Ruth Deller – Sheffield-based Media academic

Kylie Symposium – November 2019

In November 2019, I was the keynote speaker at Kylie: The Symposium, a two-day international conference, held at Maynooth University (Ireland), dedicated to all things Minogue (or ‘the actual Kylie’ as my students once termed her). Talks across the conference covered analyses of Kylie’s image and branding; her music; her...

My Reality TV book is out now!

My new book, Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World is out now! You can order it via my publisher, Emerald Press or at Amazon right now. Here’s the blurb: ‘Reality television is one of the defining genres of the 21st century. It is shown worldwide, features people...

Radio round-up

A round-up of my Radio Sheffield April appearances. If I remember, I’ll try and do this more often, but don’t hold me to it! This month in our regular TV slot on 17 April (appx 1h in), Paulette Edwards and I discussed Game of Thrones s8, Trust Me s2, Line...

My Reality TV book is out now!

By admin September 3, 2019 January 7, 2020 Research

My new book, Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon That Changed the World is out now! You can order it via my publisher, Emerald Press or at Amazon right now.

Here’s the blurb:

‘Reality television is one of the defining genres of the 21st century. It is shown worldwide, features people from all walks of life and covers everything from romance to religion. It has not only changed television, but every other area of the media. So why has reality TV become such a huge phenomenon, and what is its future in an age of streaming and social media? This book provides an overview of key theories and debates in the study of reality television and discusses industry practices in their global and national contexts. Deller also explores, through interviews with participants and analyses of key programmes, why people take part in reality TV, how they are represented, and the impact this has on their lives. From its documentary roots to its social media present and future – this is a guide to Reality Television: The TV Phenomenon that Changed the World.’

The book is aimed at a broad audience, not just academics, but anyone with an interest in the genre – it extends existing discussions and analyses of RTV to bring in recent examples like Love Island, and the Queer Eye reboot, as well as looking at the impacts of streaming and social media on the genre.

Chapter list below – more info to come!

Chapter 1. Understanding Reality TV Chapter 2. How Reality TV Changed the World Chapter 3. The Business of Reality TV Chapter 4. What Happens in Reality TV? Chapter 5. Reality TV and Celebrity Chapter 6. Reality TV in an Age of Social Media

Kylie Symposium – November 2019

By admin January 7, 2020 January 7, 2020 Events, Research, Uncategorized

Talks across the conference covered analyses of Kylie’s image and branding; her music; her status as a cancer survivor; different phases of her career; her ageing and more. Not only was it an interdisciplinary conference, it also attracted some Kylie fans and industry professionals, and was great fun with some really interesting papers.

My own talk, ‘The Golden Girl-Next-Door: Transmedia celebrations of Kylie’s 50th birthday’ looked at the way her 50^th birthday celebration (at the centre of which was the launch of Golden) became an event that played out across a wide range of media interviews and retrospectives spanning numerous magazines, newspapers, TV and radio shows as well as online articles and social media.

I looked at it in relation to both other media anniversaries (e.g. Doctor Who and Coronation Street’s 50^th, Neighbours’ 30^th) and media representations of other established stars (e.g. Madonna, Dannii, Jennifer Aniston), as well as exploring aspects of Kylie’s enduring ‘star image’ and brand.

I think there is likely to be a special issue or similar coming out from the conference and hopefully I’ll have something written to share in the near future, but in the meantime, my slides will be available from my Academia page.

Radio round-up

By admin April 17, 2019 April 17, 2019 Media

A round-up of my Radio Sheffield April appearances. If I remember, I’ll try and do this more often, but don’t hold me to it!

This month in our regular TV slot on 17 April (appx 1h in), Paulette Edwards and I discussed Game of Thrones s8, Trust Me s2, Line of Duty s5, Glow Up, The Victim, Back to Life and more. Join us on May 14 at 11am for our next catch-up. In our film slot on 3 April (appx 1h in) we discussed films including Captain Marvel, Pet Sematary, Shazam!, Fisherman’s Friends, and What Men Want. Join us again at 11am on 3 May when we’ll be discussing Avengers: Endgame amongst the rest of the new releases.

