Professor Geoffrey King
Honorary Professor
Summary
Geoff King has published numerous books, particularly focused on American independent, art and Hollywood cinema. He is a major authority on the American indie sector, with books including American Independent Cinema (2005), a pioneering work in the study of independent film, and Indiewood, USA (2009), the first academic analysis of the ‘Indiewood’ zone in which Hollywood and the independent sector overlap. He has also written books on the indie features Donnie Darko (2007) and Lost in Translation (2010) and a study of contemporary lower-budget indie cinema, Indie 2.0: Change and Continuity in American Indie Film (2014), including analysis of the role of the internet as a new channel of distribution.
His more recent work focuses on the way particular forms of cultural value are attributed to different kinds of film, a theme of Quality Hollywood: Markers of Distinction in Contemporary Studio Film (2016) and Postitioning Art Cinema: Film Cultural Value (2019). The latter offers a ground-breaking approach to the study of the manner in which international art cinema is characteristically positioned and accorded certain kinds of value. He latest book is is The Cinema of Discomfort: Disquieting, Awkard and Uncomfortable Experienes in Contemporary Art and Indie Film (2022).
Prof. King’s earlier work focused more closely on Hollywood, both generally and particularly in relation to the contemporary blockbuster format, and film comedy. His book Spectacular Narratives: Hollywood in the Age of the Blockbuster (2000) remains a key intervention in debates about the relationship between narrative and spectacle in the contemporary blockbuster format. He has also published collaborative books with Tanya Krzywinska on science fiction cinema and videogames (for details of these and other publications, see publications list). In another life, he worked as a journalist, combining this part-time with undergraduate and postgraduate study before becoming a lecturer at Brunel in 1998.
Responsibility
Geoff King is currently Postgraduate Research Student Director for the Department of Arts and Humanities. He is also research lead for Film and TV Studies
Newest selected publications
King, GR. (2021) 'The Cinema of Discomfort: Awkward, Uncomfortable and Disquieting Experiences in Art and Indie Film'. New York, London: Bloomsbury.
King, GR. (2018) 'Positioning Art Cinema: Film and Cultural Value'. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISSN 10: 1788310187 ISSN 13: 978-1788310185
King, G. (2016) 'A Companion to American Indie Film'. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. ISSN 10: 1118758323 ISSN 13: 978-1-118-75832-8
King, G. (2015) 'Quality Hollywood: Markers of Distinction in Contemporary Studio Film'. London: I.B.Taruis. ISSN 10: 1784530441 ISSN 13: 9781784530457
King, G. (2012) 'Indie 2.O: Continuity and Change in Contemporary American Independent Film'. London: I.B. Tauris.