Dr Matt Denny
Teaching Fellow in Film & Television Studies
Email: m dot denny at warwick dot ac dot uk
Pronouns: he/him
Phone: +44 24 76 5 73646
Room FAB 1.25, Faculty of Arts Building
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7HS
About
I hold a First Class BA in Film and Literature, an MA For Research in Film and Television Studies, and earned my PhD in Film and Television Studies in 2016 - all from The Department of Film and Television Studies at Warwick. My doctoral thesisLink opens in a new window is concerned with theories of film authorship and postmodern cinema.
In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I am also the department's Widening Participation and Outreach OfficerLink opens in a new window. For the Autumn Term 2022, I will be responsible for Undergraduate Admissions
Current Teaching
For the 2022 - 2022 academic year I will be convening our outside options modules: Film Analysis and MethodsLink opens in a new window in the Autumn and Film History and MethodsLink opens in a new window in the Spring.
I have been a regular contributor to the IATLLink opens in a new window module Genetics: Science and SocietyLink opens in a new window
Research Interests
- Film Theory; particularly theories of film authorship, genre, and issues of representation (especially as this relates to genre cinema)
- Contemporary Hollywood Cinema; specialising in action cinema and post-classical style
- Horror Cinema; with particular interest in British Horror cinema, definitions of the gothic, folk horror, and the relationship between horror and science-fiction
- Film-philosophy; including R.G. Collingwood's philosophy of art, Nietzsche (particularly depictions of eternal recurrence), postmodern aesthetics, post-structuralism, and representations of the posthuman and non-human (particularly in relation to Artificial Intelligence, the demonic, and the spectral)
Research Disclaimer
As a teaching fellow, I am employed on a Teaching Only Contract. Before this I have had various hourly paid sessional teaching contracts and a professional services job (managing widening participation and study abroad). This means that presenting and publishing research does not feature as part of my workload allocation, nor has it been since I completed my PhD. While I do receive the benefits of institutional affiliation, library access, and supportive colleagues, I do not receive monetary support from the university for my research, and any research I do undertake must be conducted in my spare time rather than in working hours.
Publications
- ‘Deconstructing Depth: Proximity and Contemplation in Déjà Vu’, Film-Philosophy Special Issue: The Surfaces of Film-Philosophy, 22:2, (2018) 240-260 [available here]Link opens in a new window
- ‘Introduction: The Surfaces of Film-Philosophy’, Film-Philosophy Special Issue: The Surfaces of Film-Philosophy, 22:2, (2018) 143-147 (co-author) [available here]Link opens in a new window
- ‘In Celebration of Her Wickedness?: Critical Intertextuality and the Female Vampire in Byzantium’, in Gender and Contemporary Horror in Film, edited by Samantha Holland, Robert Shail, and Steven Gerrard (Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 2019) [link to publisher website]Link opens in a new window
Conference Papers
- 'Tony Scott's Déjà Vu (2006): Looking Again at Spectacle, Style, and Substance'
Film-Philosophy Conference, 20th – 22nd June 2015, Oxford University - 'In Celebration of Her Wickedness? Critical Intertextuality and the Female Vampire in Byzantium'
Fear 2000 Conference, 21st – 22nd April 2017, Sheffield Hallam University - 'Don’t Call it a Horror Film: The Uses of the Gothic in Crimson Peak'
Gothic Feminisms Conference, 24th – 26th May 2017, University of Kent Canterbury - 'The Postmodern Auteur: A New Wave Legacy'
The American New Wave: A Retrospective, 4th – 6th July 2017, Bangor University - ‘Robotic Revenants and Machine Ghosts: Posthuman Hauntings in Transcendence and Be Right Back’
CATH Postgraduate Conference: ‘It is true, we shall be monsters’: new perspectives on horror, science fiction and the monstrous onscreen, 13th June 2018, De Montfort University, - ‘Gothic, Folk, and Post: Labels and Value in Horror Cinema’
International Gothic association Conference 2018: Gothic Hybridities: Interdisciplinary, Multimodal and Transhistorical Approaches, July 31st–August 3rd 2018, Manchester Metropolitan University - ‘Acting Like He has Genuine Emotions: Human and Inhuman Characters in 2001: A Space Odyssey’
Character as Character: Understanding and Appreciating People in films, 13th October 2018, University of Bristol 2018 - ‘“The Field … The Field … It’s Covered in Blood!”: Watership Down as Folk Horror’
The legacy of Watership Down: Animals, Adaptation, Animation, 10th November 2018, The University of Warwick - 'Female Labour and Algorithmic Horror in Cam’
Gothic Feminisms Conference, 2nd - 3rd May 2019, University of Kent Canterbury - 'Views from Hills: Folk Horror as a Mode of Seeing'
Folk Horror in the 21st Century, 5th - 6th September 2019, Falmouth University - 'Happy Death Day, Dionysis: Nietzsche and the Final Girl'
International Gothic Conference 2022: Gothic Interruptions, 26th - 29th July, Trinity College Dublin
Memberships and Associations
I am a member of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSSLink opens in a new window)
I am a member of the International Gothic Assoiciation (IGA)Link opens in a new window
I am a Warwick LGBTUA+ supporterLink opens in a new window
Public Engagement
- I was a guest on Eavesdropping at the MoviesLink opens in a new window, discussing Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018) with José ArroyoLink opens in a new window and Michael Glass
- I appeared on Showcase for TRT World to discuss Martin Scorsese and The Age of MarvelLink opens in a new window
- I appear as one of the contributors to the Gender and AI Podcast, a project devised and organised by Dr Nike JungLink opens in a new window (University of Groningen) Both sessions of the podcast are available below
Outside Options in
Film & TV Studies
We offer a number of modules suitable for students outside the department of Film and Television Studies.
Successful completion of these modules gives you access to some of our more specialised options
For more information please see the SCAPVC Modules Available to Other Students Link opens in a new windowpage
To register you interest in a module, please use this form
If you have any further questions then please contact me at m dot denny at warwick dot ac dot uk