Dr Anthony McKenna
Liverpool Screen School
Faculty of Arts Professional and Social Studies
Email: A.T.McKenna@ljmu.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies
I have published extensively on British, American, and Chinese cinemas, focussing specifically on production, promotion, and paratexts. I am also a director of a production company, Dr Skyfish Films, which has produced two award-winning feature documentaries from Chinese filmmakers: China's van Goghs (Kiki Tianqi Yu and Yu Haibo, 2016), and The Two Lives of Li Ermao (Jia Yuchuan, 2019).
My current research concerns posthumous celebrity, and invesitgates who remains in the public memory after their death, who doesn't, and why. As a lifelong Elvis fan, much of the initial research on this project focusses on the King of Rock 'n Roll. I am currently writing two monographs about Elvis, one entitled King Creole: The Death of Rock 'n Roll in America, and the other entitled The Elvis Industry: Posthumous Celebrity, Public Memory, and Decolonisation.
Degrees
2008, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, PhD
2002, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, MA
Chapters
McKenna A. 2022. China’s van Goghs: Documentary Production, International Taste and Artistic Labour Trifonova T. Screening the Art World Amsterdam University Press
McKenna A. 2018. He Earned Our Forgiveness: William Castle and American Movie Showmanship Leeder M. ReFocus: The Films of William Castle Edinburgh University Press
McKenna A. 2018. 'I smell money!' Class Product, The Graduate, and the Corporatisation of Embassy Tzioumakis Y, Kramer P. The Hollywood Renaissance: Revisiting American Cinema’s Most Celebrated Era Bloomsbury. London
McKenna AT, Yu KT. 2016. Internationalising Memory: Traumatic Histories and the PRC's Quest to Win an Oscar Willis A, Chan F. Chinese Cinemas: International Perspectives Routledge
McKenna A. 2014. Beyond National Humiliation: Han Sanping and China’s Post-Olympics Historical Event Blockbusters McKenna A, Spicer A, Meir C. Bloomsbury. London
McKenna A. Screening the Others of Nanjing Lili H. China and The West: Encounters with The Other in Culture, Arts, Politics and Everyday Life Cambridge Scholars Press
Books (authored)
McKenna AT. 2016. Showman of the Screen Joseph E. Levine and His Revolutions in Film Promotion University Press of Kentucky 9780813168722
Spicer A, McKenna A, Meir C. 2014. Beyond the Bottom Line The Producer in Film and Television Studies Bloomsbury Publishing USA 9781441162885
Spicer A, McKenna AT, McKenna AT. 2013. The Man Who Got Carter Michael Klinger, Independent Production and the British Film Industry, 1960-1980 Bloomsbury Publishing 9780857734532
Journal article
McKenna A. Guilty By Association: Joe Levine, European Cinema and the Culture Clash of Le Mepris Scope: an on-line journal of film studies,
McKenna AT. Harlow's Bridle, or How Avoiding Sex and Engaging the Competition Can Lead to Failure Journal of Popular Film and Television, 38 :34-43 DOI Publisher Url
McKenna AT. Joseph E. Levine andA Bridge Too Far(1977): A Producer's Labour of Love Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 31 :211-227 DOI Publisher Url
McKenna AT. The Producer as Enabler: Interview with David Sproxton Journal of British Cinema and Television, 9 :122-132 DOI Publisher Url
McKenna AT. Gaps and Gold in the Klinger Archive Journal of British Cinema and Television, 9 :111-121 DOI Publisher Url
McKenna AT. Who Would Go to The Butterfly Ball? Prog, Punk and Packaging Journal of British Cinema and Television, 9 :230-246 DOI Publisher Url
McKenna AT. Independent Production and Industrial Tactics in Britain: Michael Klinger andBaby Love Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 32 :611-631 DOI Publisher Url
McKenna AT. "Anybody with a buck": Terry Turner and the Ecosystems of Film Promotion, 1920–1960 JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 60 :49-69 DOI Publisher Url