Books by Theresa L Geller
Reframing Todd Haynes: Feminism's Indelible Mark, 2022
Here is the introduction I authored to the Duke UP volume, _Reframing
Todd Haynes: Feminism's In... more Here is the introduction I authored to the Duke UP volume, _Reframing
Todd Haynes: Feminism's Indelible Mark_.
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REFRAMING TODD HAYNES-FEMINISM'S INDELIBLE MARK, 2022
I am excited to share with you the table of contents for the forthcoming volume from Duke Univers... more I am excited to share with you the table of contents for the forthcoming volume from Duke University Press: _Reframing Todd Haynes--Feminism's Indelible Mark_. Co-edited with Julia Leyda, this collection is part of Camera Obscura book series.
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TV Milestone Series, Nov 2016
PLEASE READ REVIEW OF MY BOOK HERE: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jacc.12865
... more PLEASE READ REVIEW OF MY BOOK HERE: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jacc.12865
It has only 5 star ratings on Amazon.
With its return to television as an "event series" in 2016, this volume offers a timely assessment of the show’s cultural relevance and social significance. Fans of the show, as well as readers interested in cultural studies, genre criticism, race and ethnicity, fan studies, social commentary, and gender studies will appreciate this insightful examination of the series.
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Journal Articles by Theresa L Geller
American Quarterly, 2017
This article returns to Fredric Jameson's early writings on film to assert the continued ... more This article returns to Fredric Jameson's early writings on film to assert the continued importance of cognitive mapping, which remains a necessary critical response to the problems posed by contemporary mass culture. I employ Jameson's methodology—one essentially absent from television studies today—to historicize the FOX series, The X-Files, in light of its reboot in 2016. Airing from 1993-2002, the series figured what Michelle Alexander diagnoses as " the New Jim Crow " —the phenomenon of mass incarceration that marked a new racial caste system in the U.S. emerging in the 1980s and 1990s. At the height of the war on drugs, the show's investigatory framework allegorized the vast juridical system controlling surplus populations at the end of the twentieth century. The historical allegory of The X-Files is to be found in the dialectical relationship between the mythology and the monster-of-the-week episodes, with the former providing an indictment of governmental " conspiracy " and the latter narrativizing the material, embodied effects of its unchecked power on marginalized communities.
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American Quarterly, 2017
This article returns to Fredric Jameson's early writings on film to assert the continued importan... more This article returns to Fredric Jameson's early writings on film to assert the continued importance of cognitive mapping, which remains a necessary critical response to the problems posed by contemporary mass culture. I employ Jameson's methodology—one essentially absent from television studies today—to historicize the FOX series, The X-Files, in light of its reboot in 2016. Airing from 1993-2002, the series figured what Michelle Alexander diagnoses as " the New Jim Crow " —the phenomenon of mass incarceration that marked a new racial caste system in the U.S. emerging in the 1980s and 1990s. At the height of the war on drugs, the show's investigatory framework allegorized the vast juridical system controlling surplus populations at the end of the twentieth century. The historical allegory of The X-Files is to be found in the dialectical relationship between the mythology and the monster-of-the-week episodes, with the former providing an indictment of governmental " conspiracy " and the latter narrativizing the material, embodied effects of its unchecked power on marginalized communities.
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FORTHCOMING IN VELVET LIGHT TRAP ISSUE #79 (SPRING 2017)-- SERIALS, SERIALITY, AND SERIALIZATION
... more FORTHCOMING IN VELVET LIGHT TRAP ISSUE #79 (SPRING 2017)-- SERIALS, SERIALITY, AND SERIALIZATION
This article discusses the FX series, American Horror Story (2011-), in terms of the antisocial thesis in queer theory. The unusual temporality of the series—each season introduces its own diegetic place, time, and characters, while retaining much of the cast—prompts the authors to ask, what would a queer theory of television look like if it took as its starting point not the identity of the queer, but rather began from the question of queerness as temporality? The series’ radical antisocial queerness is anchored as much in its form—its structural belatedness and disruptive imagery—as in its queer iconography, cast, and characters. Rejecting historical verisimilitude, each season examines the historicity of its diegetic present by enchaining it within the historical past, creating “temporal drag”. If, as Lee Edelman suggests, politics is propped on the fantasy of the (reproductive) future, then AHS’s freaks, witches, ghosts, and their queer kin refuse that future at every turn through spectacles of sex, death and stomach-churning violence, indexing an excess associated with the future-negating force of the death drive. The third season, “Coven,” exemplifies the queerness of temporal drag as a formal structure, one that does not require a queer figure to figure queerness. “Coven” communicates the pain of history through its nauseating effects, figured in gore-filled interruptions to the flow of narrative momentum that refuse the desire to get on with the story, instead privileging the death drive through its serial form and the force of its horrifying carnal aesthetics.
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Camera Obscura: Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies, Dec 2013
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rhizomes 11/12 fall 2005/spring 2006
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Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, Jan 1, 2006
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Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, Jan 1, 2004
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sensesofcinema.com, May 2003
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_Spectator_ Spring 1992 (Vol.12.2)
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Book chapters by Theresa L Geller
Documenting the Visual Arts, 2019
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Victoria McCollum, ed. Make America Hate Again: Trump-Era Horror and the Politics of Fear, 2019
This is an early draft of my forthcoming book chapter:
Well, It (2017) happened; the first horror... more This is an early draft of my forthcoming book chapter:
Well, It (2017) happened; the first horror film to truly tap into the zeitgeist of the Trump-era, one fully in line with the reactionary ethos of 'crazytown.' Pennywise, the child-eating clown, might all too easily overlay onto that other orange-haired clown from television, but Pennywise is no Trump. Rather, it is the embodiment of inexplicable fears that are just 'evil,' harkening back to pre-Enlightenment polarizations of good and evil. In the 2017 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel, the origins of Pennywise and the reasons for his appearance are never questioned; rather, the response to it is clear to all—and all too clear: violence. No longer is it requisite to confront the origins of our (manufactured) fears (as another president once famously quipped, 'fear itself'). In the new dispensation, power is fear, and thus the horror film, following suit, regresses to its most conservative narrative impulses, rallying audiences to pursue unquestioning the destruction of that which embodies their fears. In the case of Pennywise, that fear is a timely one —and one grounded in embodiment, as IT's polysemic incarnation calls forth (and calls on) meanings (trans)coded from political rhetoric of femiphobia and transphobia that catalyzed the election.
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A unique survey of the new horizons of film and media theory. " In the wake of the post-theory wa... more A unique survey of the new horizons of film and media theory. " In the wake of the post-theory wars, this collection stakes a bold claim for the relevance, importance and centrality of theory for film and screen studies. […] This book represents not merely a survey of the field, but a rich and open foray into current and future debates, often raising points that are challenging and controversial. " —Richard Rushton, Senior Lecturer, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University, UK " Whoever claimed that film theory is dead should read The Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory. This excellent collection of essays forcefully demonstrates that film theory is well equipped to face the challenges of the digital age of moving images. " —Sulgi Lie, Visiting Professor of Media Aesthetics, University of Basel, Switzerland The Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory offers a unique and progressive survey of screen theory and how it can be applied to a range of moving-image texts and sociocultural contexts. Focusing on the " handbook " angle, the book includes only original essays from established authors in the field and new scholars on the cutting edge of helping screen theory evolve for the twenty-first-century vistas of new media, social shifts and geopolitical change. This method guarantees a strong foundation and clarity for the canon of film theory, while also situating it as part of a larger genealogy of art theories and critical thought, and reveals the relevance and utility of film theories and concepts to a wide array of expressive practices and specified arguments. The Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory is at once inclusive, applicable and a chance for writers to innovate and really play with where they think the field is, can and should be heading.
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The Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory, 2018
Here is the published chapter I wrote for the Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory, edited by Tom Con... more Here is the published chapter I wrote for the Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory, edited by Tom Conley and Hunter Vaughan. It is the chapter on sex and gender in film theory, covering feminist film theory and queer cinema studies. It addresses the debates with a polemical critique of the ways feminist theory was targeted within the discipline.
