William Proctor

Dr William Proctor

  • 65092 / 07826370625
  • bproctor at bournemouth dot ac dot uk
  • Associate Professor in Popular Culture
  • Weymouth House W334, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
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Biography

William Proctor is Associate Professor in Popular Culture at Bournemouth University where he primarily teaches on BA English and BA Communication and Media degrees. Before joining Bournemouth University in 2014, William worked as a visiting lecturer at the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland which is also where he completed his PhD thesis.

Research

Dr. William Proctor is currently writing a single-authored monograph, 'Reboot Culture: Comics, Film, Transmedia', for Palgrave Macmillan (forthcoming). His research interests include transmedia storytelling, adaptation, reboots, franchising and audiences. William is also co-editor on the edited collections, 'Transmedia Earth: Global Convergence Cultures' (with Matthew Freeman, Routledge 2018); 'Disney's Star Wars: Forces of Production, Promotion and Reception' (with Richard McCulloch, University of Iowa Press, 2019); Horror Franchise Cinema (with Mark McKenna 2021); and The Scandinavian Invasion: Nordic Noir and Beyond with Richard McCulloch (Peter Lang 2022); as well as edited themed-sections of 'Participations: International Journal of Audience and Reception Studies' on 'audiences and worldbuilding' (with Richard McCulloch, 2016) and 'toxic fan practices' (with Bridget Kies, 2018). He has published on a variety of topics related to popular culture.

Journal Articles

  • Proctor, W. and Kies, B., 2018. On Toxic Fan Practices and the New Culture Wars. Participations, 15 (1), 127-142.
  • Proctor, W., 2018. ‘I’ve seen a lot of talk about the #blackstormtrooper outrage, but not a single example of anyone complaining’: The Force Awakens, canonical fidelity and non-toxic fan practices. Participations: International Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 15 (1).
  • Proctor, W., 2017. Bitches ain't gonna hunt no ghosts": Totemic nostalgia, toxic fandom and the ghostbusters platonic. Palabra Clave, 20 (4), 1105-1141.
  • Proctor, W., 2016. Book Review: Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond. CINEMA JOURNAL, 55 (1), 176-180.
  • Proctor, W., 2014. Avengers Assembled: The Marvel Transmedia Universe. Scope: an on-line journal of film studies, 26 (February 2014).
  • Proctor, W., 2013. '"Holy Crap! More Star Wars? More Star Wars? What if They're Crap?" Disney, Lucasfilm and Online Star Wars Fandom in the 21st Century'. Participations: journal of audience and reception studies, 10 (1), 198-224.
  • Proctor, W., 2012. Beginning Again: The Reboot Phenomenon in Comics and Film. Scan: Journal of Media Arts Culture, 9 (1).
  • Proctor, W., 2012. Regeneration and Rebirth: Anatomy of the Franchise Reboot. Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies, Feb. 2012 (22).

