Dr. Nathan Carroll
Professor, Film Studies, Dept. of Communication and Media Studies
Dr. Carroll has taught Film Studies in the Dept. of Communication, Theatre and Art since arriving at CSS in 2006. He grew up near Fargo, ND before graduating Gustavus Adolphus College in 1995 with a double major in Philosophy and Political Science. He did graduate coursework in Philosophy and Cultural Analysis at the Univ. of Amsterdam (1996-7) before transferring into an MA program in Aesthetics at the Univ. of York, UK. In 1999, his thesis comparing Postmodern theory to the Kantian sublime received a distinction. Changing disciplinary focus to Film Studies, he graduated from Indiana Univ. in 2006 with a combined Ph.D. in Communication and Culture and American Studies. His dissertation investigated the impact of digital archiving on film history.
Since 2006, Dr. Carroll has designed a diverse Film Studies Concentration curriculum within the Communication Major. He has served as Chair of Faculty Assembly, taught two semesters in Ireland (2011, 2016), created the SAL Colloquium in 2007, supervises CTA internships and has co-organized nine CSS film festivals with Brad Snelling (CSS Library).
Dr. Carroll has published in several academic journals including Velvet Light Trap, The Moving Image, Quarterly Review of Film and Video and Movement (online). He received sabbatical for fall 2018 to edit a peer-reviewed anthology contracted with Intellect Press (UK) titled: The Cinematic Sublime: Negative Pleasures, Structuring Absences, published September, 2020. It features chapter essays by Dr. Carroll and 9 other authors discussing intersections between Aesthetics (Phil.) and Film Studies. He has presented at numerous conferences and was an invited presenter for the UMD Zombie Fest (2013) and the Duluth Art Institute’s ‘Saturday Morning Art Films’ series in 2017. Married in January 2017 on the island of Kauai, he and his partner Laurie are owned by two beautiful Siamese cats.
Publications
The Cinematic Sublime: Negative Pleasures, Structuring Absences (Anthology from Intellect Press (UK), 2020) (Editor and Contributor)
Oscar predictions featured in Duluth News Tribune article by Christa Lawler, Feb. 26, 2016 http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/lifestyle/3956250-locals-share-their-oscar-predictions
“Chimes at Midnight.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 29.5
“Double Exposure: Framing the Athletes of Marx & Coca-Cola at the Beijing Opening Ceremony.” Movement 1.1 – http://movementjournal.com
“Mitchell and Kenyon, Archival Contingency, and the Cultural Production of Historical License.” The Moving Image 6.2 (Fall 2006)
“Unwrapping Archives: DVD Restoration Demonstrations and the Marketing of Authenticity.” Velvet Light Trap 56 (Fall 2005)
Conference Presentations and Guest Lectures
"Street Hassles: Revolution and Authorship in Street Scenes 1970" (‘Wounded Galaxies 1968’ conference at Indiana University, Feb 2018.)
“Introduction to American Cinema” Russian-American Language Camp, College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN, July 2017.
“One Shot in Real Time: Digitally Staging Sublime Cinema” (Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Chicago, IL, March 2017.)
“Abstracting Pollock” (‘Saturday Morning Art Films’, Duluth, MN sponsored by the Duluth Art Institute and Zeitgeist, March 4, 2017.
“Chimes at Midnight” Intro. for ‘Shakespeare on Film: Great Adaptations’ Film Fest, CSS, Duluth, MN, Dec 2, 2016.
“A Short History of the Long Take: Digital Cinema & the Infinite Cut” (School of Arts & Letters Colloquium, Sept 18, 2015)
“Clint Eastwood, Toxic Masculinity & American Sniper” (following campus-wide screening, April 2015.
"Conspicuous Consumption: Zombies, Labor Exploitation & the Return of the Repressed" (‘UMD Zombie Fest’ Oct 18, 2013, Duluth, MN.)
“Relocating Metropolis” (Intro. for ‘Lost Shadows: Silent German Expressionist Cinema’ Film Fest, CSS, Duluth, MN, April, 2012)
“Alien Body Panic: On the Identity Politics of Body-Switch Movies” (Society for Cinema and Media Studies, L.A., CA, March 2010.)
