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LEGER GRINDON
386 South Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753
Home: 802-388-3004 Office: 802-443-5593
E-mail: grindon@middlebury.edu FAX: 802-443-2805
ACADEMIC POSITION
Professor of Film and Media Culture, Middlebury College, 1987 to present.
EDUCATION
New York University
Ph. D. l986 (Highest Honors)
Dissertation topic: "The Representation of History in the Fiction Film"
University of California, Berkeley
B.A. 1971 History
BOOKS
Knockout: the Boxer and Boxing in American Cinema, (Jackson: University Press of
Mississippi, 2011).
The Hollywood Romantic Comedy: Conventions, History, Controversies. (Malden, Ma.:
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2011).
Shadows on the Past: Studies in the Historical Fiction Film, (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 1994) [selected by Choice as among the outstanding academic books of
1995]
CHAPTER ESSAYS
“Romantic Comedy.” in Oxford Bibliographies Online: Cinema and Media Studies. Ed.
Krin Gabbard. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming. URL.
“Taking Romantic Comedy Seriously in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
and Before Sunset (2004) in The Blackwell Companion to Film Comedy ed. Andrew
Horton and Joanna Rapf (Malden, MA., Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming).
“Cycles and Clusters: The Shape of Film Genre History” in Film Genre Reader IV edited
by Barry Keith Grant (Austin: University of Texas Press, forthcoming in 2012).
"The Quiet Man and the Boxing Film: Allusions and Influence" in John Ford in Focus,
edited by Michael Connolly and Kevin Stoehr (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2008).
“Mocking Success in Every Which Way But Loose” in Clint Eastwood, Actor and
Director: New Perspectives edited by Leonard Engel (Salt Lake City: University of Utah
Press, 2007).
“1986: Movies Chart the Fissures in Reagan’s America,” in American Cinema of the
1980s: Themes and Variations edited by Stephen Prince (Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, 2007).
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“Tod Browning’s Thematic Continuity and Stylistic Development in Iron Man (1931),”
in The Films of Tod Browning edited by Bernd Herzogenrath (London: Black Dog
Publishing, 2006).
"Genre Theory in Film Studies" in Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory edited by
David Herman, Manfred Jahn and Marie-Laure Ryan (London: Routledge, 2005).
"Ken Burns," "John Huston," "When We Were Kings," in Encyclopedia of the
Documentary Film edited by Ian Aitken (New York: Routledge, 2005).
“Art and Genre in Raging Bull,” in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull edited by Kevin Hayes
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
"In the Realm of the Censors: Cultural Boundaries and the Poetics of the Forbidden,"
Word and Image in Japanese Cinema, edited by Dennis Washburn and Carole Cavanaugh
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
"Risorgimento History and Screen Spectacle: Visconti's Senso," in Resisting Images:
Essays on Cinema and History, ed. Robert Sklar and Charles Musser (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, l990)
JOURNAL ESSAYS
"Q & A: the Poetics of the Documentary Film Interview," The Velvet Light Trap #60,
fall, 2007.
“The Boxing Film and Genre Theory,” Quarterly Review of Film and Video, v. 24, #5,
(2007).
"Getting Into Shape: Classic Conventions Make Their Move Into the Boxing Film:
1937-1940," Journal of Sport and Social Issues, v. 22, #4, November 1998.
"Body and Soul: The Structure of Meaning in the Boxing Film Genre," Cinema Journal
v. 35 #4, Summer 1996.
The Role of Spectacle and Excess in the Critique of Illusion, "Post Script, v. 13 #2,
Winter/Spring, 1994
"Witness to Hollywood: Oral Testimony and Historical Interpretation in Warren Beatty's
Reds," Film History v. 5 #1, March, l993
"Hollywood History and the French Revolution: From The Bastille to The Black Book,"
The Velvet Light Trap, #28, Fall, l991
"History and the Historians in La Marseillaise," Film History, v. 4 #3, l990.
"From Word to Image: Displacement and Meaning in Greed," Journal of Film and
Video, v. 4l #4 Winter, l989
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"Drama and Spectacle As Historical Explanation in the Historical Fiction Film," Film and
History, v. 17 #4 December, l987
"Romantic Archetypes and Political Meaning in the Historical Fiction Film," Persistence
of Vision, 3/4, l986
"Significance Reexamined: A Report on Bruce Conner," Post Script, v. 4 #2, l985
REVIEWS
The Secret Life of Romantic Comedy by Celestino Deleyto, a book review, Film
Quarterly v. 63, #4 Summer 2010.
Fight Pictures: A History of Boxing and Early Cinema by Dan Streible, a book review,
Choice, v. 46 #3 (November 2008).
Ring of Fire: the Emile Griffith Story, a film review, Journal of Sport History, v. 35, #1
(Spring 2008).
Unforgivable Blackness: the Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a film review, Cineaste, v.
30 #22, Spring 2005.
Rites of Realism: Essays on Corporeal Cinema edited by Ivone Margulies, a book
review, Cineaste, v. 30, #1, Winter 2004.
Contesting Identities: Sports in American Film by Aaron Baker, a book review, Cineaste,
v. 29, #1, Winter 2003.
