Dr Ellen Wright’s work tends to focus on Hollywood cinema between 1930 and 1960 and examines female star personae and celebrity, film star scandals, gender and performance, costuming, censorship, fandom, youth audiences and moral panics, audience and critical reception and media discourse across British and US contexts, primarily through the use of extra textual materials.
In particular she is drawn to denigrated forms such as the celebrity group ‘selfie’, pin-up photography, trash cinema, slash fiction and pornography as well as press books, promotional materials for films and TV shows, film fan annuals, film and photography magazines/pamphlets, syndicated radio plays, film star fiction, film star/celebrity endorsements and advertising tie-ups.
She examines these resources with a view to interrogating wider notions of gender, sexuality, class, taste, nationality and consumption.
Amongst other things, she has written on the pin-up and Hollywood glamour during WWII, the swimsuit in Hollywood cinema, the marketing of the female detective in post-war film noir and star capital and celebrity group selfies.
She has a podcast and blogs regularly. Both can be found on her website: