I am researcher in contemporary film, television and literature with a specialism in adaptations and mental health. I am also a poetry editor for a small press. My most recent book looks at character, the body, and adaptation was released in 2022. I am currently working on a book about male mental illness in contemporary culture.
- PhD English and Film, University of Southampton (2016)
- MA English, University of Southampton (2010)
- BA (Hons) English, University of Southampton (2009)
The majority of my early academic experience was at the University of Southampton where I studied English, and moving into Film with my PhD which looked at the mediation of gendered and religious identities in contemporary vampire narratives. This led me to thinking about adaptations, which has been my particular area of interest for the last five years.
I previously taught at the University of Winchester across the film, English, and American studies departments. Outside of academia, I am a poetry editor for a small press which I joined in 2018.
I teach across the film and creative writing department, including my module Adaptation: Theory and Practice and Film Genres.
My primary research area is adaptations. I have published various chapters related to this field, regularly participate in the AAS conferences (and am on the board of trustees), have established the BAFTSS Adaptation group, and have recently released a book in this area. This book, Embodying Adaptation: Character and the Body examines the connection between character and the body, and the hierarchies inherent within this relationship. It seeks to find a new approach to adaptations that is framed by the body and its importance in our increasingly intangible society. It was published through Palgrave in 2022 as part of the Adaptations and Visual Culture series. My other research interests include mental health, identity, memory, and queer studies. This is reflected in the chapters I have published on these topics. Another strand of my research is male mental health and suicide in contemporary culture, which will be the focus of my next monograph.
Recent publications
Book
Wilkins, C 2022, Embodying Adaptation: Character and the Body. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture, 1 edn, Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08533-8
Wilkins, C 2018, Religion and Identity in Post 9/11 Vampire Narratives: God is (un)dead. Palgrave Macmillan.
Article
Wilkins, C 2023, 'Adaptation, Parody, and Disabled Masculinity in Motherless Brooklyn', Humanities , vol. 12, no. 4, 66. https://doi.org/10.3390/h12040066
Wilkins, C 2023, 'Adaptation, parody, and masculinity in Motherless Brooklyn', Humanities , vol. 12, no. 4, 66. https://doi.org/10.3390/h1204006
Wilkins, C 2023, 'Intangibility and Selfhood: Westworld as allegory for adaptation in the digital age', Adaptation. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apad021
Wilkins, C 2022, 'Beyond the Frame of the Past: Archive 81 (2022)', Adaptation, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 460–463. https://doi.org/10.1093/adaptation/apac012
Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Wilkins, C 2023, I am Legend in Context. in S Bacon (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82301-6_29-1
Wilkins, C 2022, Diagnosing the detective: Sherlock Holmes and Autism in Contemporary Television. in M Pomerance & RB Palmer (eds), Autism in Film and Television: On the Island. University of Texas Press. <https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477324943/>
Wilkins, C 2021, Replaying Cowboys and Indians: Controlled and Commercial Nostalgia in Westworld. in M Leggatt (ed.), Was it Yesterday?: Nostalgia in Contemporary Film and Television. SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema, SUNY Press, pp. 197-210. <https://www.sunypress.edu/p-7053-was-it-yesterday.aspx>
Wilkins, C 2020, Reinvesting in the Rapture: Apocalypse and Faith in The Leftovers. in M Cornelius & S Ginn (eds), Apocalypse TV. McFarland.
Wilkins, C 2020, Television adaptations: Character and World Expansion. in B Kaklamanidou (ed.), New Approaches to Contemporary Adaptation. Wayne State University Press, pp. 79-96.
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