Lecturer
Overview
Originally from Chicago, by way of New Zealand, I've been working as a researcher and teacher at UQ since November 2017. I teach Multimedia in year one and Digital Project in year three, both of which heavily emphasize the creative and collaborative process as an avenue to enact social change. My research is in below the line labor in the creative industries. My first book The Aesthetics of TV Nostalgia (Bloomsbury, 2019) is an industry ethnography of the people working in the art departments of nostalgic US television programs, especially those foregrounding past golden eras in American history. You can find my other publications in Adaptation, Television & New Media, Feminist Media Studies, Cinema Journal, Continuum, and Convergence. My next book project expands my ethnography of creative labor. It looks at how urban planners, real estate workers and home stagers use media technologies to script our understandings of the ideal home, the ideal public space, and the ideal urban citizen.
Research Interests
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Production Studies and Media Industry Studies
Histories of production design and art direction, and below the line labor in the media industries broadly speaking -
Gender Studies
Media representations of gender, race, and sexuality -
Creativity and Labor
Social dynamics of teamwork and creative labor within the confines of corporate restrictions like brands, budget cuts, corporate hierarchies, notions of authorship, and institutional discrimination based on gender or race.
Research Impacts
As both a reseacher and teacher, I'm interested in the ways that people work creatively within instutional corporate environments. As such, my research offers high impact on shaping the kinds of institutional environments that must maintain productivity while also encouraging moments of change and individual and collective creative thinking. I often talk to people whose work is normally invisible or under-acknowledged by the popular media and scholarhsip, like the prop makers for television shows or the summer intern working at a costume warehouse in Hollywood. However the creative decisions of these individuals and teams have lasting impact on the media that we watch and love. I'm committed to highlighting the under-appreciated and hidden creative contributions of lesser known designers working in media production and hope to expand this tenant in my work on other sectors of creative labor.
Qualifications
- Master of Arts, Northwestern University
- Doctor of Philosophy, Northwestern University
Publications
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Journal Article: Designed for threat: Surveillance, mass shootings, and pre-emptive design in school architecture
Bevan, Alex (2019) Designed for threat: Surveillance, mass shootings, and pre-emptive design in school architecture. Surveillance and Society, 17 3/4: . doi:10.24908/ss.v17i3/4.7077
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Journal Article: Transferring below-the-line skillsets across creative industries in early television
Bevan, Alex (2019) Transferring below-the-line skillsets across creative industries in early television. Continuum, 1-15. doi:10.1080/10304312.2019.1621265
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Conference Publication: From chastity belts to smart frocks: The promise of rape-prevention technology
Wilson-Barnao, Caroline, Bevan, Alex and Lincoln, Robyn (2019). From chastity belts to smart frocks: The promise of rape-prevention technology. In: Association of Internet Researchers Conference, Brisbane, Australia, (). 3-5 October, 2019.
Grants
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Media Infancies: Labor Cultures When New Media Technologies Disrupt
(2019–2020) UQ Early Career Researcher
Supervision
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In what ways has creativity, play and social exchange manifested itself in the amateur radio community in Australia
Doctor Philosophy
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Reality Check: augmented reality on social media
Doctor Philosophy
Publications
Book
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The aesthetics of nostalgia TV
Bevan, Alex The aesthetics of nostalgia TV. New York, NY, United States: Bloomsbury, 2019.
Journal Article
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Designed for threat: Surveillance, mass shootings, and pre-emptive design in school architecture
Bevan, Alex (2019) Designed for threat: Surveillance, mass shootings, and pre-emptive design in school architecture. Surveillance and Society, 17 3/4: . doi:10.24908/ss.v17i3/4.7077
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Transferring below-the-line skillsets across creative industries in early television
Bevan, Alex (2019) Transferring below-the-line skillsets across creative industries in early television. Continuum, 1-15. doi:10.1080/10304312.2019.1621265
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3-D printed sets and props : how designers integrate digital technologies
Bevan, Alexandra (2018) 3-D printed sets and props : how designers integrate digital technologies. Convergence, . doi:10.1177/1354856518789345
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Transmedia theory's author discourse and its limitations
O'Meara, Radha and Bevan, Alex (2018) Transmedia theory's author discourse and its limitations. M / C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture, 12 1: .
