Associate Professor Angela Ndalianis
Associate Professor, Screen Studies
Qualifications
BA Hons, B Litt. Hons. (UniMelb), Dip. Hum. (La Trobe), Grad. Dip. (AFTS), PhD (UniMelb).
Biography
Angela Ndalianis is Associate Professor in Screen Studies and Associate Dean of Information Technology and Multimedia in the Faculty of Arts. She specialises in Hollywood cinema, digital media and the convergence of popular forms such as films, computer games, comic books and theme park spaces. She both teaches and publishes in these areas. Her research also explores transdisciplinary and transhistorical approaches to entertainment forms and their history. Her recent book Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment (MIT Press 2004) explores the parallels between C17th and contemporary baroque culture, and she is currently writing a book about the history and cultural significance of the theme park. She is Associate Editor of the international refereed journal Animation: an Interdisciplinary Journal and Editor of the online journal Refractory: a Journal of Entertainment Media. Angela is also on the Trustee Board of the National Gallery of Victoria.
Current research
Spectopolis: Theme Park Origins and Influences
This book is in its later stages of production, and is about the history of theme parks, their origins (in sources ranging from aristocratic pleasure gardens, to amusement parks and World Expositions and Fairs, to films and the Picture Palace tradition), and their influence on contemporary urban spaces (in the form of urban entertainment destinations).
Riding the Golden Chariot
This book project considers how science fiction television series of the past decade have contributed to the formation of new and novel articulations of mythologica, spiritual and religious narratives. It will explore how these forms of religiosity are shaped and expressed in examples of shows like Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis,Smallville, Dark Angel, Firefly, Angel, and Battlestar Galactica.
Science fictions, automaton fantasies and the emergence of robot realities
The book project explores the gap that is closing between science fiction and science reality. It explores how creative industries of the U.S. and Japan are playing a crucial role in realising the presence of robots in our social spaces. It also historicises the human obsession with and fear of the possibility of creating artificial life. Tracing the industry intersection of entertainment and robotics/A.I. systems, this project offers an evaluation of our changing society by focusing on paradigmatic examples of innovative entertainment technologies that are also primitive, sentient beings.
Knowledge transfer
- Trustee Board, National Gallery of Victoria
- Associate Editor, Animator: An Interdisciplinary Journal
- Editor, Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media
- "Embracing the Aleph: Smallville and Hypertime". Screen Studies Conference (30 June - 2 July 2006), University of Glasgow - Panel on television.
- "The Neo-Baroque Spectopolis". Invited Speaker at Rethinking the Baroque Conference (July 5-7, 2006), University of York & Castle Howard, U.K.
- Conference Organiser: 'Holy Men in Tights!' a Superheroes Conference. University of Melbourne. International Conference. 2005.
Teaching
- 107-076 Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
- 107-081 Genre Study
- 107-082 The Entertainment Experience
- 107-258 Game Studies
- 107-270 The 1950s: Film, Perfection & Propaganda
- 107-405 Spectacles: Museums to Theme Parks
- 107-421 Contemporary Film Theory
- 107-470 The Carnivalesque and the Cinema
Full subject descriptions are available on the University of Melbourne Handbook.
Publications
Books
- Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment, Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
- Men in Tights: Comic Book Superheroes, ed. Angela Ndalianis, (Forthcoming 2006).
- Super/Heroes, eds Angela Ndalianis, Chris Mackie & Wendy Haslem, New Academia Publishing: Washington, (forthcoming 2006).
- Stars in Our Eyes - the Star Phenomenon in the Contemporary Era, Ed.s Angela Ndalianis and Charlotte Henry, Praeger Publishing, Connecticut, 2002.
Book chapters
- "Theme Park Cities: Odaiba, Futuroscope and the Contemporary Utopian cityscape" in Screen Consciousness: Cinema, Mind and World. Ed.s Robert Pepperell, Michael Punt, David Surman, Rodopi, Amsterdam. In Press 2006.
- "Dark Rides, Hybrid Machines and the Horror Experience" in Horror Zone , ed. Ian Cochrain, Verso, London. (In Press, 2006)
- "Television and the Neo-Baroque and Seriality", in Previously On: Approaches to the Contemporary Television Serial, ed.s Lucy Mazdon and Michael Hammond, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, 2005, pp.83-101. (ISBN: 0 7486 1901 1)
- "Caravaggio Reloaded: Neo-Baroque Poetics", Caravaggio: Darkness & Light, Exhibition Catalogue, Art Gallery of NSW/National Gallery of Victoria. (ISBN 0-7347-6353-0)
- "The Rules of the Game: Evil Dead II ...Meet thy Doom", Hop on Pop: the Politics and Pleasures of Popular Cultures, ed.s Henry Jenkins, Tara McPherson, Jane Shattuc, Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (ISBN: 0-8223-2737-6).
- "Architectures of the Senses: Neo-Baroque Entertainment Spectacles", Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics Of Transition ed.s David Thorburn & Henry Jenkins, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2003, pp.355-73. (ISBN 0-262-20146-1)
- "Introduction: Stars in Our Eyes" and "Digital Stars in Our Eyes", Stars in Our Eyes: The Star Phenomenon in the Contemporary Era, (ed.s Angela Ndalianis and Charlotte Henry), Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2002, pp. vii-xvii & pp. 165-178. (ISBN: 0-275-97480-4).
Journal articles
- "The Wonder of Digital Effects" Southern Review: Communication, Politics and Culture, vol.37, no1. 2004. (ISSN: 0038-4526).
- "Games of Horror: Getting Down and Dirty with the Living Dead", Journal for Media History (Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis), no.2, 2004.
- "Worlds of Tomorrow... Today", Mesh, issue16, 2003. [Also published in Experimenta House of Tomorrow, Exhibition Catalogue (inclusive Mesh), ed. Alex Taylor, Bambra Press.]. Available at http://www.experimenta.org/ (ISBN 0 958197 1 8)
- "De Digitale Verdeners (vid)under", Mediekultur, 36, November 2003. (Computers and Film Special Issue). Refereed journal. (ISSN 0900-9671).
Reviews
- 'Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation' by Brian Massumi, Duke UP, Durham 2002. Leonardo Digital Reviews, February 2003.
Media articles
- "Travel Sick Part 2: Out of Body", Eyeline: Contemporary Visual Arts, no. 39, Autumn/Winter.