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Roberta Pearson

Professor of Film and Television Studies, Faculty of Arts

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Expertise Summary

My research and publications encompass a wide variety of topics and interests.

1) American television drama: I am interested in the multiple determinants of textual meaning from the production context to textual characteristics (narrative/genre) to audience reception and fandom. At the moment, I am fascinated by the emergence of multi-platform, transmedia storytelling and its historical antecedents. I have co-edited an anthology on cult television, edited an anthology on Lost and am currently completing a co-authored manscript that focuses on Star Trek as a television show.

2) Shakespeare and media: I am primarily concerned with Shakespeare as cultural icon, rather than adaptations of individual texts, although have written about film and television adaptation as well.

4) acting and actors: I have a long standing interest in film acting that goes back to my PhD dissertation, which was published as Eloquent Gestures. I am also interested in the craft of the actor and have recently interviewed Patrick Stewart about his interpretation of Mark Antony in an interview which appeared in the journal Shakespeare.

5) early cinema/film history: I have written quite a bit about early American cinema.

6) film/television and history: how do moving image media represent the past? How do representations of particular historical events vary over time or across a range of media at the same time. My own work in this area has focused on the ill-fated American general, George Armstrong Custer.

7) culturally iconic figures: a theme that runs through much of my research in an interest in the cultural significance of particular historical or fictional figures such as Shakespeare, Custer, Batman or Sherlock Holmes. I am currently fascinated with Frank Sinatra as a cross-media popular icon and will soon start working on a manuscript entitled Broadcast Sinatra: From Radio to Youtube.

