James Chapman (media historian)

James Chapman (born 1968) is a British media historian who has written a number of books on cinema and television. Chapman is Director of Film Studies and the Visual Arts at the University of Leicester.^[1]

Biography

James Chapman took his BA (History) and MA (Film Studies) at the University of East Anglia and then undertook his doctoral research at Lancaster University, completing his thesis on the role of official film propaganda in Britain during the Second World War.

In 1996 he joined The Open University where he taught a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and was principal contributing author to the university’s first dedicated course on Film and Television History. He joined the University of Leicester as its founding Professor of Film Studies in 2005.

Professor Chapman’s research focuses on British popular culture, especially cinema and television in their historical contexts. He is interested in the role of the mass media as propaganda, the representation of war and history, and the cultural politics of popular fictions including James Bond and Doctor Who. His second book, Licence To Thrill,^[1] was described by SFX magazine as “intelligent, ludicrous, a bit snobby–bit like Bond, really”. He is a Council member of the International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST) and is editor of Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.

He has also published articles in the following journals: Screen, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Journal of Popular British Cinema, Visual Culture in Britain, Journal of Contemporary History, Contemporary British History, Media History and European Journal of Cultural Studies.

Professor Chapman is married to the actress Penelope Parker, whose career highlight was as a body double for Miranda Frost in the Bond movie 'Die Another Day'. They have three children - Cathy, Emma and Tara - and live in Market Harborough.

Bibliography

• The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939–1945, London: I.B. Tauris, 1998.
• Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films, London: I.B. Tauris, 1999; 2nd edn 2007.
• Windows on the Sixties: Exploring Key Texts of Media and Culture, co-edited with Anthony Aldgate and Arthur Marwick, London: I.B. Tauris, 2000.
• Saints and Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s, London: I.B. Tauris, 2002.
• Cinemas of the World: Film and Society from 1895 to the Present, London: Reaktion Books, 2003.
• Past and Present: National Identity and the British Historical Film, London: I.B. Tauris, 2005.
• Inside the Tardis: The Worlds of Doctor Who–A Cultural History, London: I.B. Tauris, 2006.
• The New Film History: Sources, Methods, Approaches, co-edited with Mark Glancy and Sue Harper, London: Palgrave, 2007.
• War and Film, London: Reaktion, 2008.
• Projecting Empire: Imperialism and Popular Cinema, co-authored with Nicholas J. Cull, London: I.B. Tauris, 2009.
• British Comics: A Cultural History. London: Reaktion. 2011. pp. 320. ISBN 978-1861898555. ^[2]
• Projecting Tomorrow: Science Fiction and Popular Cinema. London: I.B. Tauris. 2012. 

References

External links

• Official website (University of Leicester)