I road-tested the new Screen-X facility at Cineworld Sheffield for Howie Pressman on 5 April (appx 40 mins in). Spoiler alert: it’s better than 4DX (bleeee) but I won’t be rushing out to see more films in that format. And Rony Robinson and I discussed the Fleabag finale on April 10.

PhD funding opportunities at SHU!

By admin April 17, 2019 April 17, 2019 Teaching

We currently have funded PhD opportunities at Sheffield Hallam and are looking for applicants! Places are available across the majority of disciplines, but we’re also keen for people to apply in media, communication and related areas. The deadline is 29 April. Two of my current PhD students were recruited through this scheme and across the university there have been several places awarded in the last few years. I’m personally interested in supervising projects relating to media representation, television, social media, celebrity, religion or gender but between the team we cover most areas so do have a look at our application guidelines at the links provided and get in touch if you have queries!

I’ve also been part of the team developing a new MA in Global Media and Communication, which we launch in September. This course is especially aimed at people who want to go into research-related careers and we’re excited to add it to our existing portfolio of courses – more details to come, but we have an open evening on Wed 22 May for all PG courses at SHU if you want to know more.

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2018 update

By admin April 18, 2018 April 18, 2018 Media, Research

Apologies for the super-long radio silence! Since I injured my arms and had to start using voice software for everything, blogging and Twitter kind of slip down the priority list.

Anyway-a quick update for you on where I’m at with work and research activities. Last year I was made a Reader in Media and Communication here at SHU, in a sideways move from my previous role as a programme leader. Currently, my main activities in this role (other than my own research and sitting on the research centre’s standing committee) are work in ethics reviewing and continue presence on the ethics committee as well as involvement with a range of activities relating to research students. Teaching-wise, I remain as module leader for undergraduate modules in media audiences (level 4), media, identities and representations (level 5) and celebrity culture (level 5/6).

Media-wise, I’m now a regular contributor to BBC Radio Sheffield on matters relating to media and film – I’m in there approximately once a month and it’s a lot of fun working with the team. My next appearance is on the lovely Paulette Edwards’ show on Fri April 27, around midday, should you want to tune in! I’m still a theatre critic over at Broadway World, and I also recently did some filming for a Duran Duran fan documentary, details TBC, but the filmmakers asked me some of the most interesting and tricky questions I’ve ever had an interview!

Lucy Bennett and I will be in conversation next week on Henry Jenkins’ blog as part of a series of reflections from scholars around the world on the state of fan studies. I will try to put something more up about this next week. It’s been really exciting to be involved in and Lucy and I had some really interesting exchanges back and forth so I hope it’s an interesting read for you. I’ve certainly been enjoying reading all the other contributions so far.

I also have several chapters about to be published imminently. I have a chapter on ethics in fan studies In Paul Booth’s edited collection A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies (Wiley). Along with Stuart Bell, I have a chapter on the EastEnders 30th anniversary events in Everybody Hurts: Endings, Transitions and Resurrections in Fandom, edited by Rebecca Williams (University of Iowa press) and one on ‘safer spaces’ in the Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics (edited by Uri Gordon and Ruth Kinna). Conference-wise, my next date is Celebrity Studies in Rome in June, where I’ll be presenting on ‘clergy as celebrity’, looking at the likes of Richard Coles and Kate Bottley as well as other crossovers between the worlds of religious leadership and celebrity.

I also have some work on YouTube celebrity with Kathryn Murphy that is currently in the process of submissions and reviews, so watch this space for details, and a few more things in progress on topics including gender and fan studies, religion and television, reality television and soap opera.

I’ve also gone on a mad updating spree, so you can download papers and presentations at Academia.edu and ResearchGate!

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Research update

By admin July 22, 2016 July 22, 2016 Research

Seeing Fans, edited by Lucy Bennett and Paul Booth, is available now from Bloomsbury Academic (at extortionate monies, so beg your library). I have a chapter in this collection looking at the representation of mature female fans of male singers (e.g. Rod Stuart, Daniel O’Donnell) are betrayed in local and national newspapers. The collection itself is great-a real mixture of academic and industry insights into how fans are portrayed in different contexts.