Selected Publications

  • ROBERTA PEARSON, 2012. Good Old Index, or, The Mystery of the Infinite Archive. In: KRISTINA BUSSE and LOUISA STEIN, eds., Transmedia Sherlock McFarland. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, ed., 2009. Reading Lost: Perspectives on a Hit Television Show I.B. Tauris. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2010. The Multiple Determinants of Television Acting. In: CORNEA, CHRISTINE, ed., Genre and Performance: Film and Television Manchester University Press. 166-183
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2011. Cult Television as Digital Television’s Cutting Edge. In: BENNETT, JAMES and STRANGE, NIKKI, eds., Television as Digital Media Durham: Duke University Press. 105-131
  • ROBERTA PEARSON, 2012. Good Old Index, or, The Mystery of the Infinite Archive. In: KRISTINA BUSSE and LOUISA STEIN, eds., Transmedia Sherlock McFarland. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2011. Cult Television as Digital Television’s Cutting Edge. In: BENNETT, JAMES and STRANGE, NIKKI, eds., Television as Digital Media Durham: Duke University Press. 105-131
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2010. Fandom in the Digital Era Popular Communication. 8, 1-12
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2010. The Multiple Determinants of Television Acting. In: CORNEA, CHRISTINE, ed., Genre and Performance: Film and Television Manchester University Press. 166-183
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2010. Observations on Cult Television. In: ABBOTT, STACEY, ed., The Cult TV Book I.B. Tauris. 7-18
  • EVANS, ELIZABETH and PEARSON, ROBERTA, 2009. Boxed Out: Visually Impaired Audiences and the Cultural Value of the Television Image P@rticipations: The Online Journal of Audience Research.
  • PEARSON, ROBERTA, ed., 2009. Reading Lost: Perspectives on a Hit Television Show I.B. Tauris. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2008. Screening Shakespeare: A Review Essay European Journal of Communication. 23(1), (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2007. <i>Lost</i> in Transition: from post-network to post-television. In: MCCABE, J. and AKASS, K., eds., Quality TV: contemporary American television and beyond: . London: I.B. Tauris. 239-256
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2007. Anatomising Gilbert Grissom: The Structure and Function of the Televisual Character. In: ALLEN, M., ed., Focus on CSI I.B. Tauris. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2007. Bachies, Bardies, Trekkies and Sherlockians. In: GRAY, J. and HARRINGTON, C.L AND SANDVOSS, C., eds., Fan Audiences New York: New York University Press. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2007. The Triple Pillar of the World: Patrick Stewart Talks About Mark Antony Shakespeare. 3(2), 256-269
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND MESSENGER-DAVIES, M, 2007. The Little Program That Could; the Relationship between NBC and Star Trek. In: HILMES, M., ed., NBC: America's Network Berkeley: University of California Press. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E AND SIMPSON, N., 2007. Reverse Flow: European Media in the United States. In: MAZLISH, B. AND CHANDA, N., ed., The United States in a Global Historical Perspective Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND URICCHIO. W., 2006. Brushing up Shakespeare: relevance and televisual form in Great Britons and In Search of Shakespeare. In: HENDERSON, D.E., ed., A Concise Companion to Shakespeare on Screen Malden, MA: Blackwells. 197-215 (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2005. The Writer/Producer in American Television. In: HAMMOND, M. and MAZDON, L., eds., The Contemporary Television Series Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 11-26
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND MESSENGER-DAVIES, M, 2005. Class Acts?: public and private values and the cultural habits of theatre-goers. In: SONIA LIVINGSTONE, ed., Audiences and Publics: When cultural engagement matters for the public sphere Intellect Books, Bristol. 139-162
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2004. The Menace of the Movies: Cinema's Challenges to the Theater in the Transitional Period. In: KEIL, C. and STAMP, S., eds., American Cinema's Transitional Era: audiences, institutions, practices Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 315-331
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2004. Heritage, Humanism, Populism: Representing Shakespeare in Contemporary British Television. In: ECKART, V, ed., Janespotting and Beyond: British heritage retrovisions since the mid-1990s 87-97
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2004. Bright, Particular Star: Patrick Stewart, Jean-Luc Picard and Cult Television. In: PEARSON, R.E. AND GWENLLIAN-JONES, S., ed., Cult Television Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 61-80 (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2004. Television: Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover! FRAMEWORK. VOL 45(NUMB 2), 62-67
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND MESSENGER-DAVIES, M, 2004. To Boldly Bestride the Narrow World: Shakespeare, Star Trek and the British Television Market. In: BONDEJBERG, I. AND GOLDING, P., ed., European Culture and the Media Bristol, Intellect Books. 65-90
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2004. The Histrionic and Verisimilar Codes in the Biograph Films. In: WOJCKI, P.R., ed., Movie Acting: The Film Reader London and New York, Routledge. 59-68
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND GWENLLIAN-JONES, S., ed., 2004. Cult Television Minneapolis, MN, US, University of Minnesota Press.
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND URICCHIO. W., 2004. How Many Times Shall Caesar Bleed in Sport? Shakespeare and the Cultural Debate about Moving Pictures. In: GRIEVESON, L. AND KRAMER, P., ed., The Silent Cinema Reader London: Routledge. 155-168
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2003. A White Man's Country: Native Americans in Yale's Chronicles of America Photoplays. In: GRAINGE, P., ed., Film and Popular Memory Manchester, UK, Manchester University Press. 23-41
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2003. Kings of Infinite Space: Cult Television Characters Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies. (In Press.)
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND MESSENGER-DAVIES, M, 2003. Stardom and Distinction: Patrick Stewart as an Agent of Cultural Mobility A Study of Theatre and Film Audiences in New York City. In: AUSTIN, T. AND BARKER, M., ed., Contemporary Hollywood Stardom London, Edward Arnold. 167-186
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND MESSENGER-DAVIES, M, 2003. You're not going to see that on tv: Star Trek: the Next Generation in film and television. In: JANCOVICH, M. AND LYONS, J., ed., Quality Popular Television: Cult TV, the Industry and Fans London: British Film Institute. 103-117
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2002. Shakespeare's Country: The National Poet, English Identity and the Silent Cinema. In: HIGSON, A., ed., Young and innocent?: the cinema in Britain, 1896-1930 Exeter: University of Exeter Press. 176-190
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2002. Pleasing the Million: Shakespearean Cinema in the Nineties. In: NEALE, S., ed., Genre and Contemporary Hollywood: Formulas, Cycles and Trends Since the Late 1970s London, British Film Institute. 146-159
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND URICCHIO. W., 2002. Corruption, Criminality and the Nickelodeon. In: JENKINS, H. and MACPHERSON, T. AND SHATTUCK, J., eds., Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture Durham: Duke University Press. 376-388
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND URICCHIO. W., 2002. Coming to Terms with New York City's Moving Picture Operators, 1906-1913 The Moving Image. 2(2), 73-93
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2002. Actor-Persona and Actor-Character. In: VICHI, L., ed., The Visible Man: Film Actor from Early Cinema to the Eve of Modern Cinema Udine, Italy, Udine Forum Press. 69-83
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND MESSENGER-DAVIES, M, 2002. A Brave New World A Week: Star Trek, cult television, master narratives and postmodernism. In: LE GUERN, P., ed., Les cultes mediatiques: Culture fan et oeuvers cultes Presses Universitaires de Rennes II, Rennes, France. 263-280
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2002. Corruption, Criminality and the Nickelodeon. In: Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture Durham, NC, US, Duke University Press. 376-388
  • PEARSON, R.E., 2001. Indianism?: Classical Hollywoods Representation of Native Americans. In: BERNARDI, D., ed., Classic Whiteness: Race and the Hollywood Studio System Minneapolis, MN, US, University of Minnesota Press. 245-262
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND URICCHIO. W., 2001. Celluloid Shakespeare and the Complexities of Popular Meaning. In: GRIPSRUD, J., ed., The Aesthetics of Popular Art Kristiansand, Norway, Norwegian Academic Press. 91-113
  • PEARSON, R.E. AND SIMPSON, P., ed., 2001. Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory London and New York, Routledge.

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