Dr Matthew Jones

Job: Reader in Cinema Audiences and Reception and Faculty Head of Research Students

Faculty: Technology

School/department: Leicester Media School

Research group(s): Cinema and Television History (CATH)

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 257 7483

E: matthew.jones@dmu.ac.uk

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Personal profile

Matthew is a specialist on mid-twentieth century British cinema and audiences. He is particularly interested in the relationship between cinema and memory, popular film and television genres, and the social experience of cinema-going. He holds a British Academy Rising Stars Engagement Awards grant on ‘Cinema, Memory and the Community’ and his next monograph, ‘Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising the Golden Age’ will be published by Bloomsbury in 2017. He has worked with colleagues at UCL on a major AHRC-funded project, ‘Cultural Memory and British Cinema-going of the 1960s’ and is currently co-authoring a monograph on this topic. He also produced an immersive theatre experience to deliver public impact from this research. With Dr Joan Ormrod (Manchester Metropolitan University) he has edited a collection of essays on time travel narratives in various media formats.

Research group affiliations

Cinema and Television History (CATH)

Publications and outputs

Cinema Memories: A People’s History of Cinema-going in 1960s Britain
Cinema Memories: A People’s History of Cinema-going in 1960s Britain Jones, Matthew; Stokes, Melvyn; Pett, Emma
Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety
Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising Cultural Anxiety Jones, Matthew
Memories of British Cinema
Memories of British Cinema Jones, Matthew
Leicester Cinema History
Leicester Cinema History Jones, Matthew; Chibnall, S.; Ercole, Pier; Porter, Laraine; Hanson, Stuart; Acciari, Monia This public exhibition, housed in the DMU Heritage Centre, ran from February to May 2017. It charted the development, decline and resurgence of Leicester's cinema culture through a large map displaying the cinemas within the city and panels dedicated to the various types of cinemas that have operated in the surrounding area. Produced collaboratively by members of the Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre, the exhibition also featured objects and historical artefacts drawn from the Steve Chibnall Collection that highlighted the material cultures of film exhibition and consumption.
Windows on the World: Memories of European Cinemas in 1960s Britain
Windows on the World: Memories of European Cinemas in 1960s Britain Jones, Matthew; Stokes, Melvyn During the 1960s, European cinema became increasingly available to British audiences. The expansion of university film societies and arthouse cinemas meant that domestic and US productions, which made up the vast majority of films screened in this country, were now in competition with the work of directors such as Bergman, Fellini, and Truffaut. Using responses from nearly a thousand participants in an investigation of cultural memory and British cinemagoing in the 1960s, this article explores how these encounters with European cinema are now remembered. While audiences tend to characterise these films as innovative, unusual and cerebral, they are also often thought of as obscure and baffling. This article argues that, however the films are now remembered, British cinema audiences sensed that they were having their eyes opened to new perspectives on the world through their exposure to films from other countries.
Far from Swinging London: Memories of Non-urban Cinema-going in 1960s Britain
Far from Swinging London: Memories of Non-urban Cinema-going in 1960s Britain Jones, Matthew
Living Cinema Memories: Restaging the Past at the Pictures
Living Cinema Memories: Restaging the Past at the Pictures Jones, Matthew
Hammer's Monsters: A Screen Bestiary
Hammer's Monsters: A Screen Bestiary Jones, Matthew; Chibnall, S. This public exhibition, housed in the DMU Heritage Centre, ran from October 2016 to October 2017. It displayed materials from the Hammer Script Archive held by the Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre at DMU and provided a critical and historical commentary on these materials. Locating the archival objects and images within the industrial and creative history of the iconic Hammer Film Productions, the exhibition invited the public to reflect on the place of this studio within the broader development of British horror cinema.
A Night at the Cinema in the 1960s
A Night at the Cinema in the 1960s Jones, Matthew; Wright, Ellen; Chibnall, S.; Clarke, Alissa; Jordan, Kelly Using the findings and data of the AHRC-funded 'Cultural Memory and British Cinema-going of the 1960s' project, this immersive theatre performance recreated the experience of visiting a cinema during that decade. Bringing together 30 actors, 2 directors, 2 producers and 2 cinema venues, 'A Night at the Cinema in the 1960s' was performed twice, once at Phoenix in Leicester on 3 March 2016 and once at Picturehouse Central in London on 29 June 2016. As well as being an output of the AHRC project's research and a means of generating impact from that work, it also enabled the project's researchers to develop a new understanding of their materials.
Fleapits and Picture Palaces
Fleapits and Picture Palaces Jones, Matthew; Chibnall, S.; Porter, Laraine This 25-minute documentary, produced collaborative by members of the Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre, explores the history of cinema-going in Leicester and its surrounding area. Connecting trends in local cinema culture with the broader national picture, it locates archival images and clips within the history of the rise, decline and resurgence of cinema-going as a popular activity. The film was screened several times at the Phoenix cinema in Leicester during 2015 and 2016, and has become a cornerstone of the Leicester Cinema History exhibition at DMU's Heritage Centre.

