Congratulations, Alison McKee!

Dr. McKee has been awarded a sabbatical for Fall 2013 in order to finish revising her forthcoming book manuscript for Routledge, tentatively titled The Woman’s Film of the 1940s: Gender, Narrative, and History.

Dr. McKee explains, “I’ve always loved ‘woman’s films’ (or ‘weepies’) from the 1940s, perhaps in part because they reminded me of my mother and the period when she was a young woman.  They’re generally love stories, often unhappy ones, and they deal with issues of gender and romance in really interesting ways.”

Because of her expertise in American film history, theory, criticism, and research, Dr. McKee wrote her doctoral dissertation for UCLA’s Department of Film, Television & Digital Media about the woman’s film.  She says, “There hasn’t been a book on the subject of the 1940s woman’s film in almost ten years. What makes mine different from existing literature is that it takes a historical approach:  I explore the relationship between these films and the larger social and cultural context of World War II, as well as the industrial relationship to the film industry and the Production Code Administration at this time.”

As part of her research, Dr. McKee is conducting research this spring and summer at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science’s Margaret Herrick Library, where the PCA files from 1927-1967 are currently held.

In addition to her book for Routledge, Alison is also writing a work of fiction that she anticipates beginning to pitch to literary agents and editors in 2014.