Dr Tracey Mollet
- Position: Lecturer in Media and Communication
- Areas of expertise: Disney; propaganda; Stranger Things; popular culture; American television; Marvel; Netflix
- Email: T.L.Mollet@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 1110
- Location: 2.23 Clothworkers Building North
Profile
Having completed both my BA and MA in Modern History before joining the School of Media and Communication, I came to this discipline from a very different background to many of the other research staff in the department. For my PhD, I combined my passion for History with my love for animation, researching the ideology of the animated shorts of the Disney and Schlesinger Studios in the 1930s and 1940s.
I used a combination of archival research and content analysis to uncover the ways in which the cartoon shorts provided a commentary on the Great Depression, including social conditions, political debates and the international situation. My current research is centred around Disney fairy tales and their connection to the American dream. I am also fascinated by complex serial narratives in television, specifically the Duffer Brothers Netflix series Stranger Things.
Responsibilities
- Undergraduate Tutor
- Admissions Tutor for the BA in Communication and Media
Research interests
- Disney animation
- Warner Brothers animation
- Depression culture and its impact on film
- Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, James Gunn
- WW2 and Hollywood film
- Fairy tales on film and in television
- Contemporary US serial narratives (Stranger Things, Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Dexter, Lost)
Professional memberships
- MECCSA
- FHEA