Professor Lisa Purse
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+44 (0) 118 378 4079
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Professor in Film
- Professor in Film
- Member of the Executive Committee of the Centre for Film Aesthetics and Cultures
- Member of the Heritage & Creativity Institute Steering Committee
- Member of the University Arts Committee
- Principle Investigator on British Academy-funded project Disappearing War: Cinema and the Politics of Erasure in the 'War on Terror' (2015–16)
- Co-Investigator on AHRC/FAPESP-funded project IntermIdia: Towards an Intermedial History of Brazilian Cinema (2016–19)
- Module convenor of BA Year 3 Cinema, Spectacle and Technology module.
Office
Room 207Building location
Minghella StudiosAreas of interest
My research is broadly concerned with the relationships between aesthetics and the politics of representation in cinema.
I am interested in constructions of the body and physicality in post-studio mainstream cinema, and in particular their relationship to zones of geopolitical conflict. A second key strand of my research explores popular cinema's interactions with the digital, including digital visual effects and Digital 3-D.
My monograph Contemporary Action Cinema explored issues of style, representation, and politics in action cinema of the last decade. My second monograph Digital Imaging in Popular Cinema investigated the challenges that digital elements of the film frame pose for interpretation. I am currently researching projects on cinema and the epistemology of war, and space and duration in contemporary digital cinema.
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduate students on any aspect of my research interests, including proposals for projects with a practical component. I am currently supervising theses on:
- Creative modes of film production (co-supervisor, research by practice)
- Animating the evacuee archive – memory and materiality (co-supervisor, research by practice)
- Shakespeare and action cinema (co-supervisor)
- Intermediality in '70s and '80s Japanese cinema (co-supervisor)
- Theatre live streamed into cinemas (co-supervisor)
- Narrative in the Star Wars films (co-supervisor)
- Access to the film industry for filmmakers with disabilities in India (co-supervisor, research by practice).
Teaching
- Introduction to Film (BA)
- Critical practice modules in all years (BA, MA)
- Cinema, Spectacle and Technology (BA)
- Film Production (MA)
- Film Aesthetics (MA)
- Dissertation/advanced practical project supervision (BA and MA).
Professional bodies/affiliations
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Member of British Film Institute
- Member of Society for Cinema and Media Studies
- Member of Media, Communication & Cultural Studies Association
- Member of the Executive Committee of Centre for Film Aesthetics and Cultures (CFAC).
Publications
- Purse, L. and Wölfel, U. , eds. (2020) Mediating War and Identity: Figures of Transgression in 20th- and 21st-century War Representation. Mediating war and identity: figures of transgression in 20th- and 21st-centuries war representation. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. pp. 1-13. ISBN: 9781474446266
- Purse, L. (2019) The new dominance: action-fantasy hybrids and the new superhero in 2000s action cinema. In: Kendrick, J. , (eds.) A Companion to the Action Film. Wiley Blackwell , Chichester, West Sussex. pp. 55-73. ISBN: 9781119100492 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781119100744.ch3
- Purse, L. and Palmer, L. , eds. (2019) When the astronaut is a woman. Science Fiction Film and Television (Special Issue) , 12. Science Fiction Film and Television , 12 (1). ISSN: 1754-3770
- Purse, L. (2019) Square-jawed strength: gender and resilience in the female astronaut film. Science Fiction Film and Television , 12 (1). pp. 53-72. ISSN: 1754-3770
- Purse, L. (2018) Layered encounters: mainstream cinema and the disaggregate digital composite. Film-Philosophy , 22 (2). pp. 148-167. ISSN: 1466-4615 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3366/film.2018.0070