A few weeks ago, I presented a paper at the celebrity studies conference in Amsterdam, written with Kathryn Murphy, one of my research students. In this paper we looked at newspaper representations of YouTube star Zoella. You can access the slides here. We are also presenting at the YouTube conference in Middlesex in September looking at how mainstream media are portraying YouTube stars.

I’ve also got an article available in Celebrity Studies on the ‘fame cycle’ and celebrity reality television, and this summer I’m completing work on ethics in fan studies and safe spaces in higher education as well as continuing work on gaming audiences and their relationship to corporations.

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BBC Artsnight

By admin November 18, 2015 November 18, 2015 Media

I was a contributor to last week’s Artsnight on BBC Two. Curated by Clara Amfo, it looked at fame from a variety of angles – managers, fans, artists, journalists – a really interesting programme if you’re interested in celebrity in its various forms, and it was great to be part of it. (Plus special thanks to the two SHU students who patiently let us eat up a few minutes of the time they had booked in the library while we finished if you’re reading!) It’s available here for another 3-and-a-bit weeks if you want to catch it.

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More fan-studies things on the way

By admin November 5, 2015 November 5, 2015 Research

It has been a long time since I updated, and with good reason – I have two injured arms (ask me if you see me and I’ll tell you the story although most people I know have heard it many times by now!) and this has been limiting my ability to type, use computers, read etc somewhat. Perfect for an academic, right? Anyway, I will be adding my thoughts on IR16 which was in Phoenix just over a week ago, where I was part of a team involved in a whole stream of stuff on social justice – in broad terms – but I’ll tell you all about that soon.

Just adding an update because I discovered there’s been some Tumblr sharing of some stuff I said in an interview a couple of years ago about 1D fans – and young female fans in general – and it’s nice to see fans finding out that there are people – including the journalist who wrote the article – who are supportive of them and understand them when they feel they’re getting kicked. So if any of you are reading this, hello! The picture on this post is of my nails because nail polish is one of the things I’m a massive fan of myself (in the spirit of fan solidarity and all that) and I’m too tired to find anything else!

And for those interested in my fan studies stuff, I just recorded another TV interview about fans of (female) celebrities. I hope the edit is sensitive – I know there was one part where they were trying to look at the ‘darker’ side of fandom and my point was that collective action, whether for ‘good’ or ‘ill’ is not something that fans or the internet invented and so we can’t look to them as scapegoats for the nastier sides of human nature… anyway, if it doesn’t end up coming across that way… Trust me, I wasn’t cynical about fans – or even about celebrities – so we’ll see what makes the cut. I’ll alert people when it’s coming out, fortunately it’s for something pretty niche rather than a ‘tabloid’ type show, and the production team were lovely and seem to be on the same wavelength, so fingers crossed!

In terms of publications, I have a chapter on how the news media represents mature female fans of male singers coming up in Lucy Bennett and Paul Booth’s new edited book on Seeing Fans, of which, details to come. Am finishing up a few things on fans and anniversaries that I can’t say too much on right now, still slowly working on stuff on gaming fans and game companies that has gone beyond just The Sims series, although that’s still a core component. And no, the hashtag that will not be named is nothing to do with it thankfully…

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New issue of the International Journal of Cultural Studies

By admin May 1, 2015 May 1, 2015 Research

The current issue of the International Journal of Cultural Studies (May 2015: 18 (3)) is the one that Feona Attwood and I guest-edited on Moments of Transformation – it’s been available for a while via OnlineFirst but now it’s out ‘for real’. The collection comprises a range of short and long pieces on different ways of thinking about aspects of makeover and transformation, from the changing taglines of social media sites to the use of YouTube by trans* vloggers.

My own paper looks at the trend of the mid-late 00s and early 10s to combine reality TV makeover formats and religious/spiritual programming – the likes of The Monastery, Make Me a Muslim etc.

Contributors include the likes of Matt Hills, Tania Lewis, Meredith Jones and Jean Burgess and we think it’s a nice mixture of topics and approaches. Sadly it’s not open access but hopefully you can find ways and means… 😉