Dr Harriet Fletcher

Harriet is an interdisciplinary Media and Cultural Studies scholar with expertise in the study of popular culture, particularly in relation to celebrity, the Gothic, gender and feminism.

Email: [email protected]

Background

Harriet researches the intersections of celebrity and the Gothic in literature, media and popular culture. This began with her PhD thesis ‘Gothic Celebrity: Fame and Immortality From Lord Byron to Lady Gaga’ (Lancaster University 2016-2021), which explored celebrity and the Gothic across multiple media, including literature, portraits, photography, film, television, art and social media.

She is further developing her interests in celebrity and the Gothic through a project that explores the cultural history of the Gothic and horror actress in theatre, film and television, with a focus on themes of performance, aesthetics, stardom and age. She has several forthcoming publications related to this project.

She is also developing her research on gender and celebrity through an interdisciplinary project that explores the feminist reclamation of the ‘bimbo’ figure. She is interested in mapping a broad cultural history of the bimbo and how this sits alongside contemporary feminist movements and timely reappraisals of women in 1990s and 2000s popular culture. The project involves the study of celebrity culture, film, television, social media and fashion.

Harriet is a freelance film and culture journalist who has published reviews, lists, editorials, interviews and podcasts on various websites. She has also written for The Conversation and been cited in British Vogue, The i, The Telegraph and Sputnik International.

Research interests

• Celebrity culture
• Gender studies
• Feminism and feminist media studies
• The Gothic
• Horror film and television
• Popular culture
• Ageing

Teaching

Harriet currently teaches on the following modules:

• Media, Culture and Power
• Introduction to Television Studies
• Television Genres

Qualifications

• PhD English Literature, Lancaster University, 2021
• MA English Literary Studies, Lancaster University, 2015
• BA English, University of Exeter, 2014

Memberships, editorial boards

• Member, International Gothic Association (IGA)
• Associate Fellow, Higher Education Academy (HEA)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

Harriet has authored several articles for non-academic audiences and has been cited in international news publications, including British Vogue, The i, The Telegraph and Sputnik International.

• Co-author, Harriet Fletcher and Declan Lloyd, ‘Five reasons Andy Warhol is so popular right now’, The Conversation, translated into Spanish, March 2022.
• Author, Harriet Fletcher, ‘Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe portraits expose the darker side of the 60s’, The Conversation, reprinted in The Independent, translated into Spanish, April 2022.
• Author, Harriet Fletcher, ‘Framing Britney Spears Reclaims the Bimbo’, The F-Word, June 2021.
• Author, Harriet Fletcher, ‘"Gothic" TV: high-quality modern horror series providing powerful roles for Hollywood’s older women’, The Conversation, reprinted in Metro, October 2020.

Selected recent publications

Fletcher. H (2022) ‘The death of the star: celebrity decay and the Gothic portrait in Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych’, Celebrity Studies, pp. 1-14.

Recent presentations and conferences

July 2022: ‘Faded Stars to Leading Ladies: The Ageing Actress and Gothic Television’, International Gothic Association Conference: Gothic Interruptions, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland (conference paper).

June 2022: ‘Faded Stars to Leading Ladies: The Ageing Actress and Gothic Television’, Crones, Crimes and the Gothic, Falmouth University, UK (conference paper).

May 2021: ‘The Most Magical of Mirrors’: Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Victorian Celebrity Photography’, Romancing the Gothic, online (public lecture).

September 2019: ‘From Lord Byron to Countess Elizabeth: Reimagining the Celebrity Vampire Narrative in American Horror Story: Hotel’, American Horror Story Symposium, University of East Anglia, UK (conference paper).

July 2019: ‘The Death of the Star: The Horror of Celebrity Decay in Andy Warhol’s Art’, International Gothic Association Conference: Gothic Terror, Gothic Horror, Lewis University, Illinois, USA (conference paper).

July 2018: ‘“I'm Ready For My Close-Up”: Television, Ageing, and Abjection in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard’, International Gothic Association Conference: Gothic Hybridities, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (conference paper).

June 2018: ‘“I'm Ready For My Close-Up”: The Horror of Faded Stardom in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard’, International Celebrity Studies Journal Conference: Desecrating Celebrity, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy (conference paper).

June 2018: ‘Celebrity, Death, and the Gothic Body in the Work of Andy Warhol', Death and Celebrity Symposium, University of Portsmouth, UK (conference paper).

July 2017: ‘From Lord Byron to Countess Elizabeth: Reimagining the Celebrity Vampire Narrative in American Horror Story: Hotel’, International Gothic Association Conference: Gothic Traditions and Departures, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Mexico (conference paper).

May 2017: ‘Gothicising the Celebrity Body in the Work of Andy Warhol', Reimagining the Gothic: Gothic Spaces, University of Sheffield, UK (conference paper).