Current PhD Students

James G. Lapping

Thesis Title:

From Racism to Reelism: Shifting to ‘postindian’ depictions of Indigeneity in contemporary mainstream film and television

Supervisor:

Professor David Stirrup

Description:

‘From Racism to Reelism’ will address the impact of contemporary mainstream Indigenous and non-Indigenous filmmakers creating narratives which include Indigeneity within a projected timescale of 2010-2025.

Assessment will be made on how these filmmakers attempt to change attitudes towards Native peoples within the United States and Canada for the better, and how Indigenous filmmakers produce narratives of survivance, visual sovereignty, and positive self-representation.

Media analysis of the below case studies will interpret how these filmmakers have improved upon prior depictions of Indigeneity and consideration will be made of the barriers that are currently standing their way, particularly for Indigenous filmmakers.

Films

Pocahontas (1995)
Smoke Signals (1998)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
Wind River (2017)
Blood Quantum (2019)
Wild Indian (2021)
Prey (2022)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Television

Yellowstone (2018-present)
Reservation Dogs (2021-2023)
Rutherford Falls (2021-2022)
Dark Winds (2022-present)
The English (2022 mini-series)
Echo (2024 mini-series)

James holds a BA in American Studies from the University of Derby and an MA in American Studies from the University of East Anglia. He completed the first year of his PhD at the University of Kent before transferring to the University of York in September 2023.

James is also a journalist and regular contributor to the student newspaper - Nouse. He writes about film, television, music, and popular culture.