Books by Duncan Hubber
In Notes from the Citadel, Duncan Hubber (PhD) explores the philosophical and psychological depth... more In Notes from the Citadel, Duncan Hubber (PhD) explores the philosophical and psychological depths of George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy saga, A Song of Ice and Fire (the basis of the HBO series Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon). The anthology covers a range of topics, from Martin’s postmodern approach to the fantasy genre to the effects of patriarchy, feudalism, and war upon his characters. Hubber’s analysis combines academic scrutiny with a fervent adoration for Martin’s work. While the night may be long and the wait between books grueling, these essays offer a wealth of new insights, granting veteran fans a fresh appreciation and understanding of Martin’s story, characters, and writing.
List of Essays:
— A Shadow on the Wall: Collapsing the Metanarratives of Fantasy Fiction
— Below the Salt: The Meaning of Mealtime in Westeros
— In the End: The Existential Significance of Oldstones
— I Know Who I Am: Selfhood and Slavery in HBO’s Game of Thrones
— A Thousand Faces and None: The Depersonalisation of Arya Stark
— Back in the Old Ways: The Restorative Nostalgia of the Ironborn
— The Acorn is the Oak: The Eternalist Philosophy of the Three-Eyed Crow
— Sympathy for the Devil: A Phenomenological Perspective of the Others
— Poisoned Memories: Linking Grief and Addiction in Martin’s Characters
— When Life Gives You Lemon Trees: Evaluating the Conspiracy Mentality of the Ice and Fire Fandom
Drawing together strands of film theory and psychology, this book offers a fresh assessment of th... more Drawing together strands of film theory and psychology, this book offers a fresh assessment of the found footage horror subgenre. It reconceptualizes landmark films--including The Blair Witch Project (1999), Cloverfield (2008), Paranormal Activity (2009), and Man Bites Dog (1992)--as depictions of the lived experience and social legacy of psychological trauma. The author demonstrates how the frantic cinematography and ambiguous formulation of the monster evokes the shocked and disoriented cognition of the traumatized mind. Moreover, the frightening effect of trauma on society is shown to be a recurring theme across the subgenre. Close textual analysis is given to a wide range of films over several decades, including titles that have yet to receive any academic attention. Divided into four distinct sections, the book examines how found footage horror films represent the effects of historical and contemporary traumatic events on Western societies, the vicarious spread of traumatic experiences via mass media, the sublimation of domestic abuse into haunted houses, and the viewer's identification with the monster as an embodiment of perpetrator trauma.
Book Chapters by Duncan Hubber
Horror Comes Home: Essays on Hauntings, Possessions and Other Domestic Terrors in Cinema, 2019
Journal Articles by Duncan Hubber
Academia Letters, 2021
's epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (1996-) is full of powerful, shocking and memorable... more 's epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (1996-) is full of powerful, shocking and memorable moments, from Ned Stark's sentencing, to the Battle of Blackwater, to the Red Wedding. One of the less remarked-upon moments-though in my opinion, equally important-is the sequence in which Robb Stark's army passes through Oldstones on their march to the Twins. While the respective chapter (Catelyn V, A Storm of Swords) is rather light on narrative content, being largely a transition between locations, Martin's environmental descriptions generate a tone of oppressive foreboding and summon up crucial themes of mortality and fate. I can still recall the shiver that went down my spine as I read Lady Catelyn making her way through the castle ruins, autumn rains dripping from its ancient walls, the way its loneliness and decay reflected her own despairing psyche. She turns a corner and finds a crownless Robb, petting his direwolf as he gazes at the crypt of King Tristifer. It is not the legendary Young Wolf that Catelyn finds, but her teenage son taking a few moments for himself. Back in 2013, I had wondered how the producers of the TV show were going to interpret it-I could visualise the mist, the waning light and creeping shadows, hear the soft patter of rain and the swell of violins as mother and son came together. In the end, Oldstones did not actually make the show's cut, but that is all the more reason to revisit it. Throughout the scene, Martin uses the ruins to illustrate how his characters live in the shadows of the past, as well as the difficultly they face in comprehending that past. Oldstones was a once mighty fortress, but over the centuries, it has become overgrown with weeds and gradually dismantled by smallfolk who pilfered its stones for their own houses. Likewise, the carving of its former master's face has been worn smooth by exposure to the elements. King Tristifer's sepulchre is the focus of Robb's contemplation, as though the young king had sought to learn something from this old king. Yet the face is barely distinguishable from the
Frames Cinema Journal, 2017
Found-footage horror films express a morbid fascination with the past, often depicting geographic... more Found-footage horror films express a morbid fascination with the past, often depicting geographical ventures into sites of historical discord. The earliest instances of the subgenre, including the notorious video nasty Cannibal Holocaust (Ruggero Deodato, 1980) and the independent phenomenon The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, 1999), consist of ill-fated documentaries in search of mythic beasts or local legends, in which the characters probe forbidding aspects of their national history and national identity. These, and many other found-footage films, visualise the excavation of uncharted, abandoned and concealed spaces, as well as sites of repression and past trauma, through the lens of modern recording technologies.
