Paradigms of Metarmorphosis and Transmutation: Thomas Edison's Frankenstein and John Barrymore's Jekyll and Hyde

Lead Research Organisation: University of South Wales
Department Name: Faculty of Business and Society

Abstract

I am co-editing with Professor Jay McRoy (University of Wisconsin) a book entitled Monstrous Adaptations: Generic and Thematic Mutations in Horror Film for Manchester University Press (forthcoming 2007) for which I am also contributing a chapter entitled "Paradigms of Metamorphosis and Transmutation: Thomas Edison's Frankenstein and John Barrymore's Jekyll and Hyde". The book will be of interest to academics and students in the areas of cultural studies, horror studies, and film and media drama studies and may even have a degree of popular readership. My own chapter- based on research which I have been invited to present to international academics at the prestigious Popular Culture Conference in Albuquerque (February 2006)- will analyse two early horror films which have been woefully neglected in academic study. As part of my research process, I will also lead some workshops looking at the performance practice of melodrama and early horror cinema which will I will offer to undergraduate, postgraduate and, hopefully, academic colleagues at the University of Glamorgan.

Publications

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Hand, Richard J.; McRoy, Jay (2007) Monstrous Adaptations: Generic and Thematic Mutations in Horror Film

 
Description This collection provided a cutting-edge collection of essays looking at the place of adaptation as theme and strategy in horror studies. Including a professional filmmaker alongside major names in the academic study of horror culture, this wide-ranging (in approach, topic and methodology) anthology broadens the understanding of horror film as a cultural form and industry. My own essay is a historicist approach to two key films in early cinema.
Exploitation Route Yes, with horror and film fans.
Sectors Creative Economy