Dr Ellen Wright

Dr Ellen Wright’s work tends to focus on Hollywood cinema between 1930 and 1960 and examines female star personae and celebrity, film star scandals, gender and performance, costuming, censorship, fandom, youth audiences and moral panics, audience and critical reception and media discourse across British and US contexts, primarily through the use of extra textual materials. 

In particular she is drawn to denigrated forms such as the celebrity group ‘selfie’, pin-up photography, trash cinema, slash fiction and pornography as well as press books, promotional materials for films and TV shows, film fan annuals, film and photography magazines/pamphlets, syndicated radio plays, film star fiction, film star/celebrity endorsements and advertising tie-ups. 

She examines these resources with a view to interrogating wider notions of gender, sexuality, class, taste, nationality and consumption.

Amongst other things, she has written on the pin-up and Hollywood glamour during WWII, the swimsuit in Hollywood cinema, the marketing of the female detective in post-war film noir and star capital and celebrity group selfies.

She has a podcast and blogs regularly. Both can be found on her website: https://hereslookingatyousite.wordpress.com/

The Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre

To see a full list of Ellen Wright's publications and outputs click here.

Hollywood cinema of the classical era

Representation

Gender and sexuality

Star studies

Photography and Hollywood

Discourse analysis

Erotica

gender and sexuality, taste, material cultures, film history.

BA (Hons) Film Studies

MA Film Studies

PhD

PGCert HE

Cult Film

Film and Material Cultures

Dissertation

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA)

#DMUEngage project #TheyNeverClothed

"A Glimpse behind the Screen: Tijuana Bibles and the Pornographic Reimagining of Female Film Stars." May 2016 Doing Women's Film and Television History Structures of Feeling Conference

”Every woman Should Glamour for Attention”: Hollywood Stars, Fan Annuals, Consumption and the Negotiation of Feminine Desirability in Austerity Britain.’ Nov 2015, Turning the Page conference, Ghent.

”Every Woman Should Glamour for Attention”: Rita Hayworth and Consumption in Austerity Britain.’ Sept 2015, The Look of Austerity conference, Museum of London.

‘Hollywood Confidential: Tijuana Bibles, Audiences and Film Stars in Classical Era Hollywood.’ June2015, HoMER Network ‘What is Cinema History?’ conference, Glasgow.

“Air Raid Warden to Glamour Girl”: The Windmill Girl and the Wartime Negotiation of Female Sexuality in Picture Post’. June 2015, Women and Girls in Print and Pixels conference, Oxford Brookes University.

‘Good Entertainment for a Certain Type of Film Goer: Cultural Distinction, National Identity and Betty Grable Fandom in WWII Britain’, Sept 2014, Fan Studies Network conference, Regents University, London.

‘Pool of Desire: The Aquacade, Hollywood and Swimming as Sexual Spectacle.’, Sept 2014, Sporting Females: Past, Present and Future conference, Leeds Metropolitan University.

‘Watch the Birdie: The Cultural Politics of Twitter and the Celebrity Group Selfie.’ June 2014, Celebrity Studies conference, Royal Holloway, University of London.

‘A Glimpse Behind the Screen: Tijuana Bibles and the Pornographic Reimagining of Hollywood.’ Nov 2011, Scandal in Culture: Taboo – Trend – Transgression conference, University of Wroclaw.

‘A Yank at the ABC: Betty Grable, Hollywood and ‘American-ness’ in Wartime Britain.’ July 2011 Second World War: Popular Culture and Cultural Memory conference, University of Brighton.