Role

Associate Tutor in Film Studies

PhD Candidate in Film Studies

Qualifications

MA Film Studies - University of Sussex, 2009   (Distinction)

BA (Hons) Drama  - University of Manchester, 2007   (First)

Activities

Research & Administration Activities

Member of the Organising Comittee - BAFTSS Postgraduate Training Day, University of Southampton, 16th March 2012.

Invited Panel Chair: 'Throwaway Texts' - Trash, SCCS Postgraduate Conference, University of Sussex, 13th September 2012.

Member of the Organising Committee - School of Media, Film & Music Doctoral Day, University of Sussex, 22nd June 2012.

Co-organiser - School of Media, Film & Music PhD Seminars, University of Sussex, 2011-2012.

Invited Panel Chair: 'Cinema and Transformation' - Staging Illusion: Digital & Cultural Fastasy, SCCS International Conference, University of Sussex, 8th-9th December 2012.

Member of the Organising Committee - School of Media, Film & Music DPhil Day, University of Sussex, 24th June 2011.

Advocacy & Pastoral Roles

PhD Student Mentor & Member of Organising Panel - School of Media, Film & Music PhD Mentoring Scheme, University of Sussex, 2011-2012.

Chair of University of Sussex Students' Union Council, May 2008 - December 2009.

Chair of USSU Annual General Meeting, 12th November 2008.

Humanities School Representative, USSU Council, May 2008 - May 2009.

My primary areas of academic interest are cinema history and American popular culture from the 1980s to the present.

PhD Research:

John Hughes, the Family Film & Nineties Hollywood

My PhD explores debates on New Hollywood cinema and the family film, through examination of the career of John Hughes, one of the most commercially successful, prolific and agenda-setting filmmakers working in American popular cinema in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In a period often considered synonymous with big-budget, blockbuster filmmaking, Hughes had a string of box office hits with low to mid-budget teen movies, comedies and family films. Despite the enduring popularity of many of his movies and his status in the U.S. film industry, Hughes’ body of work and the role he played as an auteur-producer have yet to be evaluated fully in an academic context. Through a multidimensional approach, which combines historical investigation, political economy and film analysis, my thesis aims to develop a critical account of Hughes’ career.

My thesis focuses on John Hughes' intervention within the family film genre and examines how the assembly, production and promotion of these films correspond to developments in the U.S. film industry during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In particular, I examine how these films are positioned as commercial packages with "cross-generational" appeal, designed to be consumed by both children and adults. In my analysis of films such as Home Alone (1990), Dennis the Menace (1993) and Miracle on 34th Street (1994), I consider how these texts negotiate contemporaneous discourses of childhood, gender, and "family values."  

My DPhil supervisors are Dr Frank Krutnik (90%) and Dr Thomas Austin (10%).

Papers & Presentations:

John Hughes' Sixteen Candles (1984): "Feminizing" the mid-1980s teen movie

Research Presentation, Media, Film & Music Doctoral Day, University of Sussex, 22nd June 2012.

"A Classic American Comedy": Negotiating Nostalgia Through Humour and Slapstick in Dennis The Menace (1993)

Conference Paper, '6th International Comedy Conference: Drawing The Line: Comics, Comedy & Comics', Manchester, 31st May-1st June 2012.

[Paper also given at Media, Film & Music Research in Progress Seminar Series, University of Sussex, 23rd May 2012]

'Kid Power Conquers Hollywood?: Macaulay Culkin, Child Stardom and Nineties Hollywood'

Conference Paper, 'Child Actors/Child Stars: Juvenile Performance on Screen', University of Sunderland, 8th-9th September 2011.

'Home Alone: Just Another New Hollywood Blockbuster?'

Research Presentation, Media, Film & Music DPhil Day, University of Sussex, 24th June 2011.

'How Hannah Montana Saved the House of Mouse: Disney's Domination of the Tween Market in the 2000s' 

Research Paper, Media & Film Research in Progress Seminar Series, University of Sussex, 1st June 2011.

'John Hughes and 1980s Popular Hollywood Cinema'

Research Presentation, Media & Film Research Day, University of Sussex, 5th June 2009.

Other Research Interests:

- American and British youth culture

- Representations of gender and the family in film and television comedy

- Children and teenagers on screen

- Disney's cultivation of the "tweenage" audience

- The role of ephemera in cinema history

Associate Tutor: University of Sussex (2009-Present)

Professional Teaching Recognition

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy - Awarded July 2012

Seminar Teaching

Hollywood: Industry & Imaginary (Dissertation) - Spring/Summer 2013

American Cinema (Y2) - Autumn 2012

Cinema & Nation: American Cinema to 1950 (Y2) - Spring/Summer 2012

Film Analysis 2: Authorship, Genre, Stardom (Y1) - Spring/Summer 2012

Hollywood: Industry and Imaginary (Y3) - Autumn 2010 & Autumn 2011

Issues in Film Studies 2 (Y1) - Spring/Summer 2011

   - Lecture: 'Pedro Almodóvar: Gender & National Cinema' [Week 5]

Issues in Film Studies 1 (Y1) - Autumn 2009 & Autumn 2011

Course materials can be accessed via the course's StudyDirect site.

Student Consultation

Spring Term 2013

Office Hours:

Friday 12:00-1:00* in Silverstone 307.

For alternative appointments, contact me via email (h.chard@sussex.ac.uk).

Dissertation Tutorials:

Book Online at: http://bookwhen.com/hollychard

*[Not 1:00-2:00 as stated in the Hollywood Module Handbook]