G. Vaughn Joy is a film historian, writer, podcast host, and PhD candidate at UCL.
Research Overview
Vaughn’s research interests lie in entertainment and social histories, particularly in the post-war period in the United States. For her PhD research project, Vaughn is exploring the extent to which the US government’s involvement in the motion picture industry impacted the cultural outputs of the early Cold War. To analyse this impact, Vaughn is presenting a case study on Christmas films from 1946 to 1961, including titles such as It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), White Christmas (1954), and Babes in Toyland (1961). By exploring the changing cinematic representations of Americans and their traditions during the Christmas season, the thesis argues that these sentimental films, and other innocuous media of the like, are not simply feel-good media, but rather provide social and political commentaries on the world around them, as well as offer a distinct lens to analyse such themes as commercialism and social ills.
Before pursuing a research degree at UCL, Vaughn completed an MA in History also at UCL and an MPhil in Classics at Trinity College Dublin with dissertation titles “Venus in Manhattan: A Study of Gender Relations in Post-WWII New York” and “Reproductive Demonesses: Mental Escapism from Reproductive Failures in the Ancient World,” respectively.
Working title: A Cold War Christmas: Political and Cultural Perceptions in Hollywood's America, 1946-1961
Expected completion date: Christmas 2023
Impressions of America - Exploring American politics, culture, and media from the post-war period to today
Joy of Star Wars - Marrying American history and thematic analyses of Star Wars media
Coming Soon! Hollywood in Focus - Presenting micro-histories of Hollywood’s illustrious history
Podcasting
Publications and Web Articles
Review Roulette - A Substack newsletter designed to increase media literacy by spinning a roulette wheel of theoretical approaches to film criticism and showing how to apply them 20th century Hollywood films via a spoiler-free review
“The WGA Strike is Part of a Recurring Pattern When Technology Changes.” Made by History - The Washington Post, May 2023.
“The Retail World at the Heart of Miracle on 34th Street No Longer Exists.” Made by History – The Washington Post, December 2022.
“Monopolywood: Why the Paramount Accords Should Not Be Repealed.” Red Pepper Magazine, December 2022.
“The Paramount Decrees and the Deregulation of Hollywood Studios.” ProMarket – University of Chicago School of Business, December 2022.
“Christmas Films as Reflections of American History, Part III: Perfecting the Paradigm from the 1990s to the Present.” Clio and the Contemporary, December 2021.
“Christmas Films as Reflections of American History, Part II: Stop-Motion, Action, and Horror in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.” Clio and the Contemporary, December 2021.
“Christmas Films as Reflections of American History, Part I: Dickens, Romance, and the US Military in the 1940s and 50s.” Clio and the Contemporary, December 2021.
“Selling Santa: How Miracle on 34th Street Stole (And Rebranded) Christmas.” Comparative American Studies An International Journal, October 2023.
“Jokes and Mirrors: Using Cartoons as Primary Sources for Historical Research.” Adam Matthew Digital, SAGE Research Methods, December 2021.
Invited Talks and Conferences
Panel Chair - ‘But your kids are gonna love it’: Nostalgic Extremism in Depictions of the 1950s
Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA, March 2024
Sexual Acts of Resistance: Euphemism and Subversion in Hollywood Cinema Under the Hays Code
Northeast Modern Language Association, Boston, MA, March 2024
Bird’s Eye View: The Ecological Queering and Eroticisation of the Holy Trinity in O Ornitólogo (2016)
BSLS Winter Symposium ‘Imagining Queer Ecologies’, Oxford University, December 2023
Guest Lecture - Introduction to Film Theory, Analysis, and Hollywood History
University of Texas at Austin, introductory lecture for interdisciplinary engineering class, August 2023
Heart-Shaped Hot Tubs and Coin-Operated Beds: Hollywood’s Honeymoon Destination, 1940-1980
Northeast Modern Language Association, Niagara Falls, NY, March 2023.
Capra-Vision: The Cinematography and Authorial Gaze of Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Experiencing Visual Images, University College London, November 2022.
‘Satisfying Fundamental Urges’: Competing Small-Town Philosophies in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Convention, Baltimore, MD, March 2022.
Dressing Up New York: Meeting Cosmopolitan Standards in Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
Cosmopolitan Aspirations in English-Speaking Cinema and Television, SERCIA, Universidad de Zaragoza, September 2021.
‘You'll Be Living Rent Free’: Disney's Villainous Marriage Proposal in Babes in Toyland (1961)
Archival Kismet Conference, Mississippi State University, April 2021.
Starry-Eyed Dreamers: Capitalistic Idealism in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Historical Fiction, Fictional History, and Historical Reality International Conference, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, March 2020.
The Common Man’s Capitalist: George Bailey and the Question of Communist Subversion in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Trinity History Con, Trinity College Dublin, November 2019.
Podcast Previews
Vaughn is the researcher and co-host of three podcasts:
Impressions of America, Joy of Star Wars, and the upcoming Hollywood in Focus
She has also guested on several other political, historical, media, Star Wars, and miscellaneous podcasts.