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Dr Matthew Carter

Senior Lecturer

My profile

Biography

I am a Senior Lecturer in Film and I am especially interested in the cultural history of the United States. My research focuses on the pervasive impact of frontier mythology and the Hollywood Western on America’s society, politics, and sense of national identity. I also consider the transposition of mythological themes and Western tropes into other genres like Horror, Science Fiction, and styles like Film Noir - analyzing the underlying mythic and ideological structures that give them their cultural force. More recently, my work has been concerned with contemporary iterations of the Western in both a national and transnational context, exploring themes of hybridity, interextuality, and intermediality. 

Academic and professional qualifications

- Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. University of Essex (2012)

- PhD in Film. University of Essex (2011)

- MA Art and Film Studies. University of Essex (2005)

- BA (Hons) Film and Literature. University of Essex (2004)

Expert reviewer for academic publishers

I have acted as external reviewer for renowned academic publishers (University of Oklahoma Press, Palgrave Macmillan, University Press of Mississippi, Edinburgh University Press, and University of Nebraska Press), as well as numerous academic journals, including The European Journal of American Studies (European Association for American Studies), The Journal of American Studies (Cambridge University Press), Open Screens (BAFTSS), and Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media (University College Cork, Ireland). 

Editorial Board membership

I sit on the editorial advisory board for The Popular West Series (University of Oklahoma Press). 

Membership of professional associations

- Higher Education Academy (HEA). Fellow (2012-).

Get in touch

0161 247 5248
0-10 Righton Building

Impact

Grants

- Erasmus Staff Mobility Grant for teaching at the University of Warsaw (£800). (April 2016).

- Doctoral Scholarship from the University of Essex (£12,000). Duration: three years. (2006-2009).

- Eccles Centre postgraduate in North America Studies in association with the British Association for American Studies and the Canadian Association for American Studies, awarded for best proposal in research at the British Library (£650). (October 2006-October 2007).

- Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) full scholarship (£11,500). (2004-2005).

Invited Papers

- ‘The Frontier Myth of the Western: Genre Hybrids and Transnational Perspectives’, Transnationalism and Imperialism: New Perspectives on the Western, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France (15-16 November 2018). Invited keynote.

- ‘Notes on Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and Narrative Cinema in Mulholland Drive’, Centre for Intimate Sexual Citizenship, University of Essex (15 February 2014). Invited research paper.

- ‘Ideas and Actions for a 21st Century Enlightenment, Andrzej Wajda’s 1975 television adaptation of Wladyslaw Reymont’s The Promised Land (1898)’, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in London and the Eastern Region of the Royal Society of Arts (21-23 July 2010). Invited public talk.

Invited Roundtable Discussions

- The Contemporary Western Film Studies. Chair: Hervé Mayer; with Andrew Patrick Nelson, Marek Paryz, and Jesús Ángel González. Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France (15 November 2018).

Projects

Event Organisation 

- ‘An Evening with Michael Chanan, Director of Money Puzzles Documentary (18 November 2016), held at the Axis Arts Centre and organised through RKE Cheshire and MMU Crewe Campus.

- Annual Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies Postgraduate Conference, University of Essex (15 May 2009), co-organized with Paul Elliot.

- Annual Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies Postgraduate Conference, University of Essex (5 May 2007, co-organized with Paul Elliot. 

- ‘Centre for Film Studies: Screening Ken Burns’ The Civil War, University of Essex (March-April 2007).

- Cinematicity 1895: Before and After, University of Essex (24-25 March 2006), conference assistant. 

Teaching

Undergraduate teaching

Currently teaching

- Approaches to Film 2. Level 4. MMU. Unit leader.

- Metropolis. Level 4. MMU.

- Film, Mode, Genre. Level 5. MMU.

- American Cinema and National Identity. Level 6. MMU. Unit leader. 

Supervision 

I am interested in supervising doctoral dissertations on any aspect of the traditional or contemporary Western film (as well as hybrids and transnational explorations). I am also interested in studies of other genres and styles (Film Noir, Science Fiction, Horror), especially those with a focus on ideology critique. I am also open to studies of certain American auteurs, adaptations, and of various periods in Hollywood history (e.g., Classical or New Hollywood). 

Research outputs

I have co-written and co-edited research with a number of international academics, such as Andrew Patrick Nelson (USA), Marek Paryz (Poland), and M. Elise Marubbio (USA). I have also produced edited collections that include the work of Lee Clark Mitchell (USA), Neil Campbell (UK), Susan Kollin (USA), Martin Holtz (Germany), and John White (UK). 

I am the author of the monograph, Myth of the Western: New Perspectives on Hollywood’s Frontier Narrative (Edinburgh University Press, 2014), and co-editor (with Andrew Patrick Nelson, University of Utah) of The Films of Delmer Daves (2016), which is a part of Edinburgh University Press’s ReFocus: The American Directors Series. These publications have been reviewed in international journals such as The European Journal of American Studies, American Studies in Scandinavia, The Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Film Criticism, and In Media: The French Journal of Media Studies, as well as The Times Higher Education and the online magazine Crime Time.  

I have also co-edited two Special Issues of peer-reviewed journals (with Marek Paryz, University of Warsaw, 2018) Papers on Language and Literature and (with Marek Paryz and M. Elise Marubbio, Augsburg University, 2020) The Journal of English and American Studies.

I have also published chapters in the following edited collections: Andrew Patrick Nelson, ed. Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television Since 1990 (Lanham, 2013), Marek Paryz and John Leo, eds. The Post-2000 Film Western: Contexts, Transnationality, Hybridity (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), Amanda Gilroy and Marietta Messmer, eds. America: Justice, Conflict, War (Heidelberg, 2016), and Emma Hamilton and Alistair Rolls, eds. Unbridling the Western Film Auteur: Contemporary, Transnational, and Intertextual Explorations Peter Lang, 2018). Other articles and reviews have featured in various peer-reviewed journals, including the Filmoznawcze, The European Journal of American Studies, The Journal of American Studies, the IUP Journal of American Literature, and Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media. 

I am currently co-authoring (with Andrew Patrick Nelson) a book on the films of Tobe Hooper for Columbia University Press as part of their Directors’ Cuts Series.

  • Books (authored/edited/special issues)

    Carter, M., Paryz, M., Marubbio, M.E. (2020) Figurations of Settler Colonialism in Contemporary Cinematic Depictions of the US West (Special Issue of Zeitschrift fuer Anglistik und Amerikanistik). Walter de Gruyter.

    Carter, M., Paryz, M. (2018) The visual language of gender and family in the Western.

    Carter, M., Paryz, M. (2018) The Visual Language of Gender and Family in the Western (Special Issue of Papers on Language and Literature). Southern Illinois University.

    Carter, M., Nelson, A.P. (2016) ReFocus: The Films of Delmer Daves. Edinburgh University Press.

    Carter, M. (2014) Myth of the Western: New Perspectives on Hollywood's Frontier Narrative. Edinburgh University Press.

  • Chapters in books

    Carter, M. (2018) 'The Post-apocalyptic Frontier: Re-appropriating Western Violence for Feminism in Mad Max: Fury Road.' In Hamilton, E., Rolls, A. (ed.) Unbridling the Western Film Auteur: Contemporary, Transnational, and Intertextual Explorations. Peter Lang, pp. 85-104.

    Carter, M., Nelson, A.P. (2016) ''No One Would Know It Was Mine': Delmer Daves, Modest Auteur.' ReFocus: The Films of Delmer Daves. Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1-47.

    Carter, M. (2016) '‘This is where he brought me: 10,000 acres of nothing’: the Femme Fatale and other Noir Tropes in Jubal.' ReFocus: The Films of Delmer Daves. Edinburgh University Press, pp. 199-222.

    Carter, M. (2016) '‘This Country’s Hard on People’: No Country for Old Men as Political Allegory of 9/11..' In Gilroy, A., Messmer, M. (ed.) America: Justice, Conflict, War, EAAS 60th Anniversary Conference Volume. Winter Universitätsverlag, pp. 117-129.

    Carter, M. (2015) ''Crossing the Beast': American Identity and Frontier Mythology in Sin Nombre.' In Paryż, M., Leo, J. (ed.) The Post-2000 Film Western: Contexts, Transnationality, Hybridity. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 89-105.

    Carter, M. (2015) '"Crossing the Beast": American Identity and Frontier Mythology in Sin Nombre.' The Post-2000 Film Western: Contexts, Transnationality, Hybridity. pp. 89-105.

    Carter, M. (2013) ''I’m just a cowboy’: Transnational Identities of the Border Country in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.' In Nelson, A.P. (ed.) Contemporary Westerns: Film and Television Since 1990. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., pp. 149-169.

  • Journal articles

    Carter, M. (2020) 'The Perpetuation of Myth: Ideology in Bone Tomahawk.' Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik: a quarterly of language, literature and culture, 68(1) pp. 21-35.

    Carter, M. (2020) 'The Perpetuation of Myth: Ideology in Bone Tomahawk.' Zeitschrift fuer Anglistik und Amerikanistik: a quarterly of language, literature and culture, 68(1) pp. 21-35.

    Marubbio, M.E., Paryż, M., Carter, M. (2020) 'Degeneration of Settler Colonialism in Contemporary Cinematic Depictions of the U.S. West: Introduction.' Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 68(1) pp. 3-5.

    Marubbio, M.E., Parez, M., Carter, M. (2020) 'Degeneration of Settler Colonialism in Contemporary Cinematic Depictions of the U.S. West: Introduction.' Zeitschrift fuer Anglistik und Amerikanistik: a quarterly of language, literature and culture, 68(1) pp. 3-5.

    Carter, M. (2018) '“I’ve Been Looking for You”: Re-configuring Race, Gender, and the Family through the Female Agency of The Keeping Room.' Papers on Language and Literature, 54(1)

    Carter, M., Paryz, M. (2018) 'Introduction: The Visual Language of Gender and Family in the Western.' Papers on Language and Literature, 54(1) pp. 3-6.