Books

Chapters

  • McCulloch, R. and Proctor, W., 2022. Foreign currency? Branding and rebranding Nordic Noir television in the UK. The Scandinavian Invasion: Nordic Noir and Beyond. 35-67.
  • Proctor, W., 2022. STAR TREK (2009). The Routledge Handbook of Star Trek. 143-147.
  • Proctor, W. and McKenna, M., 2021. The Death and Resurrection Show: Horror Franchise Cinema and the Romanticization of Cult. Horror Franchise Cinema. Routledge.
  • Proctor, W., 2021. Building Imaginary Horror Worlds: Transfictional Storytelling and the Universal Monster Franchise Cycle. In: McKenna, M., ed. Horror Franchise Cinema. London: Routledge.
  • Proctor, W., 2021. The Dark Age Rises: Superheroes in the 1980s. In: Hassler-Forest, D., Domsch, S. and Vanderbeke, D., eds. Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives. Berlin, Germany: de Gruyter.
  • Proctor, W., 2021. Superheroes: The Dark Age: Superheroes in the 1980s. Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 343-358.
  • Proctor, W., 2021. Superheroes: The Dark Age: Superheroes in the 1980s. Handbook of Comics and Graphic Narratives. 343-358.
  • Proctor, W., 2020. The fault in our star trek: (Dis)continuity mapping, textual conservationism, and the perils of prequelization. Exploring Imaginary Worlds: Essays on Media, Structure, and Subcreation. 206-224.
  • Proctor, W., 2020. A Dark Knight on Elm Street: Discursive Regimes of (Sub) Cultural Value, Paratextual Bonding, and the Perils of Remaking and Rebooting Canonical Horror Cinema. In: Herbert, D. and Verevis, C., eds. Film Reboots. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press.
  • Proctor, W., 2020. Rebel Yell: The Metapolitics of Equality and Diversity in Disney's Star Wars. In: Jenkins, H., Peters-Lazaro, G. and Shresthova, S., eds. Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: A Casebook. New York: New York University Press.
  • Proctor, W., 2019. Transmedia storytelling: Hyperdiegesis, narrative braiding, and memory in star wars comics. More Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods. 206-220.
  • Proctor, W., 2019. A New Hate? The War for Disney's Star Wars. In: McCulloch, R., ed. Disney's Star Wars: Forces of Production, Promotion and Reception. Iowa City: University of Iowa, 301-323.
  • Proctor, W., 2019. Fear of a #BlackStormtrooper: Hashtag Publics, Canonical Fidelity, and the Star Wars Platonic. In: McCulloch, R., ed. Disney's Star Wars: Forces of Production, Promotion and Reception. Iowa City: University of Iowa, 237-254.
  • Proctor, W. and McCulloch, R., 2019. Introduction: From the House that George Built to the House of Mouse. Disney's Star Wars: Forces of Production, Promotion and Reception. Iowa City: University of Iowa.
  • Proctor, W., 2018. Transmedia Comics: Seriality, Sequentiality and the Shifting Economies of Franchise Licensing. In: Freeman, M. and Gambarato, R.R., eds. The Routledge Companion to Transmedia Studies. London, New York: Routledge.
  • Freeman, M. and Proctor, W., 2018. Introduction: Conceptualizing national and cultural transmediality. 1-16.
  • Proctor, W., 2018. United States: Trans-worldbuilding in the Stephen King Multiverse. Global Convergence Cultures: Transmedia Earth. 101-120.
  • Freeman, M. and Proctor, W., 2018. Conceptualizing national and cultural transmediality. Global Convergence Cultures: Transmedia Earth. 1-16.
  • Proctor, W. and Freeman, M., 2017. Up All Night: Home Media Formats in the Age of Transmedia Storytelling. In: Wroot, J. and Willis, A., eds. DVD, Blu-ray and beyond: navigating formats and platforms within media consumption. Springer, Cham. Springer, 159-176.
  • Proctor, W., 2017. Retroactive Continuity and Reboots. In: Wolf, M.J.P., ed. The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. London: Routledge.
  • Proctor, W., 2017. Schrödinger’s Cape: The Quantum Seriality of the Marvel Multiverse. In: Yockey, M., ed. University of Texas Press.
  • Proctor, W., 2017. 'On Martin Barker'. In: Smith, M.J. and Duncan, R., eds. The Secret Origins of Comics Studies. New York: Routledge.
  • Proctor, W., 2017. CANONICITY. The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. 236-245.
  • Freeman, M. and Proctor, W., 2017. Up all night: The shifting roles of home media formats as transmedia storytelling. DVD, Blu-Ray and Beyond: Navigating Formats and Platforms within Media Consumption. 159-176.
  • Proctor, W., 2017. Reboots and Retroactive Continuity. The Routledge Companion to Imaginary Worlds. 224-235.
  • Proctor, W., 2016. A New Breed of Fan? Regimes of Truth, One Direction Fans and Representations of Enfreakment. In: Bennett, L. and Booth, P., eds. Seeing Fans: Representations of Fandom in Media and Popular Culture. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  • Proctor, W. and Freeman, M., 2016. ‘THE FIRST STEP INTO A SMALLER WORLD’: The Transmedia Economy of Star Wars. Revisiting Imaginary Worlds: A Subcreation Studies Anthology. 221-243.
  • Proctor, W., 2015. The Many Lives of 007: Negotiating Continuity in the James Bond Film Series. Fan Phenomena: James Bond. Bristol, UK: Intellect.
  • Proctor, W., 2014. Interrogating the Walking Dead: Adaptation, Transmediality and the Zombie Matrix. Remake TV: Reboot, Reuse, Recycle. Maryland: Lexington Books.
  • Proctor, W., 2013. The Dark Knight Triumphant: Fandom, Hegemony and the Rebirth of Batman on Film. Fan Phenomena: Batman. Chicago: Intellect.
  • Proctor, W., 2013. Scott Snyder: Nowy Architekt Miasta Gotham (Scott Snyder: Gotham City's New Architect), Published in Polish. ZK: Zeszyty Komiksowe, no. 15, 2013. Poland: Zeszyty Komiksowe.

