Recently Published

My essay Quid Pro Quo: Visiting Doctor Lecter has just been published in the April 2011 edition of MediaMagazine. The text examines the collaborative partnership that occurs between trainee FBI Agent Clarice Starling and imprisoned cannibal Dr Hannibal Lecter and how this relationship may lead to a mutual attraction ...

...the quid pro quo develops to such an extent it becomes apparent that Lecter and Starling may be, in some way, attracted to each other. This is not necessarily sexual but more through a shared interest in the other's psychology: Lecter's interest in Clarice can be read as one in which he attempts to heal her psychological problems while Clarice's interests in him allows him the opportunity to express his intellect and demonstrate his great skill in profiling. Consequently, their collaboration simultaneously functions not only to construct a profile of Buffalo Bill but also to allow each other to explore the other's psychology.

To order a copy of the April 2011 edition of MediaMagazine, click here.

Recently Published

My short essay on Tim Burton has just been published in the latest edition of Electric Sheep - Being Tim: Alienated Biography in the Cinema of Tim Burton examines the relationship between Burton and his protagonists and how they make manifest the condition of alienation...

This idea of alienation shaping a persona’s interaction with the world is evident in Burton’s protagonists: the animated Vincent Malloy channels the everyday world through his imagination and transforms it into a tragic rendering of Poe’s work; Lydia Deitz would rather be dead than endure her parents Technicolor world and so sides with the ghostly Maitlands; orphaned as a child, the young Bruce Wayne evolves into an isolated figure bent on revenge that he hopes will positively transform the world he is apart from; Edward’s experience in ‘normality’ not only highlights his difference but enhances his emotions and creativity; Jack Skellington’s desire to be Sandy Claws not only leads to chaos and destruction, but also to the realisation that he is better off doing what he does best – ruling the land of which he is king. The connections and parallels sustain themselves throughout Burton’s oeuvre to the extent that, in the end, perhaps Tim Burton’s films are a unified project because they are a repeated filmic attempt at a constructed and now expected self-portrait.

To read the full essay,please follow this link - Electric Sheep - and leave a comment!