“Daddy Longlegs: The Long Way Home” (Sound Unseen Film Festival, Zinema 2, Duluth, MN, June 2010)
“Obsessing About Cinema” (Video interview and introduction for Obsessed Cinema Film Festival, CSS, Duluth, MN, Feb 2010.)
“Introduction to American Cinema: The Studio System and Censorship; American Film Genres; Outside Hollywood/Independent Film” (Three-part lecture series for Russian-American Language Camp, CSS, Duluth, MN, July 2009.)
“Sublime Frames: The Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony Redefines the Cinematic” (Invited lecture for “Media, Sport, & Culture,” CSS, Duluth, MN, April 2009.)
“Kant and Sublime Enlightenment” (Invited lectures for “Composition,” CSS, Duluth, MN, Nov 2008 & April 2009.)
“Recycling De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves: 60th Anniversary” (Intro. for Italian Film Festival, CSS, Duluth, MN, Oct 2008.)
“The Auteur & the Opera: Herzog, Nietzsche, and the Wagnerian Sublime” (Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Philadelphia, PA, March 2008.)
“Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue Series” (Intro. for The Decalogue Film Festival, CSS, Duluth, MN, Feb 2008.))
“Autumn Sonata as Chamber Drama” (Intro. for Ingmar Bergman Film Festival, CSS, Duluth, MN, Dec 2007.)
“Wild Strawberries as a Road Trip Movie” (Intro. for Ingmar Bergman Film Festival, CSS, Duluth, MN, Dec 2007.)
“The French New Wave” (Invited lecture: “French Culture Through Film,” CSS, Duluth, MN, March 2007.)
“Digital Disruptions: DVD and Cultural Archives” (Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Vancouver, Canada, March 2006.)
“Lost: Digital Contingency and the Archival Production of Cultural Context” (Archival Bodies Conference (Milwaukee Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, Feb 2006.)
“Waiting for Godard: Archiving H/histories du Histoire(s) du Cinema” (‘Back to Zero: Jean-Luc Godard Film Festival and Symposium, IN Univ, Bloomington, Dec 2005.)
“Unwrapping Archives: DVD Restoration Demonstrations and the Marketing of Authenticity” (Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, University of London, UK, April 2005.)
“There’s No Place Like Home: The American Gothic Prairie and Contemporary Film” (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, New Orleans, LA, April 2003.)
“Analyzing a Scene and Writing about Film” (Invited lecture for “Homeland and Emigration in the Sagas of Icelanders,” University of California, Berkeley, CA, Oct 2002.)
“Pop Will Eat Itself: Self-Cannibalism and the Politics of Absence in Todd Haynes’ Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story” (Outside(r) Hollywood Conference, Dept. of Comparative Literature Cinema Studies Colloquium, University of WA, Seattle, May 2000.
Honors and Awards
Sabbatical awarded for fall 2018 to edit forthcoming reader: Negative Pleasures: The Cinematic Sublime.
Small Grant Award from College of St. Scholastica to attend Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Chicago, IL, 2017.
Equal Access Award, College of St. Scholastica. Per description, “This award recognizes faculty who exhibit exemplary effort to engage students with disabilities in academic and interpersonal growth and development.” 2015.
Film Concentration in the Department of Communication, Theatre, and Art approved fall 2011
Promoted to Associate Professor Fall 2011
Received tenure beginning fall 2012
Small Grant Award from College of St. Scholastica to attend the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, L.A., CA, 2010.
Small Grant Award from College of St. Scholastica to attend Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Philadelphia, PA, 2008.
Faculty Development Research Grant from College of St. Scholastica for developing the research project “The Auteur & the Opera: Cinema’s Pet Project,” 2007.
Small Grant Award from College of St. Scholastica to attend the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Chicago, IL, 2007.
Communication and Culture Pedagogy Certificate at Indiana University, 2006.
Department of Communication and Culture Travel Grant from Indiana University for attendance at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, London, UK, 2005.
Distinction on M.A. Thesis at the University of York, UK, 1999.