- Ph.D. Ohio State University, 1996
BIO
Todd is committed to the idea that theoretical exploration of questions about existence, the psyche, and society can contribute in tangible ways to the creative process. His classes often focus on major theoretical figures like Hegel, Marx, or Freud and delve into how their ideas manifest themselves in the most important films, television series, and other media texts. He has written books on comedy, capitalism, and various filmmakers, such Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy, Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets, and The Impossible David Lynch. His work on psychoanalytic film theory has provided a new way of thinking about the relationship between the spectator and the filmic image as founded on desire rather than identification. The unifying thread of all these projects is the belief that theory has the ability to shed fresh light on what seems firmly established and that it can enrich both our lives and our creative endeavors. This is reflected in classes such as “Noir Marx,” “Existentialism and the Teen Film,” “The Psychoanalytic François Truffaut,” and “Atemporal Cinema.”
Courses
- Seminar in Film and Television: Noir Marx
- Seminar: Hegel's Phenomenology
- Seminar: Buckham Honors Seminar in Slavoj Zizek
- Seminar: Literary and Cultural Theory
- Seminar: Ethics and Film
- Seminar: Existentialism and French Cinema
- Seminar: Contemporary Cinema
- Seminar: Godard and Badiou
- Seminar: Major Author; The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
- Seminar: Major Author; Shakespeare, Film, and Philosophy
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: The Political Film
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Shakespeare and Film
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Truffaut and Psychoanalysis
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Teen Film
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Science Fiction Cinema
- Modern American Novel: Hemingway and Faulkner
- Modern American Novel: The Paranoid Novel
- Global Studies in Film and Television
- Topics in Critical Theory: Hegel's Aesthetics
- Topics in Critical Theory:Psychoanalytical and Queer Theory
- Master's Thesis Research
- Special Readings and Research
- Internship
- Origins of Cinema: 1895-1930
- Classical Cinema 1930-1960
- Contemporary Cinema 1960-2000
- Survery of Literary Theory and Criticism
- Film and Television Theory
- Advanced Film/TV Theory: Agamben and the Disaster Film
Publications
Todd McGowan Publications (DOCX)
Area(s) of expertise
Hegel, psychoanalysis, and existentialism, and the intersection of these lines of thought with the cinema.
Bio
Todd is committed to the idea that theoretical exploration of questions about existence, the psyche, and society can contribute in tangible ways to the creative process. His classes often focus on major theoretical figures like Hegel, Marx, or Freud and delve into how their ideas manifest themselves in the most important films, television series, and other media texts. He has written books on comedy, capitalism, and various filmmakers, such Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy, Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets, and The Impossible David Lynch. His work on psychoanalytic film theory has provided a new way of thinking about the relationship between the spectator and the filmic image as founded on desire rather than identification. The unifying thread of all these projects is the belief that theory has the ability to shed fresh light on what seems firmly established and that it can enrich both our lives and our creative endeavors. This is reflected in classes such as “Noir Marx,” “Existentialism and the Teen Film,” “The Psychoanalytic François Truffaut,” and “Atemporal Cinema.”
Courses
- Seminar in Film and Television: Noir Marx
- Seminar: Hegel's Phenomenology
- Seminar: Buckham Honors Seminar in Slavoj Zizek
- Seminar: Literary and Cultural Theory
- Seminar: Ethics and Film
- Seminar: Existentialism and French Cinema
- Seminar: Contemporary Cinema
- Seminar: Godard and Badiou
- Seminar: Major Author; The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
- Seminar: Major Author; Shakespeare, Film, and Philosophy
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: The Political Film
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Shakespeare and Film
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Truffaut and Psychoanalysis
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Teen Film
- Film and Television Genre and Auteur: Science Fiction Cinema
- Modern American Novel: Hemingway and Faulkner
- Modern American Novel: The Paranoid Novel
- Global Studies in Film and Television
- Topics in Critical Theory: Hegel's Aesthetics
- Topics in Critical Theory:Psychoanalytical and Queer Theory
- Master's Thesis Research
- Special Readings and Research
- Internship
- Origins of Cinema: 1895-1930
- Classical Cinema 1930-1960
- Contemporary Cinema 1960-2000
- Survery of Literary Theory and Criticism
- Film and Television Theory
- Advanced Film/TV Theory: Agamben and the Disaster Film
Publications
Areas of Expertise
Hegel, psychoanalysis, and existentialism, and the intersection of these lines of thought with the cinema.
Associations and Affiliations
Associations and Affiliations
- American Imago, editorial board member
- Badiou Seminar Translation Project, advisory board member
- Ecranosphere, editorial board member
- International Journal of Žižek Studies, editorial board member
- Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, editorial board member
- Contemporary Psychoanalytic Studies, Brill Press, editorial board member
- World Picture, board member