Tower of the Hand, 2015
Towards the middle of A Dance with Dragons, the fledgling lord commander Jon Snow is recalling th... more Towards the middle of A Dance with Dragons, the fledgling lord commander Jon Snow is recalling the "warmer, simpler days" of his childhood at Winterfell. All too quickly, however, his musings grow painful, as he summons up the awful fates of each of his loved ones, and of the castle itself, now a scorched desolation. "All my memories are poisoned," he concludes bitterly, before returning to his Night's Watch duties. Like the reader, Jon is changed by the atrocities that have befallen the Stark family - Ned's execution, the sacking of Winterfell, the Red Wedding - to the point where it is almost too harrowing to even identify with them anymore. The Starks were not just another family duelling for control of the Iron Throne; they were our heroes, our moral centre, or so we thought, during the days of our own sweet summer childhood. But now, they have become part of the "poisoned memories" which infect so much of this series - the ghosts we had invested in, rooted for, loved... and lost.
Degenerate Magazine, 2014
Selfhood is a central theme in HBO's Game of Thrones, with characters' motivations persistently s... more Selfhood is a central theme in HBO's Game of Thrones, with characters' motivations persistently shaped by interpretations of past events or their status within the multitude of institutions which bind up Westerosi society. One of the perpetual dilemmas throughout the series (for characters and viewers) is figuring out what to believe in: who to kneel to, who to pray to, and whether blood is thicker than oaths.
Degenerate Magazine, 2014
Conference Papers by Duncan Hubber
Popular Culture Association, 2019
Supernatural Studies Symposium, 2019
Federation University Australia – Annual Philosophy Symposium, 2019
Screen Studies Association of Australia and Aoteeara New Zealand, 2018
Film-Philosophy Conference, 2017
Screening Melbourne Symposium, 2017
New Research on Horror, 2016
Federation University Australia – Annual Philosophy Symposium, 2015
Food plays an important role in giving flavour and texture to the world of Westeros. George R. R.... more Food plays an important role in giving flavour and texture to the world of Westeros. George R. R. Martin describes over 160 unique dishes throughout his novels, with roasted boars, lamprey pies, beef-and-barley stews, mashed turnips, dragon peppers, and lemon cakes making such vivid and frequent appearances that they are practically characters in their own right. Many of the story's most memorable sequences play out around lavish feasts, with meals being used to both ground the action within a medieval reality, as well as forecast the tone and symbolism of the narrative.
University Papers (unpublished) by Duncan Hubber
The “cinematic city” is a term coined by geographer David B. Clarke, and it refers to the interse... more The “cinematic city” is a term coined by geographer David B. Clarke, and it refers to the intersection between the city as a sociological entity, and its construction in film. It suggests that urban and cinematic spaces are related, and (as products of modernity) have shaped each other’s meaning and aesthetic throughout the twentieth century. This thesis investigates how the city of Melbourne, Australia has been represented in cinema, and what these representations reflect about its cultural character. The thesis argues that, since the late 1950s, Melbourne has been imagined (and reimagined) as a site of crisis, conflict and alienation, and that filmmakers have conceptualised the city through the lens of dystopia.
The films On the Beach (Kramer 1959) and Mad Max (Miller 1979) depict Melbourne as an unexceptional and geographically marginal city, teetering on the edge of external disaster. Noise (Saville 2007) and Mouth to Mouth (Duigan 1978) focus on the alienation of urban living, with the former depicting the experiences of a policeman operating within the city’s social structure, while the latter depicts homeless youths excluded by it. Head On (Kokkinos 1998) and Romper Stomper (Wright 1992) explore urban identity and ethnic conflict in the western suburbs, representing the viewpoints of a gay Greek-Australian and white neo-Nazi skinheads respectively. The thesis concludes that many filmmakers view Melbourne as a dystopian, if not doomed place, with the contemporary city troubled by conflicting spatial identities, failing multiculturalism, and feelings of isolation amongst its citizens; meanwhile, the future of the city is imagined to be a slow, gradual collapse into oblivion.
Geographer David B. Clarke considers the relationship between urban spaces, urban representations... more Geographer David B. Clarke considers the relationship between urban spaces, urban representations and the cinematic form. He argues that the modern individual has come to conceptualise the cityscape as a screenscape.
One of the major philosophical concerns for modernists was the effects of urbanisation and indust... more One of the major philosophical concerns for modernists was the effects of urbanisation and industrialisation on the mind of the individual. Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin both equate the modern individual with a sense of dislocation and detachment, as though some vital part of our selfhood and creative potential has been severed by modernisation. They reveal in their work a tendency to romanticise pre-modern society, referencing the greater cohesion of rural communities and the “aura” present in singular artworks, now dissolved by big city anonymity and mechanical reproduction.
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Books by Duncan Hubber
List of Essays:
— A Shadow on the Wall: Collapsing the Metanarratives of Fantasy Fiction
— Below the Salt: The Meaning of Mealtime in Westeros
— In the End: The Existential Significance of Oldstones
— I Know Who I Am: Selfhood and Slavery in HBO’s Game of Thrones
— A Thousand Faces and None: The Depersonalisation of Arya Stark
— Back in the Old Ways: The Restorative Nostalgia of the Ironborn
— The Acorn is the Oak: The Eternalist Philosophy of the Three-Eyed Crow
— Sympathy for the Devil: A Phenomenological Perspective of the Others
— Poisoned Memories: Linking Grief and Addiction in Martin’s Characters
— When Life Gives You Lemon Trees: Evaluating the Conspiracy Mentality of the Ice and Fire Fandom
Book Chapters by Duncan Hubber
Journal Articles by Duncan Hubber
Conference Papers by Duncan Hubber
University Papers (unpublished) by Duncan Hubber
The films On the Beach (Kramer 1959) and Mad Max (Miller 1979) depict Melbourne as an unexceptional and geographically marginal city, teetering on the edge of external disaster. Noise (Saville 2007) and Mouth to Mouth (Duigan 1978) focus on the alienation of urban living, with the former depicting the experiences of a policeman operating within the city’s social structure, while the latter depicts homeless youths excluded by it. Head On (Kokkinos 1998) and Romper Stomper (Wright 1992) explore urban identity and ethnic conflict in the western suburbs, representing the viewpoints of a gay Greek-Australian and white neo-Nazi skinheads respectively. The thesis concludes that many filmmakers view Melbourne as a dystopian, if not doomed place, with the contemporary city troubled by conflicting spatial identities, failing multiculturalism, and feelings of isolation amongst its citizens; meanwhile, the future of the city is imagined to be a slow, gradual collapse into oblivion.
List of Essays:
— A Shadow on the Wall: Collapsing the Metanarratives of Fantasy Fiction
— Below the Salt: The Meaning of Mealtime in Westeros
— In the End: The Existential Significance of Oldstones
— I Know Who I Am: Selfhood and Slavery in HBO’s Game of Thrones
— A Thousand Faces and None: The Depersonalisation of Arya Stark
— Back in the Old Ways: The Restorative Nostalgia of the Ironborn
— The Acorn is the Oak: The Eternalist Philosophy of the Three-Eyed Crow
— Sympathy for the Devil: A Phenomenological Perspective of the Others
— Poisoned Memories: Linking Grief and Addiction in Martin’s Characters
— When Life Gives You Lemon Trees: Evaluating the Conspiracy Mentality of the Ice and Fire Fandom
The films On the Beach (Kramer 1959) and Mad Max (Miller 1979) depict Melbourne as an unexceptional and geographically marginal city, teetering on the edge of external disaster. Noise (Saville 2007) and Mouth to Mouth (Duigan 1978) focus on the alienation of urban living, with the former depicting the experiences of a policeman operating within the city’s social structure, while the latter depicts homeless youths excluded by it. Head On (Kokkinos 1998) and Romper Stomper (Wright 1992) explore urban identity and ethnic conflict in the western suburbs, representing the viewpoints of a gay Greek-Australian and white neo-Nazi skinheads respectively. The thesis concludes that many filmmakers view Melbourne as a dystopian, if not doomed place, with the contemporary city troubled by conflicting spatial identities, failing multiculturalism, and feelings of isolation amongst its citizens; meanwhile, the future of the city is imagined to be a slow, gradual collapse into oblivion.