Click here to view a full listing of Matthew Jones' publications and outputs.

Research interests/expertise

Cultural memory
Cinema-going
Cinema audiences
1950s and 1960s film history
Film and television genres
Science fiction cinema and television

Areas of teaching

Film and television audiences
Fan cultures
Film reviewing

Qualifications

BA Hons Drama (University of Manchester)
MA Screen Studies (University of Manchester)
PhD (University of Manchester)

Courses taught

MEDS3401: Audiences and Fandom
FILM1401: Writing, Reviewing and Film Criticism

Honours and awards

British Academy Rising Stars Engagement Awards - ‘Cinema, Memory and the Community’, March 2016
De Montfort University Oscars Award - ‘innovation in internationalisation’, 2016 (Finalist)
De Montfort University Oscars Award - ‘contribution to the University’s globalisation’, 2015 (Finalist)
MeCCSA Conference Poster Paper Award - ‘Hunting psychos: Using Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and Gus Van Sant’s Psycho (1998) to destabilise American performance tradition’, 2008

Membership of professional associations and societies

History of Moviegoing, Exhibition and Reception research network (HoMER)
Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA)
British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS)

Conference attendance

Invited talks/keynote lectures:

‘1960s Cinema-going – Live’. AHRC-funded Still Swinging: 1960s British Cinema and Popular Culture in the 21st Century conference. September 2016. University of East Anglia.
‘The 1930s in the 1960s: Memory, Periodization and the Ghosts of Decades Past’. AHRC-funded Frameworks for British Film History conference. April 2016. University of York.
‘Reigniting the Blaze: Hammer’s Unmade Remake of The Day the Earth Caught Fire’. Hammer Film Productions: A Laboratory for Modern Horror. June 2015. Paris.

Conference / symposium papers:

