Carter Soles
Curriculum Vitae
SUNY College at Brockport
Department of English
350 New Campus Drive
Brockport, NY 14420-2968
[email protected]
(585) 395-5825
CURRENT AND PAST POSITIONS
Assistant Professor of Film Studies, English Department, The College at Brockport, 2011-2015
Visiting Assistant Professor of Film Studies, English Dept., The College at Brockport, 2010-2011
Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, English Department, University of Oregon, 2008-2010
EDUCATION
PhD in English, University of Oregon, September 2008
Special Field: Film Studies
Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Oregon, June 2008
M.A. in English, University of Oregon, June 2004
B.A. in English, Cum Laude, University of Southern California, August 1993
DISSERTATION
“Falling Out of the Closet: Kevin Smith, Queerness, and Independent Film”
Chair: Kathleen Rowe Karlyn, Department of English, University of Oregon
Committee: Michael Aronson, Department of English, Mary Wood, Department of English, Janet
Wasko, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon, Jon Lewis, Department
of English, Oregon State University.
AWARDS
SUNY Pre-Tenure Grant Development Award, Spring 2014
PUBLICATIONS
““And No Birds Sing”: Discourses of Environmental Apocalypse in The Birds and Night of the
Living Dead.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment 21.3 (Summer
2014).
“Team Apatow and the Tropes of Geek-Centered Romantic Comedy.” Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 82, November 2013. Non-peer reviewed. <http://brightlightsfilm.com/82/82-juddapatow-geek-films-rom-com-analysis.php>
“Sympathy for the Devil: The Cannibalistic Hillbilly in 1970s Rural Slasher Films.”
Ecocinema: Theory and Practice. (Routledge, 2013).
“Postmodern Geekdom as Simulated Ethnicity.” Co-authored with Kom Kunyosying. Jump Cut
54, Fall 2012. <http://www.ejumpcut.org/home.html>
“A Stalker’s Odyssey: Arrested Development, Gay Desire, and Queer Comedy in Chuck&Buck.”
Jump Cut 49, Spring 2007 (39 pps in ms). <http://www.ejumpcut.org/home.html>
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NATIONAL/REGIONAL PRESENTATIONS
“Steven Spielberg’s Duel, the 1973 OPEC Oil Crisis, and the End of America’s Energy
Empire.” The 2014 Film and History Conference, Madison, Wisconsin,
November 1, 2014.
“The Origins of Seattle Slacker Culture in Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything . . . and
Singles.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Seattle,
Washington, March 21, 2014.
“The Nature of Environmental Apocalypse in The Birds and Night of the Living Dead.”
Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) biennial conference,
Lawrence, Kansas, May 30, 2013.
“Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight as Neoconservative War Propaganda.” Society for
Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA, March 17, 2010.
“Kevin Smith as ‘Straight Queer’ Industrial Auteur.” What Is Film? Conference, Portland,
Oregon, November 7, 2009.
“Sympathy for the Devil: Urbanoia, Horror, and the Anti-Heroic Hillbilly.” Association for the
Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE) biennial conference, Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada, June 6, 2009.
COURSES TAUGHT AT THE COLLEGE AT BROCKPORT (SUNY)
Film 401: American Independent Cinema, Fall 2010, Spring 2015
Taught advanced survey of American Independent cinema since 1984, analyzing new
developments in industrial infrastructure, key films and directors, and the increased
market for alternative and queer cinema.
Film 491/591: Contemporary Global Film Directors, Summer 2011
Taught advanced survey of prominent global film auteurs since 1990, analyzing new
developments in off-Hollywood film production, the industrial and financial
infrastructure of global and international film distribution, and the general movement
toward a transnational canon of contemporary films.
Film 491/591: Hollywood Renaissance 1967-80, Spring 2012
Taught advanced survey of Hollywood cinema between 1967 and 1980, analyzing new
developments in industrial infrastructure, key films and directors, and the inauguration of
the blockbuster era post-1977.
Film 490: Film Comedy, Spring 2012
Taught advanced survey of film comedy from the origins of the medium to the present
day, with a focus on the theoretical underpinnings of comedy. Also focused upon the
European grotesque and carnivalesque traditions in literature and film.
Film 490: Film Melodrama, Fall 2012
Taught advanced survey of film melodrama from the silent era to the present day, with a
focus on the theoretical underpinnings and visual conventions of the melodramatic mode.
While the bulk of the course focused upon films in melodramatic genres like the works of
D.W. Griffith, the 1930s and ‘40s “women’s film,” and the family melodramas of the
1950s, later weeks also examined contemporary teen melodrama, the action blockbuster,
and reality TV.
Film / Women’s Studies 457: Women and Film, Spring 2011, Fall 2013, Summer 2014
Taught advanced survey of the relationship between women, cinematic representation,
film production, and power. Emphasized films made by women filmmakers, asking
how/why/if films made by women address women’s issues within the patriarchal global
film industry.
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COURSES TAUGHT AT THE COLLEGE AT BROCKPORT (SUNY) - continued
Film 360: Film Noir, Summer 2011, Fall 2014
Taught upper-division survey of the film noir from its inception circa 1942 to the present
day. Assignments included textual analysis, readings, and class discussions.
Film 360: The Western, Fall 2013
Taught upper-division survey of the film Western from 1896 to 1995, focusing upon the
historical formation and evolution of the genre, its formal and thematic features, and its
intersections with issues of race, class, gender, and American imperialism.
Film 303: Ecocinema, Spring 2014
Taught upper-division survey of contemporary ecocritical theories, applying these to a
variety of cinematic texts across several periods and genres in order to raise students’
awareness about the ecological and environmental issues impacting the world today,
recognize ways of seeing the world other than through the narrow perspective of the
anthropocentric gaze, and sharpen their critical media analysis skills.
Film 301: Film Theory and Criticism, every term 2010-2014
Taught overview of theoretical approaches used to interpret the meanings, aesthetics, and
social effects of cinema. Introduced the key terms, ideas, and discourses within the
academic criticism of film, with emphasis on the application of theory to specific
cinematic texts.
Film 251: Film History Part 2, Spring 2014
Taught historical overview of developments in global cinema since 1945, emphasizing
the emergence of the international art cinema, the interpenetration of influences and
technologies between various international film movements, and current trends in film
production and economics in the digital age, including the explosion of American
independent film production since the 1980s.
Film 250: Film History Part 1, Spring 2015
Taught historical overview of the origins of cinema, the institutionalization of narrative
cinema and the studio system, various international film movements in the silent era, the
coming of sound, and Hollywood’s pre-WWII “Golden Age.”
Film 250: Film History, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012
Taught historical overview of the origins of cinema, the institutionalization of narrative
cinema and the studio system, various international film movements, American
independent cinema, the star system, and current trends in film production and economics
in the digital age.
English 112: College Composition, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011
Taught principles of effective argumentation, basic composition skills, and research
writing skills, with an emphasis on informal logic, audience awareness, revision, and
web-based research and evaluation techniques.
SERVICE
Director of Interdisciplinary Film Studies Minor, The College at Brockport (SUNY), 2010-15
Departmental Recruitment and Retention Committee, The College at Brockport (SUNY),
2014-15
Departmental Curriculum Committee, The College at Brockport (SUNY), 2013-14
Departmental Search Committee, African American Literature Search, The College at Brockport
(SUNY), 2013-14
Departmental Search Committee, Young Adult Literature Search, The College at Brockport
(SUNY), 2012-13
Faculty Adviser, Brockport Film Appreciation Club, The College at Brockport (SUNY), 2012-15