Nathan Lee is a scholar, critic, and curator whose research examines a broad range of topics in contemporary cinema. He is particularly interested in defending the textual nature of cinema and correlative forms of critical reading in the wake of digitization, the affective turn, and the rise of “postcritique.” In addition to his academic work, he has published extensive film criticism in The New York Times, The Village Voice, and NPR among other outlets, and is a longtime contributor to Film Comment. Before coming to Hollins, he taught courses in film and media studies, contemporary art, critical theory, animation, and gender and sexuality studies at Emory University, Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, and Bard College.
Areas of Expertise
- Contemporary cinema
- Digital aesthetics
- Film theory
- Critical theory
- Critique and post-critique
- David Cronenberg
Courses Taught
- Introduction to Film
- Core Issues in Film Studies
- Criticism and Critique
- American Cinema
- Queer Cinema
- Animation
Accomplishments
- Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Brown University (2017-2018)
- Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Culture and Media Studies Grant (2015, 2016)
- Creative Arts Council Grant, Brown University (2015)
Education
- Ph.D., Brown University
- M.A., Bard College
Publications & Articles
- “Exterminate All Rational Thought: The Animal Effect in David Cronenberg” (forthcoming in the Journal of Environmental Media, 2023)
- “Plastic Fantastic,” Film Comment, July 31, 2023
- “Alone in the Dark,” Broadcast, July 6, 2023
- “Insurrectional Evolution: The Cronenbergian Revisited,” Art Papers, Vol. 46, No. 1, Fall 2022
- Physician, Heal Thyself,” Film Comment, 2022
- “Talking to Myself: On The Image Book and the Legacy of Jean-Luc Godard,” Literary Hub, 2022
- “Inland Empire,” 4Columns, 2022
- “Mind Games,” Film Comment, 2021
- “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” Film Comment, 2021
- “Terminal Velocity,” Metrograph Journal, 2021
- “The Call of Cage-Thulu: On the Unspeakable Frenzies of Nicolas Cage,” Post 45/Contemporaries, 2021
- “American Avant Garde’s Cinema of the In-Between,” Millennium Film Journal, Spring/Fall 2020
- “Postcritique and the Form of the Question: Whose Critique Has Run Out of Steam?” Cultural Critique, Vol. 108, Summer 2020
- “Transforming Nihilism” in Unwatchable, eds. Nicholas Baer, Maggie Hennefeld, Laura Horak, and Gunnar Iversen, Rutgers University Press, 2019