All People

Matthew Cooper

  • Teaching Assistant - Doctoral, English

Education

  • MA, Communication & Media with a concentration in Media & Cinema Studies,  DePaul University, 2021
  • BA, Media & Cinema Studies and Communication Studies, DePaul University, 2020

Courses Taught

  • ENG 102: Intro to College Writing and Research
  • ARTHIST/FILMSTD/ENG 111: Entertainment Arts: Film, Television, & the Internet
  • FILMSTD/ARTHIST 205: History of Film I: The Development of an Art, 1895-1945
  • FILMSTD/ARTHIST 206: History of Film II: The Development of an Art, 1945-Present

Research Interests

  • Film exhibition
  • American film history
  • Media technology and culture
  • Cultural nostalgia

Related Activities

Selected Conference Presentations:

  • "Expanding Screens: IMAX and the Aesthetic and Industrial Use of Aspect Ratio." Backward Glances Graduate Student Conference, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 2024.
  • Pandora at 48 FPS: Aesthetics of Immersion and the Cultural Capital of New Movie Technology in Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)." Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Boston, MA, 2024.
  • "Nostalgia for the Palace: The Reconstitution of Historic Movie Theater Architecture in the Contemporary Exhibition Industry." Midwest Graduate Film Studies Symposium, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 2024.
  • "The Last Movie Star?: Tom Cruise and the Star-Franchise Tension in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema." Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Denver, CO, 2023.
  • "Revival, Return, and Transference: Theorizing the Franchise Nostalgia Film in Recent Hollywood Cinema." Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, online, 2022.
  • "Re-Evaluating Film Authorship: Directorial Authority in Studio-Driven Franchise Filmmaking." Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference, Chicago, IL, 2022.

Academic Awards

  • UWM Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship, 2023-24
  • UWM Frederick J. Hoffman English Writing Award, 2022-23
  • UWM Chancellor's Graduate Student Award, 2021-22
  • DePaul University College of Communication Outstanding Achievement and Leadership Award 

Selected Publications

 "Pandora at 48 Frames per Second: Aesthetics of Immersion and the Cultural Valuation of High Frame Rate Projection," Film History 35, no. 4 (2025): 75-100.
  • "The Last Movie Star?: Tom Cruise and the Star-Franchise Tension in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema." In Stars and Franchises: Identity, Image and Intellectual Property, edited by Sarah Thomas and Mark McKenna. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, forthcoming.