Reece Goodall
I am a current PhD student in French Studies, funded by an SMLC Doctoral Fellowship, under the supervision of Dr Mary Harrod and Dr Douglas Morrey.
My research is concerned with French horror cinema in the 21st century. It examines the history of the genre, asking why it failed to truly materialise in France prior to the past 20 years, and considers the industrial factors that facilitated its emergence. It explores the ideological concerns present in the French zombie horror sub-genre, exploring how these films reflect issues of race, gender and identity in contemporary France. Finally, it uses the case study of Alexandre Aja, a globally-successful French horror director, to explore the intersection of industry and genre - is Aja a French director with Hollywood success, a journeyman turning in US-esque products or has his generic status enabled him to transcend issues of national classification?
My intention is to build on this project to ask a number of larger questions, and to develop an analysis of cinema that situates it in a web of socio-culture and politics. In an era where borders are increasingly malleable, what does it mean to speak of national cinema? What tools should we use to explore a famously US-centric genre, and how should they be adapted by scholars? Can national genres become transnational or postnational?
Research Interests
French/US horror cinema
The history of horror cinema
Genre in French cinema
The national, the transnational and the postnational
Transnational genres/transnational authorship
The interplay between popular media, news and politics
Conference Papers
‘Untold stories: positioning Candyman through its unmade sequels’ – Candyman and the whole damn swarm, Sheffield Hallam University (forthcoming)
'"I've seen this movie before": marketing the requel' - Fear 2000: Horror Undying, Sheffield Hallam University (July 2022)
'What's 'European' about European horror?' - Weekday Night Bites, BAFTSS Horror Studies (October 2021) - organiser and chair - link
'Alexandre Aja: a post-national genre auteur II?' - Global Gallicisms II: Circulating Frenchness through Mainstream Film and Television, University of Warwick/University of Paris (September 2021)
'La Rage du Démon: rewriting France’s history of horror' - Fear 2000: Horror Unbound, Sheffield Hallam University (September 2021)
'La nuit a dévoré la France: zombie cinema and French national identity' - Theorizing Zombiism 2: Undead Again, University of Gothenburg (July 2021)
'Alexandre Aja: a post-national genre auteur?' - NECS 2021, University of Palermo (June 2021)
'Fear and the banlieue in French horror cinema' - SMLC Postgraduate Symposium, University of Warwick (January 2021)
''I was a lonesome cowboy': the Western and nostalgia in the Toy Story series' - Genre/Nostalgia, University of Hertfordshire (January 2021)
'Taking The Good Fight to Trump: impeachment and the 25th Amendment as narrative devices' - Trump, Television and the Media: From Drama to "Fake News" to Tweetstorms, London Metropolitan University (October 2020)
'"It's Your Crazy Mother!": maternal themes in the films of Maury and Bustillo' - Fear 2000: contemporary horror worldwide, Sheffield Hallam University (June 2019)
Publications
Goodall, Reece, 'What makes a major? Recent books on French studios', French Screen Studies (2022) - link
Goodall, Reece, Ralph Fiennes vocal stardom series, Animation Studies 2.0 (2021)
- 'Re-evaluating celebrity vocal stardom through the animated villains of Ralph Fiennes' - link
- 'Contextualising Rameses in the stardom of Ralph Fiennes' - link
- 'Accent, inflection, and Lord Victor Quartermaine' - link
- 'How voice makes a villain: Fiennes and the Moon King' - link
Goodall, Reece, 'John Kramer for President: the rise of authoritarian horror', Horror Studies 11:1 (2020): 123-140
Teaching and Responsibilities
FR121 - The Story of Modern France (seminar, and lecture on Jacques Audiard/Un héros très discret)
FR268 - French Cinema and Society from the First to the Second World War (seminar, and lecture on Henri-Georges Clouzot/Le corbeau)
FR340 - States of the Nation: French Cinema & Society from 1995 to the present (seminar on François Ozon)
Memberships
BAFTSS Horror Studies Special Interest Group (2020-)
