: Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age, ed. Maria San Filippo (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2021), 47-65.
• (co-authored with Richard McCulloch), Continuum, 33:6 (2019), 643-52.
• , Film-Philosophy 22.2 (2018), 261-80.
• 鈥楾o Be in the Moment: On (Almost) Not Noticing Time Passing in Before Sunrise鈥�, in The Long Take: Critical Approaches, eds. John Gibbs and Douglas Pye (London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2017), 147-61.
• 鈥楾he Metamodern, the Quirky and Film Criticism鈥�, in Metamodernism: Historicity, Affect, and Depth after Postmodernism, eds. Robin van den Akker, Alison Gibbons & Timotheus Vermeulen (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), 25-40.
• 'Quirky Culture: Tone, Sensibility, and Structure of Feeling', in A Companion to American Indie Film, ed. Geoff King (London: Blackwell, 2016), 83-105.
• 鈥楾he Andersonian, the Quirky, and 鈥淚nnocence鈥濃��, in The Films of Wes Anderson: Critical Essays on an Indiewood Icon, ed. Peter Kunze (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 153–169.
• (co-authored with Dr. James Zborowski), Intensities, Autumn/Winter 2014, pp. 1-30.
• , The New Review of Film & Television Studies, 10.1 (2012): pp. 1–22.
• , CineAction, no.84 (2011): pp. 44–49.
• , Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, Issue 1 (2010), pp. 1-16.
• , The Hitchcock Annual, Vol. 16 (2010), pp. 77–101.

 

Teaching and supervision

I teach subjects covering classical and contemporary Hollywood cinema, 鈥榠ndie鈥� cinema, and - most pervasively - questions of film style and aesthetics.

Modules taught include 'Film Aesthetics', 鈥楩ilm Criticism鈥�, 'Hollywood Cinema', 'Postclassical Hollywood Cinema', 'Romantic Comedy', 'Film Criticism, Film Style' and 'Screen Cultures and Methods'.

I am currently co-supervising two Phd research projects: Leo Robinson-O'Hara's 'Constructing a Digital Body: Online Video and the Aesthetics of Trans Self-Representation' (co-supervised with C眉neyt 脟ak谋rlar, Nottingham Trent); and Danielle Childs' doctoral thesis on the aesthetic and cultural significance of the motel in American cinema. Past PhD supervision include Henrique Bolzan Quaioti's thesis on the poetics of Wes Anderson's cinema.

I am interested in supervising postgraduate projects related to my research interests - including YouTube, irony in film, intention and interpretation, the aesthetics/conventions of Hollywood/American independent cinema, and more broadly candidates who wish to pursue the detailed investigation of audiovisual style and meaning, and/or apply traditional questions in the philosophy of aesthetics to film and screen media.

 

National roles and professional associations

I am co-director of CRPLA, the Centre for Research in Philosophy, Literature and the Arts at 糖心TV. I am a member of BAFTSS (British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies) and SCMS (Society of Cinema and Media Studies).