I have been a little absent from my studies in recent times, and it has been a struggle to return to things. Unfortunately, my personal life has got in the way a bit, and a month-long break somehow became four months. So what have I been up to?Read More →
One of the texts I am researching for my PhD thesis is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in particular both the depiction of Willow Rosenberg’s sexuality and her complex morality. What I present here is just some unedited notes on some of my thought processes, taken from my chapter notes. These are definitely unrefined and unpolished, but certainly a start in getting my head around Buffy‘s somewhat problematic relationship with queer identities.Read More →
NOTE: This blog was originally written for the entertainment website I’m With Geek, which no longer exists although it is archived online. It was originally written and published in March 2013. My writing has improved drastically since then, but I still wanted to include it here. My passion for film came about entirely by accident. I’d originally wanted to study Photography at A-Level, but the college didn’t offer it at the time. (I now work at the same college, and annoyingly, they now do photography.) Film Studies was a last minute choice, but one that ended up shaping my entire future. Because of that course, IRead More →
In July of 2018, the m/m romance author Leta Blake wrote a Facebook post discussing her reaction to the criticisms received on her Heat of Love novel series. The criticism itself came from a gay cis male reader who claimed that the novels were highly offensive as they depicted mpreg (male pregnancy). I intended to write a blog about the subject for a while and have unfortunately only just got around to it. This blog is not actually about Blake’s books, the reaction from her reader, and the ensuing debate. That has long passed, and also I don’t feel qualified to discuss it further. ThisRead More →
I am pleased to announce that I, along with a team of PhD candidates in the Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University, am organising a conference this summer entitled ‘Absent Presences: shifting the core and peripheries of the Gothic mode’. The purpose of this conference is to shed light on the neglected aspects of Gothic studies, from representation of marginalised groups both in text and in authorship, to under-explored media types such as new media and online video. We aim to expand the ‘Gothic canon’ beyond the traditional texts and perspectives, and aim to establish a new, wider definition of what canRead More →
In the Flesh (Dominic Mitchell, 2013-2015) takes place in the isolated, rural community of Roarton, Lancashire. As the setting of the inception of a global zombie apocalypse, Roarton becomes a hotbed of conflict between the human survivors and the now-medicated zombies (or Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferers to give them their politically correct title) who are being integrated back into society. In the centre of this conflict is Kieren Walker, a queer PDS-sufferer who has returned five years after his suicide and is frequently torn between disguising himself as human, or going ‘au naturale’ like his best friend Amy Dyer and taking pride in his difference.Read More →