Dr Melanie Williams
| Job Title | Contact | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Lecturer in Film & Television Studies |
Melanie dot Williams at uea dot ac dot uk
Tel: +44 (0)1603 59 3351 |
Registry And Council House 3.29 |
Biography
My research and much of my teaching focuses on British cinema, particularly in relation to gender issues. I have co-edited a collection of essays on the British woman’s film and I am working on a monograph on David Lean and an edited collection on Ealing Studios, as well as an ongoing project on audience reception of the British domestic drama Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957).
Prior to working at UEA, I taught at the University of Hull for 12 years and played a key role in setting up their Film Studies degree programmes.
Currently, I hold the post of Director of Postgraduate Research for Film and Television Studies and co-supervise several PhDs in addition to my undergraduate and MA teaching responsibilities.
Career
B.A. English Literature; University of Hull (1996)
Ph.D. Film Studies; University of Hull (2003)
Key Research Interests
British cinema, 1930 to the present day
Gender representation
British culture in the 1950s and 1960s
Stardom
Film aesthetics and close textual analysis
Research supervision
Interested in supervising research students in all areas of British cinema or gender and film.
Forthcoming publications:
‘Staccato and wrenchingly modern: reflections of the 1970s stardom of Glenda Jackson’ in Paul Newland (ed.), Don't Look Now? British Cinema in the 1970s (Intellect Press, forthcoming)
Teaching Interests
British Cinema and the Past (level 2) – also course convener
Chick Flicks: Women and Hollywood Storytelling (level 2) – also course convener
Film Studies: History, Theory, Criticism (MA)
Studies in Film Authorship (MA) – also course convener
Article
Williams, Melanie (2012) Dawn of the Kitchen Sink. Sight and Sound, 22 (8).
Williams, Melanie (2011) Entering the paradise of anomalies: studying female character acting in British cinema. Screen, 52 (1). pp. 97-104.
Williams, Melanie and Wright, Ellen (2011) Betty Grable: an American icon in Britain, 1939-1945. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 31 (4). pp. 543-560. ISSN 0143-9685
Williams, Melanie (2009) A Girl Alone in a Man's World: Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and the place of women in the 1950s British war film cycle. Feminist Media Studies, 9 (1). pp. 95-108. ISSN 14715902
Williams, Melanie (2007) ''The creative producer: Frank Godwin interviewed by Melanie Williams''. JOURNAL OF BRITISH CINEMA AND TELEVISION, 4(1). pp. 140-49.
Williams, Melanie (2006) "The most explosive object to hit Britain since the V2!": the British films of Hardy Kruger and Anglo-German Relations in the 1950s. Cinema Journal, 46 (1). pp. 85-107.
Williams, Melanie (2005) '‘Julie Christie: Honey-Glow Girl’'. Sight and Sound, 15(12). p. 36.
Williams, Melanie (2005) '‘”I'm not a lady!”: Tiger Bay and transitional girlhood in British cinema on the cusp of the 1960s’'. Screen, 46(3). pp. 361-72.
Williams, Melanie (2002) '‘Light on a dark lovely: Yvonne Mitchell and stardom in British cinema’'. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 19(1).
Williams, Melanie (2002) ‘Women in prison and women in dressing gowns: rediscovering the 1950s films of J. Lee Thompson’'. Journal of Gender Studies, 11(1). pp. 5-15.
Williams, Melanie (2002) ‘Michael Winterbottom and the unpopular British cinema’'. Journal of Popular British Cinema, 5.
Book Section
Williams, Melanie (2012) Mamma Mia!'s female authorship. In: Mamma Mia! The Movie: Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 9781848859418
Williams, Melanie and Fitzgerald, Louise (2012) Facing our Waterloo: evaluating Mamma Mia! The Movie. In: Mamma Mia! The Movie: Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 9781848859418
Williams, Melanie (2012) 'Women in the British film industry', 'The Seventh Veil', 'Bhaji on the Beach' and 'Fish Tank'. In: Directory of World Cinema: Britain. Directory of World Cinema Series (14). Intellect. ISBN 978-1841505572
Williams, Melanie (2012) A feminine touch? Women and Ealing. In: Ealing Revisited. British Film Institute/Palgrave, London. ISBN 978-1844575107
Williams, Melanie, Duguid, Mark, Freeman, Lee and Johnston, Keith M (2012) Revisiting Ealing: Introduction. In: Ealing Revisited. British Film Institute/Palgrave, London. ISBN 978-1844575107
Williams, Melanie and Newland, Paul (2010) Staccato and wrenchingly modern: reflections of the 1970s stardom of Glenda Jackson. In: Don't Look Now? British Cinema in the 1970s. Intellect Press.
Williams, Melanie (2009) Twilight women of 1950s British cinema. In: The British Cinema Book,. British Film Institute, London. ISBN 9781844572755
Williams, Melanie and Bell, Melanie (2009) The hour of the cuckoo: reclaiming the British women's film. In: British Women's Cinema. Routledge, London, pp. 1-18. ISBN 9780415466974
Williams, Melanie (2008) ‘Brief Encounter’, ‘The Wicked Lady’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. In: 50 Key British Films. Routledge.
Williams, Melanie (2005) '‘No Love for Johnnie’'. In: 24 Frames: The Cinema of Britain and Ireland. Wallflower. ISBN 978-1904764380
Williams, Melanie (2003) ''‘Housewives’ choice’: Woman in a Dressing Gown'' and ''Yield to the Night’'. In: British Cinema of the Fifties. MUP.
Book
Fitzgerald, Louise and Williams, Melanie, eds. (2012) Mamma Mia! The Move: Exploring a Cultural Phenomenon. I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 9781848859418
Duguid, Mark, Freeman, Lee, Johnston, Keith M and Williams, Melanie, eds. (2012) Ealing Revisited. British Film Institute/Palgrave, London. ISBN 9781844575107
Williams, Melanie (2009) Prisoners of Gender: Women in the Films of J. Lee Thompson: A new approach to British cinema of the 1950s. VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, p. 252. ISBN 9783639116946
Williams, Melanie (2009) British Women's Cinema. London: Routledge, p. 240. ISBN 9780415466974
