Dr. Corin Willis
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies
PhD (Warwick)
Email
Tel: +44 151 231 5045
Research Interesests
Textual Analysis of Film, Representations of Race in Cinema, Blackface Minstrelsy.
Courses Taught
Production Practice, Hollywood in the Studio Era, African American Filmmaking, Spectatorship, Understanding Television, Workbased Learning, Independent Study.
Current Projects
Journal article on Bamboozled (2000), Journal article on African American Blackface in Film. Book Project on Blackface in early sound film
Recent Publications
2008: "Blackface Minstrelsy and Jazz Signification in Hollywood's Early Sound Era" (2008) in Graham Lock and David Murray (eds) Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film.Oxford University Press, New York.
2005: "Meaning and Value in The Jazz Singer (1927)" in Gibbs, John and Doug Pye (eds) Style and Meaning: Studies in the Close Analysis of Film. Manchester University Press.
Consultation
ProQuest (American Film Institute Catalogue Online)
Consultant in ProQuest’s campaign to expand its services to academic institutions with regard to the sources on American Cinema that can be made available on-line.
PhD Title
The Signifier Returns to Haunt the Referent: Blackface and the Stereotyping of African Americans in Hollywood Early Sound Film
