Jennifer Alpert
We're excited to welcome Jennifer Alpert this fall as our new Assistant Professor of Film. Read on for Jennifer's take on the questions we pose to all new faculty, from her interest in social justice through cinema to her love for rom-coms.
Looking back on your campus visit, is there a moment that stands out to you? An interaction or an impression that made you think that you could really be happy here?
Yes! What I remember most was not a moment but a feeling, mainly an overwhelmingly welcoming one: from receiving emails wishing me safe travels before my flight to Corvallis to amazing company during meals, everyone seemed genuinely excited and invested in being great host. I got to meet incredible colleagues and students and every conversation, whether it was 15 minutes or an hour, flew by. And I got to ride in a fancy golf cart. Even after a long day on interviews, I did not want my visit to end!
What are you looking forward to about joining our faculty?
I feel so fortunate to be joining a faculty invested in how language and signification become means for storytelling, communication and belonging. This aim closely aligns with my own work's goals, which centers on how cinema and media represent and address marginalized groups, whether to offer spaces of belonging or to reassert exclusionary structures (or, in many instances, a combination of both). My training is in film and media, which is very interdisciplinary, so I am particularily excited to be in a community with scholars and students that comes from different fields. I became infatuated withe literature before I discovered film, so joining SWLF feels likes coming home.
Can you share a few films that you love, that you would happily re-watch every year, that helped shaped your love of cinema?
I'm glad you asked me to share a few, I can never choose just one! One of my favorite films is Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo: every shot is beautiful, it always keeps me in the edge of my seat, the fashion is fantastic, takes place in stunning San Francisco, and no matter how many times I watch it, I discover something new . I am a big fan of rom-coms and will never tire of watching You've Got Mail, it is comforting. Every year around the holidays, I watch a double feature of While You Were Sleeping (Sandra Bullock is incredible in it) and The mirror Has Two Faces (Barbara Streisand and Jeff Bridges as professors, need I say more? ). A flm that deeply shaped my love of cinema is El Mismo Amor, La Misma Lluvia (Same Love, Same Rain), which chronicled a romance against the backdrop of political transformation in Argentina, where I was born and raised. The Bridges of Madison County never fails to make me cry. I'm obsessed with Tod Browning's Dracula and Universal monster films of the 1930's as well as with the entire Toy Story franchise (I worked at Pixar, so I may be just a little biased). I also watch a lot (and I mean a lot) of TV and streaming, from telenovelas to sitcoms to judicial dramas. Among the best series I watched in the last decade is El Eternauta (The Eternaut), a Netflix adaptation of the famous science fiction comic. Right now, I am really enjoying Hacks, The Lincoln Laywer, Envidiosa (Envious), Plapito (The Marked Heart) and lots and lots of reality television.
What is the pleasure of your research for you? Where might your research take you in the years ahead?
Research is like solving a puzzle. What I love most is looking for clues, putting all the evidence together, and engaging in dialogue with sources and colleagues, on the page or over coffee. For me, research is a deeply social practice that allows us to not only create different forms of knowledge but also understand our societies and encourage conversation, especially through the study of popular culture. By uncovering histories and voices that have been silenced as well as methods that can bring these to light, we can disarm existing structure of power, change representational practices, and create a more just, more equal world. As a Latin American women, this is really personal to me. I investigate how cinema can act as a form of resistance against tyranny and oppression and empower social justices. So far, my focus has been fiction film and human rights in Argentina and Chile, though I just wrote a piece about documentary, immigration, and the U.S. border. i have also begun projects on marginalization in Disney, Pedro Pacal's Latin stardom, and Jewish representation in Latin America cinema, so that is where my research is going in the near future.
What could a dream teaching day look like for you? What might students have watched or read? How might they engage with it and you in class?
For me, learning happens both inside and outside the classroom, so any day I get to be in community with students and colleagues is a dream teaching day! In the context of a class though, a great day is when students have strong reactions to a film or reading and there are a variety of perspectives and lively, collegial conversation. I have found that Disney films, superhero movies, Tiktok videos, and reality TV reliably elicit this kind of response. In any given class, we might close read clips, have a debate, and do a form of creative work. For example, during a Latin American popular culture class I recently taught, as part of our discussion of reggaeton music, students created and performed their own songs while their peers cheered each group on. I am also grateful when I get to introduce students to a transformative movie for the first time, it helps me recapture my own sense of wonder and there is no greater joy than to see their reactions. Studying film and pop culture is hard work, but it is incredibly fun. Teaching film and media is my dream job, and despite having a decade of experience, I still can't believe I get to do this for a living!