- Purse, L. (2017) Confronting the impossibility of impossible bodies: Tom Cruise and the ageing male action hero movie. In: Yu, S. and Austin, G. , (eds.) Revisiting Star Studies: Cultures, Themes and Methods. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. pp. 162-184. ISBN: 9781474404310
- Purse, L. (2017) Working space: gravity (Alfonso Cuarón) and the digital long take. In: Pye, D. and Gibbs, J. , (eds.) The Long Take: Critical Approaches. Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television Palgrave Macmillan , London. pp. 221-238. ISBN: 9781137585721
- Purse, L. (2017) Between phonographic perfection and resistance: Titãs – life even looks like a party. In: Elduque Busquets, A. , (eds.) Contemporary Brazilian Music Film. University of Reading , Reading. pp. 91-98. ISBN: 9780704915855
- Purse, L. (2017) Ambiguity, ambivalence and absence in Zero Dark Thirty. In: Purse, L. and Hellmich, C. , (eds.) Disappearing War Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cinema and Erasure in the Post-9/11 World. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. pp. 131-148. ISBN: 9781474416566
- Hellmich, C. and Purse, L. (2017) Introduction: film and the epistemology of war. In: Hellmich, C. and Purse, L. , (eds.) Disappearing War: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Cinema and Erasure in the Post-9/11 World. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh, UK. ISBN: 9781474416566
- Purse, L. (2017) Digital visceral: textural play and the flamboyant gesture in digital screen violence. Journal of Popular Film & Television , 45 (1). pp. 16-25. ISSN: 0195-6051 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2017.1270137
- Hellmich, C. and Purse, L. , eds. (2017) Disappearing war: interdisciplinary perspectives on cinema and erasure in the post-9/11 world. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. pp 216. ISBN: 9781474416566
- Hellmich, C. and Purse, L. (2016) Knowing war: moving images and the politics of erasure in the post 9/11 world. E-international relations
- Purse, L. (2016) Affective trajectories: locating diegetic velocity in the cinema experience. Cinema Journal , 55 (2). pp. 151-157. ISSN: 0009-7101 (IN FOCUS: Speed)
- Purse, L. (2016) The new Hollywood, 1981–1999: special/visual effects. In: Whissel, K. and Keil, C. , (eds.) Editing and Special/Visual Effects. Behind the Silver Screen Rutgers University Press , New Brunswick, NJ. pp. 142-155. ISBN: 9780813570815
- Purse, L. (2015) Rotational aesthetics: Michael Bay and contemporary cinema’s machine movement. Senses of Cinema (75). ISSN: 1443-4059
- Purse, L. (2013) Digital imaging in popular cinema. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. pp 208. ISBN: 9780748646906
- Purse, L. (2011) Contemporary action cinema. Edinburgh University Press , Edinburgh. pp 232. ISBN: 9780748638178
- Purse, L. (2011) Transformers. In: Geraghty, L. , (eds.) American Hollywood. Directory of World Cinema Intellect Books (5). , Bristol and Chicago, IL. pp. 279-281. ISBN: 9781841504155
- Purse, L. (2011) The Matrix. In: Geraghty, L. , (eds.) Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood. Directory of World Cinema Intellect Books , Bristol and Chicago, IL. pp. 99-101. ISBN: 9781841504155
- Purse, L. (2011) Return of the 'Angry Woman': authenticating female physical action in contemporary cinema. In: Waters, M. , (eds.) Women on Screen: Feminism and Femininity in Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan pp. 185-198. ISBN: 9780230229655
- Purse, L. (2010) Working through the body: textual-corporeal strategies in United 93 (2006). In: Brown, T. and Walters, J. , (eds.) Film moments: criticism, history, theory. British Film Institute and Palgrave , London, UK. pp. 157-161. ISBN: 9781844573363
- Purse, L. (2009) Gestures and postures of mastery: CGI and contemporary action cinema's expressive tendencies. In: Balcerzak, S. and Sperb, J. , (eds.) Cinephilia in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, Pleasure and Digital Culture. , 1. Wallflower Press , London & New York. pp. 214-234. ISBN: 9781905674848
- Purse, L. (2005) The new spatial dynamics of the bullet-time effect. In: King, G. , (eds.) The Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond. Intellect , Exeter. pp. 151-160. ISBN: 9781841501208