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Lady Gaga and Popular Music: Performing Gender, Fashion, and Culture (Routledge Studies in Popular Music), Aug 2013
If Lady Gaga, as we are told ever so bluntly by the hyper-butch, body-building guards in “Telepho... more If Lady Gaga, as we are told ever so bluntly by the hyper-butch, body-building guards in “Telephone” (2010, Dir. Jonas Åkerlund), does not “have a dick,” Jo Calderone certainly does. Taking her critique of the fetishization of the female body into the public sphere, Gaga donned a meat dress in protest of the expectations of female stars by the popular media at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2010; this year, she simply refused to be female altogether. In this chapter, I examine the trans/affect of Lady Gaga’s carefully scripted display of the Jo Calderone persona in both his interview and fashion spread in Vogue Hommes Japan.
Gaga’s monstrous aesthetics are political because they fit within the category of the sublime. The sublime identifies those aesthetic practices in excess of the viewer’s cognitive capacity for reason; it remains obscure to our conceptual powers. Trans embodiment can be seen as an expression of the sublime, as it reveals the multiplicity and instability at the heart of gender. As T. Ben Singer argues, transgender embodiments evoke the sublime because they “confront us with a vision of potentially infinite specific possibilities for being human” (616). In this way, trans/affect names the complex of affective responses evoked by transgender embodiment.
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East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational …, Jan 1, 2008
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Gender After Lyotard (SUNY Series in Gender Theory), Jan 1, 2007
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Books by Theresa L Geller
Todd Haynes: Feminism's Indelible Mark_.
It has only 5 star ratings on Amazon.
With its return to television as an "event series" in 2016, this volume offers a timely assessment of the show’s cultural relevance and social significance. Fans of the show, as well as readers interested in cultural studies, genre criticism, race and ethnicity, fan studies, social commentary, and gender studies will appreciate this insightful examination of the series.
Journal Articles by Theresa L Geller
This article discusses the FX series, American Horror Story (2011-), in terms of the antisocial thesis in queer theory. The unusual temporality of the series—each season introduces its own diegetic place, time, and characters, while retaining much of the cast—prompts the authors to ask, what would a queer theory of television look like if it took as its starting point not the identity of the queer, but rather began from the question of queerness as temporality? The series’ radical antisocial queerness is anchored as much in its form—its structural belatedness and disruptive imagery—as in its queer iconography, cast, and characters. Rejecting historical verisimilitude, each season examines the historicity of its diegetic present by enchaining it within the historical past, creating “temporal drag”. If, as Lee Edelman suggests, politics is propped on the fantasy of the (reproductive) future, then AHS’s freaks, witches, ghosts, and their queer kin refuse that future at every turn through spectacles of sex, death and stomach-churning violence, indexing an excess associated with the future-negating force of the death drive. The third season, “Coven,” exemplifies the queerness of temporal drag as a formal structure, one that does not require a queer figure to figure queerness. “Coven” communicates the pain of history through its nauseating effects, figured in gore-filled interruptions to the flow of narrative momentum that refuse the desire to get on with the story, instead privileging the death drive through its serial form and the force of its horrifying carnal aesthetics.
Book chapters by Theresa L Geller
I have posted the page proofs to encourage you all to buy the book, which includes outstanding scholarship by Roger Hallas (the editor), Amy Villarejo, and others. I am grateful to the BBRG for supporting this research.
Well, It (2017) happened; the first horror film to truly tap into the zeitgeist of the Trump-era, one fully in line with the reactionary ethos of 'crazytown.' Pennywise, the child-eating clown, might all too easily overlay onto that other orange-haired clown from television, but Pennywise is no Trump. Rather, it is the embodiment of inexplicable fears that are just 'evil,' harkening back to pre-Enlightenment polarizations of good and evil. In the 2017 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel, the origins of Pennywise and the reasons for his appearance are never questioned; rather, the response to it is clear to all—and all too clear: violence. No longer is it requisite to confront the origins of our (manufactured) fears (as another president once famously quipped, 'fear itself'). In the new dispensation, power is fear, and thus the horror film, following suit, regresses to its most conservative narrative impulses, rallying audiences to pursue unquestioning the destruction of that which embodies their fears. In the case of Pennywise, that fear is a timely one —and one grounded in embodiment, as IT's polysemic incarnation calls forth (and calls on) meanings (trans)coded from political rhetoric of femiphobia and transphobia that catalyzed the election.