‘Living Memories: Connecting Modern and Historical Cinema Audiences through Immersive Theatre’. NECS. July 2016. Potsdam.
‘Opening the Archive: British Film Periodicals’. Co-presented with Prof Steve Chibnall. Turning the Page – DICIS and NORMMA conference. November 2016. Ghent.
‘Leicester Goes to the Pictures: A Collaborative Approach to Local Cinema History’. What is Cinema History? – HoMER annual conference. June 2015. Glasgow.
‘Capturing the Intangible: The Physical Forms of Leicester’s Cinema-going Memories’. SCMS. March 2015. Montreal.
Roundtable discussion on cultural memory. Mediated Pasts: Visual Cultures and Collective Memory conference. June 2014. De Montfort University, Leicester.
‘“Windows on the world”: Memories of European cinema in 1960s Britain’. Co-presented with Prof Melvyn Stokes. NECS. June 2014. Milan.
‘Cultural Memory and Rural British Cinema-going of the 1960s’. Associate Research Fellow Day, Cinema and Television History Research Centre. May 2014. De Montfort University, Leicester.
‘Cultural Memory and British Cinema-going of the 1960s’. Co-presented with Dr Melvyn Stokes. 23rd International Screen Studies Conference. June 2013. Glasgow.
Invited presentation at ‘Life Beyond the Screen PhD’ postgraduate training conference. University of Manchester. June 2013. Manchester.
Plenary address and ‘Why Bother with Film History?: Facing Up to Research Impact’. Impact - Cultivating Research postgraduate symposium. May 2012. University of Manchester.
‘The British Reception of 1950s Science Fiction Cinema’. Screen Research seminar series. April 2012. University of Salford.
‘Carries Bradshaw Tells You Lies: Surface and Depth in Sex and the City (2008)’. Co-presented with Ally Khalid. Screen research seminar series. March 2009. University of Manchester.
‘Army of Ghosts: Sight, Knowledge and the Invisible Aggressor in Doctor Who’. Film and History conference. November 2008. Chicago, Illinois.
‘Army of Ghosts: Sight, Knowledge and the Invisible Aggressor in Doctor Who’. Whoniversal Appeal: An Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Conference on Doctor Who and Its Spin-Offs. November 2008. Cardiff.
‘Gender in Peril: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)’. Screen Research seminar series. May 2008. University of Manchester.
‘Parallel Worlds: Investigating Gendered Audience Responses to the Double in Parallel World Science Fiction Television’. Alternate Visions: Trash/Cult/Experimental/Avant-Garde/Extreme Cinema and Television conference. April 2008. Plymouth, New Hampshire.
‘Parallel Worlds: Investigating Gendered Audience Responses to the Double in Parallel World Science Fiction Television’. Southwest and Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations conference. February 2008. Albuquerque, New Mexico.
‘Hunting Psychos: Using Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and Gus Van Sant’s Psycho (1998) to Destabilise American Performance Tradition’. Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) conference. January 2008. Cardiff.

Key research outputs

Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualising the Golden Age. London and New York: Bloomsbury. In press.
Cultural Memory and British Cinema-going of the 1960s. Co-authored with Prof Melvyn Stokes and Dr Emma Pett. London: BFI Palgrave Macmillan. Forthcoming 2017.
‘Memories of British Cinema’, in I. Q. Hunter, Laraine Porter and Justin Smith (eds.). Routledge History of British Cinema. London: Routledge. In press.
‘Windows on the World: Memories of European Cinemas in 1960s Britain’. Memory Studies. Co-authored with Melvyn Stokes. In press.
‘Far from Swinging London: Memories of Non-urban Cinema-going in 1960s Britain’, in Judith Thissen and Clemens Zimmerman (eds.). Cinema Beyond the City: Small-Town and Rural Film Culture in Europe. London: BFI. In press.
‘Monsters of Hammer: A Screen Bestiary’. A public exhibition of materials from the Hammer Scripts Archive. Heritage Centre, De Montfort University. October 2016 – May 2017. Curator.
‘Leicester Cinema History’. A public exhibition based on research into the cinema-going history of Leicester. Heritage Centre, De Montfort University. October 2016 – May 2017. Curator.
‘A Night at the Cinema in the 1960s’. Two large-scale immersive theatre performances recreating the experience of 1960s cinema-going. Picture house Central, London (July 2016) and Phoenix Cinema, Leicester (March 2016). Director, producer and actor.
Time Travel in Popular Media: Essays on Film, Television, Literature and Video Games. Co-edited with Dr Joan Ormrod. 2015. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
‘1950s Science Fiction Cinema’s Depersonalisation Narratives in Britain’. Science Fiction Film and Television, 7 (1). January 2014. 31-54.
‘Post-colonial Britain?: David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia in History and Memory’. British Politics Review 8 (4). Autumn 2013. 11-13. Co-authored with Melvyn Stokes. ‘Butch Girls, Brittle Boys and Sexy, Sexless Cylons: Some Gender Problems in Battlestar Galactica’, in Roz Kaveney and Jennifer Stoy (eds.). 2010. Reading Battlestar Gallactica: Flesh, Spirit and Steel. London: I. B. Tauris. 154-184.
‘Aliens of London: (Re)reading National Identity in Doctor Who’, in Christopher Hansen (ed.). 2010. Ruminations, Peregrinations and Regenerations: A Critical Approach to Doctor Who. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 85-99.
‘Army of Ghosts: Sight, Knowledge and the Invisible Terrorist in Doctor Who’, in Melissa Beattie, Una McCormack and Ross Garner (eds.). 2010. Impossible Worlds, Impossible Things: Cultural Perspectives on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 45-61.

