Aaron J. Petten

The Ohio State University Telephone: 614.292.7481 Department of History of Art E-mail: [email protected] 305 Pomerene Hall 1760 Neil Avenue Columbus, OH 43210

Education

2012 Ph.D. Film Studies Title: The Grotesque and / in / through Film Supervisors: Dr. Paul Dave, Professor Mike O’Pray, Dr. Andrew Stephenson Examiners: Professor Julian Petley, Professor Martin Barker, Dr. Valentina Vitali University of East London School of Arts & Digital Industries 4-6 University Way London E16 2RD United Kingdom

2000 M.A. Film & Television Studies Universiteit van Amsterdam International School for Humanities and Social Sciences Prins Hendrikkade 189-B 1011 TD Amsterdam The Netherlands

1999 B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies (Cinema Studies & Popular Culture) Temple University The College of Liberal Arts 1114 West Berks Street Philadelphia, PA 19122 U.S.A.

Employment History

2014 Lecturer The Ohio State University Department of History of Art 217 Pomerene Hall 1760 Neil Ave. Columbus, OH 43210 U.S.A.

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2005-2010 Permanent Lecturer University of East London School of Architecture & Visual Arts (Now School of Arts & Digital Industries) 4-6 University Way London E16 2RD United Kingdom

2004 Sessional Lecturer University of East London School of Humanities & Social Sciences (Now School of Arts & Digital Industries) 4-6 University Way London E16 2RD United Kingdom

2001-2005 Sessional Lecturer University of East London School of Architecture & Visual Arts 4-6 University Way London E16 2RD United Kingdom

Publications

• “The Narrative Structuring and Interactive Narrative Logic of Televised Professional Wrestling.” New Review of Film and Television Studies 8.4 (2010). • Review of A Grammar of Murder: Violent Scenes and Film Form, by Karla Oeler. Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind 7.1 (2013). Forthcoming & Pending Publications

• The Cinema of : Between Aestheticism, Romanticism, and Realism (London: Wallflower Press, 2016). • “A Concise Survey of the Grotesque: From Historical Category to Heuristic Device” • “An Authorial Legend in His Own Mind: Locating ’s Aesthetic Imagination and Vision in the Creation of Kids and ” • “The Surrealist Grotesque Landscape of Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread” Presentations & Conference Papers

• “Lecturing and Teaching the Poetics and Aesthetics of the Horror Film.” Paper for the Pedagogy of Horror Roundtable Discussion at the National Popular Culture & American Culture Associations Conference (New Orleans, LA: 8th April – 11th April 2009).

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• “Beyond the Camp and Shock of John Waters Early Feature Films (1969-1977)”. This paper acknowledges the camp aesthetics and shock tactics instilled within Waters early features. However, those characteristics are transcended by addressing the contrarian, hedonistic, and anarchic- libertarian impulses in his films through an analysis of the themes and style of his films during this period.

• “A Certain Tendency of the European Horror Film”. This paper is an examination of the shared or parallel stylistic and thematic proclivities of European horror films from the 1970s. It examines the way in which these films are unified by a cross-section of commonalties that distinguish this cycle of horror film in the history of the genre. Specifically, the stylistic co-presence of both exploitation and the European New Wave filmmaking is explored through the concepts of the macabre, which I argue is motivated by an underpinning fatalism accompanied by a sense of hedonism which seems to be co- present within these films.

• “From Latent to Emergent Violence in the Films of Larry Clark”. This paper uses Devin McKinney’s notions of strong and weak violence as a framework for exploring three films from Larry Clark’s oeuvre: Kids (1995), Bully (2001), and Ken Park (2002). I argue that the moral ambivalence in which the violence of that these films are imbued in conjunction with the verité audiovisual style of these films contentiously situate these films as exemplars of strong violence. Professional Affiliations

• American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) • Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) • University Film & Video Association (UFVA) • Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI)

Teaching & Research Interests

• Film Genres and Cycles • Film and Authorship • Exploitation and Trash Cinema • History and Philosophy of Film Theory & Criticism • Post 1960s American Cinema • Film Aesthetics • Horror Film • Film Appreciation and Criticism • Film Analysis • British Television and Popular Culture • Cult Film • Modernist European Cinemas

Other Areas of Competency

• Classical Hollywood Cinema • Cognitive and Empirical Studies of Spectatorship • American Independent Film • Semiotics and Critical and Cultural Theory • Silent Cinema • History and Analysis of Animation • Television Genres • Avant-Garde & Experimental Film Teaching Experience

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Silent Cinema (1895-1927) Spring (2014)

Historical exploration of the emergence of the film medium and the development of cinema during the so called ‘silent’ or ‘pre-sound’ era from various nineteenth century inventions, scientific experiments, and popular entertainments and its development as an art through the various modes, genres, styles, movements, and actants that came to shape cinema during this era.

Undergraduate Thesis Advisor Fall & Spring (2004-2010)

Independent research conducted by students in the final semester of study which culminates in a focused 8,000-10,000 word research thesis.