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How to make victory rolls: gender, memory and the archive in YouTube pinup girl hair tutorials
Bevan, Alex (2017) How to make victory rolls: gender, memory and the archive in YouTube pinup girl hair tutorials. Feminist Media Studies, 17 5: 755-773. doi:10.1080/14680777.2017.1298645
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Bevan, Alex (2015) Reality TV by June Deery. Information, Communication and Society, 19 12: 1799-1802. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2015.1114658
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The National Body, Women and Mental Health in Homeland
Bevan, Alex (2015) The National Body, Women and Mental Health in Homeland. Cinema Journal, 54 4: 145-151. doi:10.1353/cj.2015.0048
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Archiving the Digital Transition in the Boomer TV Sitcom Remake
Bevan, Alex (2013) Archiving the Digital Transition in the Boomer TV Sitcom Remake. Adaptation, 6 3: 305-319. doi:10.1093/adaptation/apt007
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Nostalgia for Pre-Digital Media in Mad Men
Bevan, Alex (2012) Nostalgia for Pre-Digital Media in Mad Men. Television & New Media, 14 6: 546-559. doi:10.1177/1527476412451499
Conference Publication
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From chastity belts to smart frocks: The promise of rape-prevention technology
Wilson-Barnao, Caroline, Bevan, Alex and Lincoln, Robyn (2019). From chastity belts to smart frocks: The promise of rape-prevention technology. In: Association of Internet Researchers Conference, Brisbane, Australia, (). 3-5 October, 2019.
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Transferring Below-the-Line Skillsets Across Creative Industries in Early Television
Bevan, Alex (2019). Transferring Below-the-Line Skillsets Across Creative Industries in Early Television. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Seattle, WA, United States, (). March 14 2019.
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Wentworth, Surveillance and Citizenship
Bevan, Alex (2018). Wentworth, Surveillance and Citizenship. In: Wentworth is the New Prisoner Conference, Melbourne, Australia, (). April 6 2018.
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Designed for Threat: School Architecture, Mass Shootings and Surveillance Culture
Bevan, Alex (2017). Designed for Threat: School Architecture, Mass Shootings and Surveillance Culture. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, IL, United States, (). March 22-26 2017.
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One Fifth the Thickness of a Human Hair: 3D Printing and New Approaches in Film and TV Art Direction
Bevan, Alex (2016). One Fifth the Thickness of a Human Hair: 3D Printing and New Approaches in Film and TV Art Direction. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Atlanta, GA, (). March 30-April 3 2016.
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Designing for Liveness: Art Direction and “Quality” in Early Network Anthology Dramas
Bevan, Alex (2015). Designing for Liveness: Art Direction and “Quality” in Early Network Anthology Dramas. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Montreal, Canada, (). March 25-29 2015.
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How to Make Victory Rolls: Material Memory and Feminisms in Pinup Girl YouTube Tutorials
Bevan, Alex (2013). How to Make Victory Rolls: Material Memory and Feminisms in Pinup Girl YouTube Tutorials. In: Console-ing Passions Conference, Leicester, United Kingdom, (). June 25-27 2013.
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Latina Identity and the Politics of Vintage on Ugly Betty
Bevan, Alex (2012). Latina Identity and the Politics of Vintage on Ugly Betty. In: Console-ing Passions Conference, Boston, MA, United States, (). July 19-20 2012.
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Remaking the Cleavers: Archiving Television in Film Adaptations of the Boomer Era Family Sitcom
Bevan, Alex (2012). Remaking the Cleavers: Archiving Television in Film Adaptations of the Boomer Era Family Sitcom. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Boston, MA, United States, (). March 21-25 2012.
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Bevan, Alex (2010). Archiving the Future/Mobilising the Past: “Remembering Baby Boom Advertising Toward ‘Post-Feminist’ Ends?”. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (). March 17-21 2010.
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Masculinity, Family and Nostalgia for Postwar Imaging Technologies
Bevan, Alex (2010). Masculinity, Family and Nostalgia for Postwar Imaging Technologies. In: Console-ing Passions Conference, Eugene, OR, United States, (). April 24-26 2010.
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Bevan, Alex (2008). Desperate Housewives: New Media, Historical Memory and the Constitution of Female Identity and Feminism. In: Console-ing Passions Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (). April 24-26 2008.
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The Ethics of Redesign: Gender, Race and Class in Dr. 90210
Bevan, Alex (2008). The Ethics of Redesign: Gender, Race and Class in Dr. 90210. In: Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Philadelphia, PA, United States, (). 8-11 March, 2008.
Other Outputs
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Bevan, Alex (2017) Never Been Cool (podcast). Itunes and YouTube, Itunes and YouTube.
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The Incessant Violation in Aronosky's Mother! Makes Me Mad in a Good Way
Bevan, Alex (2017, October 13). The Incessant Violation in Aronosky's Mother! Makes Me Mad in a Good Way. PopMatters, .
Grants (Administered at UQ)
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Media Infancies: Labor Cultures When New Media Technologies Disrupt
(2019–2020) UQ Early Career Researcher
PhD and MPhil Supervision
Current Supervision
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In what ways has creativity, play and social exchange manifested itself in the amateur radio community in Australia
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
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Reality Check: augmented reality on social media
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