Gaga’s monstrous aesthetics are political because they fit within the category of the sublime. The sublime identifies those aesthetic practices in excess of the viewer’s cognitive capacity for reason; it remains obscure to our conceptual powers. Trans embodiment can be seen as an expression of the sublime, as it reveals the multiplicity and instability at the heart of gender. As T. Ben Singer argues, transgender embodiments evoke the sublime because they “confront us with a vision of potentially infinite specific possibilities for being human” (616). In this way, trans/affect names the complex of affective responses evoked by transgender embodiment.
Todd Haynes: Feminism's Indelible Mark_.
It has only 5 star ratings on Amazon.
With its return to television as an "event series" in 2016, this volume offers a timely assessment of the show’s cultural relevance and social significance. Fans of the show, as well as readers interested in cultural studies, genre criticism, race and ethnicity, fan studies, social commentary, and gender studies will appreciate this insightful examination of the series.
This article discusses the FX series, American Horror Story (2011-), in terms of the antisocial thesis in queer theory. The unusual temporality of the series—each season introduces its own diegetic place, time, and characters, while retaining much of the cast—prompts the authors to ask, what would a queer theory of television look like if it took as its starting point not the identity of the queer, but rather began from the question of queerness as temporality? The series’ radical antisocial queerness is anchored as much in its form—its structural belatedness and disruptive imagery—as in its queer iconography, cast, and characters. Rejecting historical verisimilitude, each season examines the historicity of its diegetic present by enchaining it within the historical past, creating “temporal drag”. If, as Lee Edelman suggests, politics is propped on the fantasy of the (reproductive) future, then AHS’s freaks, witches, ghosts, and their queer kin refuse that future at every turn through spectacles of sex, death and stomach-churning violence, indexing an excess associated with the future-negating force of the death drive. The third season, “Coven,” exemplifies the queerness of temporal drag as a formal structure, one that does not require a queer figure to figure queerness. “Coven” communicates the pain of history through its nauseating effects, figured in gore-filled interruptions to the flow of narrative momentum that refuse the desire to get on with the story, instead privileging the death drive through its serial form and the force of its horrifying carnal aesthetics.
I have posted the page proofs to encourage you all to buy the book, which includes outstanding scholarship by Roger Hallas (the editor), Amy Villarejo, and others. I am grateful to the BBRG for supporting this research.
Well, It (2017) happened; the first horror film to truly tap into the zeitgeist of the Trump-era, one fully in line with the reactionary ethos of 'crazytown.' Pennywise, the child-eating clown, might all too easily overlay onto that other orange-haired clown from television, but Pennywise is no Trump. Rather, it is the embodiment of inexplicable fears that are just 'evil,' harkening back to pre-Enlightenment polarizations of good and evil. In the 2017 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel, the origins of Pennywise and the reasons for his appearance are never questioned; rather, the response to it is clear to all—and all too clear: violence. No longer is it requisite to confront the origins of our (manufactured) fears (as another president once famously quipped, 'fear itself'). In the new dispensation, power is fear, and thus the horror film, following suit, regresses to its most conservative narrative impulses, rallying audiences to pursue unquestioning the destruction of that which embodies their fears. In the case of Pennywise, that fear is a timely one —and one grounded in embodiment, as IT's polysemic incarnation calls forth (and calls on) meanings (trans)coded from political rhetoric of femiphobia and transphobia that catalyzed the election.
Gaga’s monstrous aesthetics are political because they fit within the category of the sublime. The sublime identifies those aesthetic practices in excess of the viewer’s cognitive capacity for reason; it remains obscure to our conceptual powers. Trans embodiment can be seen as an expression of the sublime, as it reveals the multiplicity and instability at the heart of gender. As T. Ben Singer argues, transgender embodiments evoke the sublime because they “confront us with a vision of potentially infinite specific possibilities for being human” (616). In this way, trans/affect names the complex of affective responses evoked by transgender embodiment.