Horror Film Fall (2007, 2009)

Historical exploration of the poetics of the horror film genre which primarily explores the development of the genre – cycles, subgenres, styles – from an art historical framework that emerges at particular points in history. The intellectual frameworks employed to discuss the horror film genre – concepts and theories – prevalent to discussions of the horror film genre its interrelationship with other genres and movements in film history as well as pertinent aspects of popular culture which parallel the development of the genre are also broached.

Art & Ideas Fall (2008)

This is a core first year double module for a new degree program in Contemporary Art and Visual Media as well as a core module for all Fine Art, Graphic, and Digital Media Students. It is a module co-lectured by all staff in the Visual Theories department so that students come into contact with all members of staff and their specified field of inquiry from the outset of their studies. The first session is a lecture structured around the way in which modernism in all of its entailments and points of contention are manifest within various visual arts. My contribution includes a 3 hour lecture on the modernist impulses of classical era cinema – American and European – and their points of convergence as well as their points of divergence within film history as well as within the broader spectrum of the history of art.

Film Theories Spring (2008)

Examination of the prominent film theories from circa 1963 to present including detailed examinations of the intellectual and methodological assumptions involved.

History of Film Theory & Criticism: Early to Classical (1895-1963) Spring (2005, 2006)

History of early instances of intellectual and critical thought regarding film from early – or ‘pre-classical’ – film theory and criticism to ‘classical’ film theory and criticism and the early beginnings of the ‘academic’ study of film. Engaging the Medium: Analyzing Film Form and Style Fall (2004, 2005)

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Introduction to the vocabulary and terminology required for conducting a formal and stylistic analysis of film as well as providing the conceptual foundations for understanding and analyzing the medium. This course also as provided an introductory foundation for understanding the ways in which formal and stylistic techniques and devices shape spectator expectations, comprehension, and elicit emotional responses.

Film Analysis Spring 2004, 2005

Modified introduction to the vocabulary and terminology for conducting a formal and stylistic analysis of film for media and cultural studies based students rather than art and film studies students which is supplemented with a number of historiographical and critical frameworks and perspectives of evaluation including authorship, genre, race/ethnicity, gender/sex/sexuality, class, nationhood, and so called sub-cultural criticism.

Media & Gender (Seminar Lecturer) Spring 2004

Theoretically and conceptually examines ‘representations’ of gender in the media. The course focused on the construction of gender in relation to other ‘identity’ based concepts and issues such as race, ethnicity, sex, and sexuality in both audiovisual and print media.

Hollywood Cinema: History & Theory (Seminar Lecturer) Spring 2003, 2004

History of Classical Hollywood Cinema (1927-1960) in tandem with more theoretical aesthetic and cultural issues also prevalent in studying Hollywood Cinema such as the role and status of technology, genre, stardom, and authorship.

Semiotics: Cultural and Critical Theory (Seminar Lecturer) Fall 2003

Critical examination of semiotics and semiotic inflected paradigms commonly used to examine visual media from structuralism to post-structural thought through to the prevalent ideas central to Critical Theory and Cultural Studies.

Television: Technologies, Genres, Concepts Spring 2001-2004

Explores and examines the technologies and genres central to the television medium in conjunction with the concepts central to analyzing various aspects of the medium.

Professional Committees & Administrative Roles

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2008-2010 Thesis Module Coordinator From Fall 2008 I took over the administrative duties regarding the coordination and implementation of the thesis module. Duties included allocating the students advisors, ensuring that students were informed of their responsibilities, and resolving any matters arising thereafter (e.g. irreconcilable differences between supervisor and student, instances of plagiarism, logistical issues ranging from deadlines to formatting).

2005-2010 Field Committee University of East London School of Architecture & the Visual Arts (now School of Arts & Digital Industries) Department of Visual Theories Departmental committee where departmental strategies regarding recruitment, the way in which the department organizes and executes the degree requirements, the development of joint degrees across schools and departments, the development of discrete programmes within the department, as well as curriculum development and redevelopment is redressed and actualized.

2005-2010 Programme Committee University of East London School of Architecture & the Visual Arts (now School of Arts & Digital Industries) Department of Visual Theories Sessional committee where permanent faculty members liaise with nominated representatives of the student body where the student representatives and faculty redress matters regarding the status of the department’s structure and actualization.

2005-2010 Assessment Board Committee University of East London School of Architecture & the Visual Arts (now School of Arts & Digital Industries) Department of Visual Theories Sessional board that redresses and validates departmental practices and procedures including: marking and assessment, confirmation of marks, and maintenance of quality and equality of pedagogical practices.

2003-2004 Assessment Board Committee University of East London School of Social Science, Media & Cultural Studies (now School of Arts & Digital Industries) Department of Film & Video (now Department of Media Communications & Screen Studies)

Professional Activities & Development

• Equality and Diversity Training and Development • Staff Review and Development Training

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