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David James is a Senior Lecturer and First Year Tutor for the BA (Hons) Film and Media degree.
His research interests include the portrayal of class in British wartime films, British war films of the 1950s, and in British sitcoms of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. He is also interested in (particularly British) Comedy and Light Entertainment and is interested in supervising postgraduate work in these areas.
He was awarded a first class honours degree in Film, Photography ands Graphic Media at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2000 and then. with the help of an AHRC scholarship, completed an MA (with Distinction) in Visual Culture at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2001. He won another full AHRC scholarship to study for a PhD, which was awarded by Manchester Metropolitan University in March 2006 for his thesis on the representation of class in the sitcoms of Perry and Croft.
In conjuction with Dr David Huxley, his current research is based around Music Hall performers and audiences.
F. Goodwins, D. James, D. Kamin (2017). Charlie Chaplin's Red Letter Days: At Work with the Comic Genius. D. James. Rowman & Littlefield.
D. Huxley, D. James (2016). Adventures in comedy research: the British museum and the Mike Craig archive or: confessions of incompetent researchers. Comedy Studies. 7(1), pp.48-52.
D. James (2013). "When I'm trying to be funny I'm all wrong': Chaplin in The Red Letter. EARLY POPULAR VISUAL CULTURE. 11(3), pp.255-272.
D. Huxley, D. James (2013). Untitled. EARLY POPULAR VISUAL CULTURE. 11(3), pp.189-190.
D. Huxley, D. James (2013). Women used to be funny: Music hall and the threat of cinema, 1911-49. EARLY POPULAR VISUAL CULTURE. 11(3), pp.191-204.
D. James (2009). A Critical Analysis of the Portrayal of 'Race' in It Ain't Half Hot Mum. JOURNAL OF BRITISH CINEMA AND TELEVISION. 6(3), pp.370-386.
'Unfunny Jokes and Offensive Language: Gender and Race in Music Hall Performance'
Invited speaker with Dr. David Huxley at 'Transgression, Creativity and The Comedy Business': a Comedy Symposium at the University of Salford which was part of the Salford Comedy Festival in March 2014
So Funny it Hurts - The Fourth International Comedy Conference
I co-organised the Fourth International Comedy Conference with Dr. C.P. Lee and Dr. Andy Willis from Salford University held at Manchester Metropolitan University on June 3-4 2010
Comedy and Conflict : The Fifth International Comedy Conference: in collaboration with Dr CP Lee of Salford University
Comedy is often a bedfellow of conflict, whether in the domestic sphere or on an international stage. Double acts have made their careers through representations of conflict real or imagined. Comedians have used conflict as the basis for performances since comedy began – a pie in the face is as guaranteed a laugh getter as a well timed insult. There would be no Odd Couple without conflict – The War of the Roses used matrimonial conflict as the basis for its discourse and comedy has often flourished in the face of conflict, we need only look at the ‘tiny revolutions’ of gags that were told during the days of Soviet occupation in Eastern Europe
Drawing The Line: The Sixth International Comedy Conference in collaboration with CP Lee of Salford University
The University of Salford’s 6th International Comedy Conference: Drawing The Line – Comics, Comedy & Comics a collaboration between The University of Salford / Manchester Metropolitan University was held between May 31-June 1 2012 at the Geoffrey Manton Building, MMU. Topics this year included: Cartoonist Vicky, Issues around Standup, The Golden Girls, Humour and Alan Moore, Influence of Comics on Spanish Cinema and Australian Silent Comedy.