Internet Publications

Theses

  • Proctor, W., 2015. Beginning Again: The Reboot Phenomenon in Comic Books, Film and Beyond. PhD Thesis. University of Sunderland, Centre for Research in Media & Cultural Studies (CRMCS).

PhD Students

  • Michael Gaines. ‘God of Mischief: An investigation into the adaptation and appropriation of ‘Loki’ within narrative media.’, (In progress)
  • Ming Zhang, 2022. Negotiating Gender and Sexuality Slash Fan Fiction in China, (Completed)
  • Ming Zhang. Fan Fiction in China

Profile of Teaching UG

  • Adaptation
  • Popular Texts and Intertexts
  • Dissertation
  • Narrative Structures
  • New Media Narratives

Grants

  • Fan Studies Network (AHRC, 07 Aug 2015). In Progress
  • Transmedia Earth (AHRC, 02 Jul 2015). In Progress

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • BU Comics and Cinema

Conference Presentations

  • Bath Spa University Seminar Series (Invited Speaker), The Force Re-Awakens: Star Wars Audiences and the Expanded Universe Movement, 24 Feb 2016, Bath Spa University, Media Futures Research Centre
  • Fantasy/ Animation, Animating the Force: Star Wars Films, Comics and TV, 04 Sep 2015, King's College, London
  • Fan Studies Network Conference, ' "Hey, maybe DC will replace Bruce Wayne with a rich Mexican guy named El Bruche' de'Wan'ye?": Online Fan Discourses of Racism, Misogyny and 'The Toxic Disinhibition Effect"', 26 Jun 2015, UEA (University of East Anglia)
  • MeCCSA 2014, Exploiting & Marketing Fantasy: Towards a Theory of Literary Cycles, 07 Jan 2015, Northumbria University, Newcastle
  • Fan Studies Network, 'A Million Voices Cried Out in Terror': Star Wars Fandom and the Destruction of the Expanded Universe, 27 Sep 2014, London Regent's College
  • Fan Studies Network, Time's Arrow: Continuity, Canon and Fanon, 30 Nov 2013, University of East Englia
  • Adventures in Textuality: Adaptation Studies in the 21st Century, Beginning Again: Tracking the Reboot Signifier in Popular Culture, 03 Apr 2013, Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, Sunderland
  • Marxism Matters, Marx at the Multiplex: Batman, Bond and the Dialectic of Entertainment, 17 Apr 2012, Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland
  • NERFS, Film Reboots: Comics, Continuity & Canon, 28 Jun 2011, University of Sunderland
  • MeCCSA 2011, Regeneration and Rebirth: Exploring the Film Reboot Phenomenon, 12 Jan 2011, University of Salford, Manchester
  • NERFS, Regeneration and Rebirth: Exploring the Film Reboot Phenomenon, 15 Jun 2010, Northumbria University, Newcastle
  • Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies (CRMCS) University of Sunderland Seminar Series (Invited Speaker), From Remakes to Reboots: The Dialectics of 21st Century Franchise Cinema, 22 Feb 2010, Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies (CRMCS) University of Sunderland

Qualifications

  • PhD in The reboot phenomenon in comic books and film (University of Sunderland, 2015)
  • BA (Hons) in Film and Media (University of Sunderland, 2010)

Memberships

  • Fan Studies Network, Member (2013-),

Networks

  • Critical Studies in Television Online

External Media and Press