Current research students

Rebecca Jones, PhD, 1st supervisor – Female robots and androids in science fiction film and television
Georgina Griffiths, MRes, 1st supervisor – The Rocky Horror Show and online audiences
Kieran Foster, PhD, 2nd supervisor – Hammer’s unmade films
B Jones, PhD, 2nd supervisor – Adaptations of The Avengers

Externally funded research grants information

‘Cinema, Memory and the Community’, British Academy, Rising Star Engagement Awards, March 2016-March 2017, Primary investigator.

Internally funded research project information

DMU Square Mile community projects, De Montfort University. ‘Mapping Leicester Cinema History’. 2016. £2500. Principal investigator.
Research Investment Fund competition, De Montfort University. ‘Developing and testing an impact delivery prototype for cinema history research using immersive theatre techniques’. 2015. £3,775. Principal investigator.
Interdisciplinary Resource Sharing Fund competition, De Montfort University. ‘Opening the archives – Mass resource digitisation’. 2015. £733. Principal investigator.
Research Capital Investment Fund competition, De Montfort University. ‘Media, history and the digital document’. 2014. £25,000. Principal investigator.

Professional esteem indicators

Impact projects:

Curated two exhibitions at Leicester’s Heritage Centre on Hammer Film Productions and the history of cinema-going in the city. October 2016 – May 2017.
Organisation of two large immersive theatre events informed by my research on 1960s cinema-going. Picturehouse Central, London and Phoenix, Leicester. March and June 2016.
Lecture and screening of Pleasure Domes and Flea Pits: Leicester’s Cinema History (2015), a documentary film that I produced which emerged from my research on the history of Leicester cinema-going. Directed by Kieran Chauhan.

Media appearances:

‘The Future of Binge Watching’. The Guardian, print edition and website. 17 October 2016.
Interviewed about my exhibition on Hammer Film Productions at Leicester’s Heritage Centre. BBC Radio Leicester. October 2016.
Interviewed for ‘Hammer horror archive opens to public for first time’. BBC News website. October 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-29832511.
Interviewed for Who is Who? BBC Radio 4. November 2013.
Interviewed by PodAcademy for a podcast about my research into 1960s cinema memories. July 2013. http://podacademy.org/podcasts/lives-through-a-lens/.
Numerous appearances on BBC Leicester and articles in Times Higher Education, The Independent and various local newspapers.

Public lectures:

‘Locating Leicester Cinema History’. Phoenix Arts Centre, Leicester. 9th September 2015.
‘This is Where We Came In: Memories of ‘60s Cinema-going’. UCL Festival of the Arts. 28th May 2014.
‘Remembering Kes’. Theatre Royal, Wakefield. 20th October 2013.
‘Memories of 1960s Cinema-going’. Bedford Public Library. 16th October 2013.
‘Remembering 1960s Cinema-going in London’. Jacksons Lane. London. 26th September 2013.
‘Remembering Dr. No’. Eden Court, Inverness. 15th September 2013.
‘Remembering Breakfast at Tiffanys’. Delivered on the Screen Machine mobile cinema in Tomintoul, Newtonmore and Fort William. September 2013.
‘Remembering Bonnie and Clyde’. The Cinema Museum, London. 17th July 2013.
‘Smoking at the Odeon: Memories of 1960s Cinema-going’. UCL Festival of the Arts. 10th May 2013.

External website

www.cinemamemories.org