    Carter, M., Paryz, M. (2017) 'The Family and the Problem of Gender in the Western.' Papers on Language and Literature, 53(1) pp. 102-103.

    Carter, M. (2017) 'Personalising the Apocalypse: Frontier Mythology and Genre Hybridity in Maggie.' Studia Filmoznawcze (Film Studies), 38pp. 121-135.

    Carter, M. (2013) 'Review: A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove, John Spong.' Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, 6

    Carter, M. (2012) '‘I’m just a cowboy’: Transnational Identities of the Border Country in Tommy Lee Jones’s The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.' European Journal of American Studies, 7(1)

    Carter, M. (2009) '‘The dismal tide’: Shoring up the Fragments in Joel and Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men..' IUP Journal of American Literature, 2(3-4)

  • Non-peer reviewed articles / reviews

    Carter, M. On the Making of Lonesome Dove.

    Carter, M. (2020) The Films of Clint Eastwood: Critical Perspectives.

  • Conference papers

    Carter, M. (2023) 'The Horrific Border: National Identity in Savageland.' In Frontiers and Wastelands: Redefining the Nation in US Popular Culture. PopMeC Association for US Popular Culture, International Conference.. Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain, 27/11/2023 - 28/11/2023.

    Carter, M. (2023) '“The Bizarre Enormity of the Mad and the Macabre.”.' In Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies’ Gothic Summer School.. Manchester Metropolitan University, 5/6/2023 - 9/6/2023.

    Carter, M., Nelson, A.P. (2021) '“Shoot-Out at the Genre Corral, Redux.”.' In Lonely are the Brave: The Western and Post-War America.. University of East Anglia, 15/6/2021 - 18/6/2021.

    Carter, M. (2018) '“The Frontier Myth of the Western: Genre Hybrids and Transnational Perspectives”.' In “Transnationalism and Imperialism: New Perspectives on the Western”. Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Site Saint Charles, 15/11/2018 - 16/11/2018.

    Carter, M. (2018) '“The Roots of the Degeneration of Settler Colonialism in The Keeping Room”.' In 32nd European Association for American Studies (EAAS) and 63rd British Association for American Studies (BAAS) 1st Joint Conference (EBAAS). King's College London, University College London, and the British Library, 4/4/2018 - 7/4/2018.

    Carter, M. (2017) '“Reappropriating Western Violence for Feminism in Mad Max: Fury Road”.' In 62nd British Association for American Studies (BAAS) Annual Conference. Canterbury Christ Church University, 6/4/2017 - 8/4/2017.

    Carter, M. (2015) '“‘Crossing the Beast’: American Identity and Frontier Mythology in Sin Nombre”.' In MMU Cheshire Interdisciplinary Conference: ‘Contested Spaces: Shared Places’. Manchester Metropolitan University, Cheshire Faculty, Crewe, 11/7/2015 - 11/7/2015.

    Carter, M. (2014) '“Reimagining Women in the West: Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff”.' In III International Conference on the American Literary West: ‘A Territory without Borders?’. University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 8/10/2014 - 10/10/2014.

    Carter, M. (2014) '“‘This country’s hard on people’: No Country for Old Men as Political Allegory of 9/11”.' In “America: Justice, Conflict, War”, European Association for American Studies 60th Anniversary Conference. Leiden University College The Hague, 3/4/2014 - 6/4/2014.

    Carter, M. (2013) '“‘Una herida abierta’: the Migration of Myth in Three Cinematic Visions of the Borderlands”.' In XIII British Comparative Literature Association (BCLA) International Conference: ‘Migration’. University of Essex, 8/7/2013 - 11/7/2013.

    Carter, M. (2010) '“Transnational Identities of the Border Country in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”.' In II International Conference on the American Literary West: ‘Beyond the Myth’. University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 7/10/2010 - 8/10/2010.

    Carter, M. (2009) '“‘The dismal tide’: Shoring up the Fragments in No Country for Old Men”.' In 'My Hero’: Defining and Constructing Non-Military Heroism Symposium. King’s College London, 24/6/2009 - 25/6/2009.

    Carter, M. (2008) '“‘Lunatic Logic’; or, Dr. Strangelove, the Western, and the Terrible ill-logic of Nuclear Weaponry”.' In ‘America: Real and Imagined’, British Association for American Studies (BAAS) Annual Postgraduate Conference. University of Exeter, 15/11/2008 - 15/11/2008.

    Carter, M. (2007) '“‘Transcendence on a Pale Horse’: Speaking the Myth of the Frontier as a Language of Violence in Unforgiven”.' In Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies Annual Postgraduate Conference. University of Essex, 5/5/2007 - 5/5/2007.

  • Presentations

    Carter, M. (2023) “Barren, Silent, Godless”: The Apocalypse and the Human Condition in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. [Presentation] Muhlenberg Center for American Studies, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg,18/1/2023.

    Carter, M. (2023) “This house has many hearts": The Incoherence of Poltergeist (1982). [Presentation] MMU,18/1/2023.

    Carter, M. (2022) BFI - In Dreams are Monsters: The Thing (40th Anniversary).. [Presentation] The Light, Stockport,31/10/2022.