Dr. Schlotterbeck is a film scholar and educator who resides in Granville, Ohio. He is currently an Associate Professor of Cinema and Journalism at Denison University, where he has taught since 2011. He graduated with a PhD in Film Studies from the University of Iowa in 2010 and a BA in Cinema Studies from Oberlin College in 2003.
RESEARCH
Schlotterbeck's research focuses on American film genres – in particular, documentary, the musical, the biopic, and film noir. He recently completed an essay, listed first below, which brings together his interests in documentary, musical subjects, and biographical films.
Publications:
“Adapting an ‘American’ Football Biopic: Knute Rockne: All American.” In Sport, Film, and National Culture, edited by Sean Crosson, 21-31. London: Routledge, 2020.
“A Different Kind of Rock Doc: Performance, Persona, and Stardom in Anvil! The Story of Anvil and Last Days Here.” In Heavy Metal at the Movies, edited by Gerd Bayer, 37-50. London: Routledge, 2019.
“Reevaluating Lady Sings the Blues and What’s Love Got to Do with It: Ambivalent Representations of Black Female Artistry.” In Billie Holiday: Essays on the Artistry and Legacy, edited by Michael V. Perez and Jessica McKee, 129-141. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2019.
"The ‘House of Death’ in Print and On-Screen: Double Indemnity as Journalism, Fiction, and Film.” In Film Noir Prototypes: Origins of the Movement, edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini, 320-335. Milwaukee, WI: Applause, 2018.
“‘The Dynamism of Violent Death’: Low-Key Lighting, Censorship, and Violence in Film Noir.” In Film Noir: Light and Shadow, edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini, 308-315. Milwaukee, WI: Applause, 2017.
“Style, Affect, and Subjectivity: An Introduction to ‘Readings of The Romanian New Wave’.” In Film Criticism 41, no. 2 (October 2017) (co-author)
“A Hard Day’s Night as a Post-Studio Era Musical Biopic.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 33, no. 6 (April 2016): 567-579.
“Hawks’s ‘Unhawksian’ Biopic: Sergeant York.” In Howard Hawks: New Perspectives, edited by Ian Brookes, 67-81. London: BFI/Palgrave, 2016.
“Masculinity, Race, and the Blues in the Bizpic Cadillac Records.” In Anxiety Muted: American Film Music in a Suburban Age, edited by Tony Bushard and Stanley Pelkey, 188-204. London: Oxford University Press, 2014.
“I’m Not There: Transcendent Thanatography.” In The Biopic in Contemporary Film Culture, edited by Tom Brown and Belén Vidal, 227-242. London: Routledge, 2013.
“Radio Noir in the USA.” In A Companion to Film Noir, edited by Helen Hanson and Andrew Spicer, 423-439. London: Blackwell, 2013.
“The ‘Split’ Biography: Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story.” In Michael Jackson: Grasping the Spectacle, edited by Chris Smit, 67-80. Burlington, VT: Routledge/Ashgate, 2012.
“Documenting Horror: The Use of Sound in Non-Fiction 9/11 Films.” Altre Modernità (September 2011) (online)
“Killing Noir? – The Adaptation of Robert Siodmak’s The Killers to Radio.” Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance 3, no. 1 (March 2010): 59-70.
“Non-Urban Noirs: Rural Space in Moonrise, On Dangerous Ground, Thieves’ Highway, and They Live by Night.” M/C – A Journal of Media and Culture 11, no. 5 (October 2008) (online)
“What Happens When Real People Start Getting Cinematic? Laguna Beach and Contemporary T.V. Aesthetics.” Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies, no. 12 (October 2008) (online)
“Trying to Find a Heartbeat: Narrative Songs in the Pop Performer Biopic.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 36, no. 2 (Summer 2008): 82-90.
Short-form scholarship, including pieces co-authored with Denison University students, appear in the following publications:
Film Noir: The Directors
Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia
The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film
Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shaped a Nation
World Film Locations: Los Angeles
Film Matters
In Media Res
Schlotterbeck has also published book reviews in the following venues:
Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television
Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies
Film Criticism
Film and History: An Interdisciplinary Journal
TEACHING
At Denison University and the University of Iowa, Schlotterbeck has taught the following courses:
Film Aesthetics and Analysis
History of Cinema
Writing About Cinema
Documentary Film and Media
Theory of Cinema
Genres, Authors, and Stars
The European Art Film and American Independent Film
Gender, Sexuality, Cinema
Styles and Genres: Musicals and Biopics
Contemporary Cinema: 1998-2008
Contemporary Cinema: 1960-2000
Film Authors: Altman, Penn, and Frankenheimer
US Film: Periodizing Hollywood
US Film: Classical Hollywood Cinema: 1930-1960
This list has been abbreviated to omit similar courses taught at both institutions.
SERVICE
Dr. Schlotterbeck is currently serving as a committee member for the Popular Culture /American Culture Association’s Peter C. Rollins Award for the Best Documentary Film. At Denison, Schlotterbeck has served on the Student Research Grants Committee and the Academic Standing Board. He has also worked as a June Orientation faculty advisor, a meditation instructor at The Open House, a planner and leader for the Philadelphia Arts pre-orientation trip, and as a group facilitator for the Restorative Justice initiative. Schlotterbeck is a reviewer for JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies and served twice on the Graduate Student Writing Award Committee for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies as a member (2014-2015) and chair (2015-2016). More recently, he served as the chair of the Best Edited Collection Book Award Committee for Midwest Popular Culture/American Culture Association (2020-2021).