Media cultures
Media is pervasive. It's used to communicate ideas, opinions and ideologies, and new technology is increasing who has access to digital content, and who is able to create it.
In our media cultures research, we analyse and critique texts that have meaning, to highlight the evolving power relationships between producers and audiences. Our research examines new cultures of production and consumption, and aims to understand how media audiences are becoming content creators.
We're also looking at the relationship between the production of media texts across various forms – including film, television, music, video games and animation – and the contexts in which they are consumed. We're examining the cultural and creative links between creative industries and their audiences too, and the importance of technology and institutions in sharing media across international borders.
Our work has been published in journals including Transnational Cinemas, Screen, the Quarterly Review of Film and Video, the Journal of Popular Culture Reconstruction, the Journal of Fandom Studies, the Journal of Popular Television, the Journal of British Cinema and Television, and the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.
Our research covers the following topics
- Fandom and popular culture
- History and theory of animation
- Hollywood film
- Digital media and new technologies
- Social media
- Horror
- Transmedia storytelling and paratexts
- Adaptation
- Comics and film
- Gender and race
- Comic book culture
- American television
- Latin American Cinema
- Transnational cultures
- Magazines and periodicals
- Comedy and culture
Methods and facilities
Methods used to conduct our research include fan and web ethnographies, feminism, genre studies, postcolonialism, literary studies, philosophical approaches, queer theory, and Marxism. We also engage with data and statistical approaches, industry and archival approaches, and textual analysis.
Our facilities include video production suites to teaching spaces. We also hold public lectures and conferences in our own dedicated cinema space.
Collaborations and funders
Our research has had direct impact on public knowledge and the promotion of popular media culture and communities of reception outside of academia.
Working with partners, we have developed and run conventions such as Portsmouth Comic Con, content of international commercial events such as Destination Star Trek at Birmingham NEC, and museum exhibitions at venues such as The City Museum.
We have received funding from bodies such as the AHRC and Heritage Lottery Fund.
Publication highlights
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Passing through: popular media tourism, pilgrimage and narratives of being a fan
The Routledge Handbook on Popular Culture and Tourism (Routledge, 2018, ed. Christine Lundberg, Vassilios Ziakas), Chapter 18, p.203-213, Dr Lincoln Geraghty.
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Captain Euro and citizenship education: creating a comic book hero for European children
Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, volume 11 issue 1 (2018), p.73-81, doi: 10.1353/hcy.2018.0008, Dr Lincoln Geraghty.
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Can Pikachu die? Online fan conspiracy theories and the Pokémon gaming universe
Journal of Fandom Studies, Volume 5 issue 1 (2017), p.3-20, doi: 10.1386/jfs.5.1.3_1, Dr Lincoln Geraghty.
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Transmedia character building: textual crossovers in the Star Wars Universe
Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling (Amsterdam University Press, 2018, ed. Sean Guynes, Dan Hassler-Forest), p.117-128, Dr Lincoln Geraghty.
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Professor Lincoln Geraghty
- Email Address Lincoln.Geraghty@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Laurel Forster
- Job Title Reader in Cultural History
- Email Address Laurel.Forster@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Rebecca Janicker
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address Rebecca.Janicker@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
Dr Trudy Barber
- Email Address Trudy.Barber@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
Professor Deborah Shaw
- Job Title Professor of Film and Screen Studies
- Email Address Deborah.Shaw@port.ac.uk
Dr David Garland
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address David.Garland@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
Dr Van Norris
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address Van.Norris@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Dr Emma Austin
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address emma.austin@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
Dr Steven O'Brien
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address Steven.Obrien@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Film Media and Communication
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
Mr Phevos Kallitsis
- Job Title Senior Lecturer
- Email Address Phevos.Kallitsis@port.ac.uk
- Department School of Architecture
- Faculty Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries
- PhD Supervisor PhD Supervisor
Discover our areas of expertise
Media cultures is one of 3 areas of expertise within our Film and Media research. Explore the others below.
Interested in a PhD in Film & Media?
Browse our postgraduate research degrees – including PhDs and MPhils – at our Film & Media postgraduate research degrees page.