̽»¨Ö±²¥

• Co-convenor, LGBTQ+ Screen Studies SIG
• Co-founder, Social Media and Publicity OfficerÌý–Ìý

• Film and Television Studies

• Gender and Sexuality

• Horror Studies

• PGCert Research Practice, ̽»¨Ö±²¥
• MA Film Studies, University of East Anglia
• BA (Hons) Film and Television, University of Lincoln

• British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies

Gays, Women and Chainsaws: Queer Approaches to Characterisation and Identification in Contemporary Slasher Film and Television, 1996-2019

Drawing on the contemporary slasher subgenre, this doctoral thesis examines gay male screenwriters working in Hollywood and their scripting of heterocentric narratives that erase LGBTQ+ representation.

While their films and television shows are often approached in heteropatriarchal terms, which has gentrified gay histories of mainstream production, the thesis argues that these texts critique heteronormative ideology through Camp, thereby encouraging queer positionalities.

This structures the spectatorial trajectories of both women and gay men who are invited to identify with characters and narratives in accordance to their cultural experiences.

Here, spectatorship is not necessarily determined by gendered and sexual identity, as film and television studies assumes. Rather, spectatorship is influenced by the heteropatriarchal discourse that dictates the cultural experiences of women and gay men.

• John Mercer
• Xavier Mendik

Publications:

Sheppard, D. (2020) Serial Killers: Bates Motel (Ehrin, 2013-2017) – The Queer Monster. In: S. Bacon (ed.) Monsters: A Companion. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 175-181.

Sheppard, D. (2019) An ‘alarming cautionary tale’: Castrating the Faux Feminism ofÌý°Õ±ð±ð³Ù³óÌý(2007).ÌýScreening Sex. Available fromÌý.

Sheppard, D. (2018)ÌýSleepaway CampÌýand the Transgressive Possibilities of Queer Spectatorship. Horror Homeroom. Available fromÌý.

Conferences:

Invited Speaker: ‘Queer Fears: Network Screening and Roundtable Discussion of Knife+Heart (2018)’ – Gender Studies Film Club, University of Stirling (16 July 2020)

Ìý‘Theory in the Flesh: The Babadook and New Realisations of the Monster Queer’ –ÌýQueer Fears: A One Day Symposium on New Queer Horror Film and Television, University of Hertfordshire (28 June 2019)

‘Gays, Women, and Chainsaws: Queer Perspectives on North American Slasher Cinema’ –ÌýFear 2000: Contemporary Horror Worldwide, Sheffield Hallam University (1-2 June 2019)

‘His Body, Himself: Mark Patton and the Performance of Heterosexuality inÌýA Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s RevengeÌý(1985)’ –ÌýCine-Excess XII: I Know What You Starred In Last Summer – Global Perspectives on Cult Performance, ̽»¨Ö±²¥ (8-10 November 2018)

‘Dressed to Transgress: Reclaiming the Queer Monster in Horror Cinema’ –ÌýCritically Queer Symposium, University of East Anglia (30 April 2018)

‘Theory in the Flesh: The Babadook and New Realisations of the Monster Queer’ –ÌýFear 2000: Horror Media Now, Sheffield Hallam University (6-7 April 2018)

‘AIDS and Other Killers: Queer Villainy in 1980s Slasher Cinema’ –ÌýCine-Excess XI: Fear and the Unfamiliar – Wrong Time, Wrong Place, Wrong Crowd, ̽»¨Ö±²¥ (9-11 November 2017)

‘Diane Keaton: Stardom, Sexuality and Agency inÌýAnnie HallÌýandÌýLooking for Mr Goodbar’ –ÌýRemembering Annie Hall: A One-Day Conference, University of Sheffield (31 May 2017)