The Films of Fritz Lang by Tom Gunning & M by Anton Kaes, a book review, Film
Quarterly, v. 55, #3, Spring 2002.
Ali, a film review, Cineaste, v. 27, #2, Spring 2002. Reprinted in Film Review Annual
2002 (Films of 2001) edited by Jerome S. Ozer (Tenafly: NJ: Film Review Publications,
2006)
Film/Genre by Rick Altman, a book review, Film Quarterly, v. 53 #4, Summer 2000.
The Films of Oshima Nagisa by Maureen Turim, a book review, Film Quarterly, v.53, #1,
Fall 1999.
Rhetoric and Representation in Nonfiction Film by Carl Plantinga, a book review,
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, v. 19, #2, 1999.
"Gathering Light: Paintings and Drawings 1981-1995 by Kathleen Kolb," a review of an
exhibition at the Walter Cerf Gallery, Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont, Art
New England, December 1996-January 1997.
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Film, Politics, and Gramsci by Marcia Landy, a book review, Historical Journal of Film,
Radio and Television, v. 16 #3, August 1996.
Acting Male: Masculinities in the Films of James Stewart, Jack Nicholson, and Clint
Eastwood by Dennis Bingham, a book review, Film Quarterly,
v.48 #4, Summer 1995
Image as Artifact: The Historical Analysis of Film and Television edited by John E.
O'Connor, a book review in Film Quarterly, v.45 #3, l992
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit," Magill's Cinema Annual, l989
The Social Cinema of Jean Renoir by Christopher Faulkner, a book review in Cineaste, v.
15 #2, l986
"Political Action in the Documentary Film," Downtown Review, February, l979
"The Films of Peter Hutton," Millennium Film Journal, 4/5, l979
CONFERENCE ACTIVITY & PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
“A Genre History of the Hollywood Romantic Comedy Film: Principles and a Profile,” a
presentation at the Society of Cinema and Media Studies conference in Los Angeles,
March 2010.
"The Structure of Meaning in the Romantic Comedy Film Genre," university lecture at
University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain, [invited]. As part of my visit I also was a
visitng instructor in 3 graduate seminars in film studies in the English Department.
February 2-5, 2009.
"On the Margins of the Mainstream: Art and Genre in the Contemporary Romantic
Comedy," a presentation at the Society of Cinema and Media Studies conference,
Philadelphia, 2008.
"From the Grotesque to the Ambivalent: Recent Developments in the Hollywood
Romantic Comedy, 1997-2007," a paper presented at the Society of Cinema and Media
Studies conference, Chicago, 2007.
“The Quiet Man and the Boxing Film: Allusions and Influence,” a presentation at the
John Ford Film Festival [organized by the Maine Irish Heritage Center], October 8, 2005,
Portland, Maine [invited].
“Q and A: Verbal Expression and Visual Truth in the Documentary Interview,” a paper
presented at the Visible Evidence XII conference on documentary film, Montreal, August,
2005
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“New Perspective on Film Genre History,” a paper presented at the Society of Cinema
and Media Studies conference, London, 2005.
“Tracing an Influence: From Rocco and His Brothers to Raging Bull,” a paper presented
at the Society of Cinema and Media Studies conference, Atlanta, 2004.
"The Physical Ideal of Masculinity and the Screen Boxer," a paper presented at the
Society of Cinema Studies conference, Denver 2002.
"Dancing for the Camera: Dance in the Hollywood Musical," a presentation for the
Friends of Ilsley Library, Middlebury, January, 2001. (invited)
"Responses to Suffering: the Conclusion of From Here to Eternity," a paper presented at
the Society of Cinema Studies conference, Chicago, March 2000.
“From Across the Fictional Divide: the Black Boxer as Victim and as Hero,” a paper
presented at the Visible Evidence conference on documentary film, U.C.L.A., August
1999.
"Subjectivity and Sensation: Boxing in Raging Bull " a paper presented at a conference
on sport and film, New York University, September 1998 (invited).
"In the Realm of the Censors: Cultural Boundaries and the Poetics of the Forbidden," a
paper presented at a Symposium on Japanese Film and Narrative, Dartmouth College,
September, 1997 (invited).
"On the Brink of War: From Pathos to Comedy in the Boxing Film," a paper presented at
the Society of Cinema Studies conference, Ottawa, May 1997.
"Getting Into Shape: Classic Moves in the Boxing Film: 1937-1940," a paper presented
at the Society of Cinema Studies conference, Dallas, March 1996
"Man in the Ring: Masculinity and the Boxer in Two Depression Films," a paper
presented at the Society of Cinema Studies conference, New York City, March 1995
Interview-discussion of Shadows on the Past and the historical fiction film on "Film
Line" with host, Patrick Stoner on WHYY, Philadelphia public radio station, September,
1994 (invited)
"Body and Soul: the Structure of Meaning in the Boxing Film Genre," Faculty Lecture
Series, Middlebury College, February, 1994. An earlier version of this paper was
presented at the Society of Cinema Studies conference, New Orleans, l993
Chair and organizer of panel, "The Boxer and Boxing in American Film and Television,"
Society of Cinema Studies conference, New Orleans, l993
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"Senso: An Introduction," as part of "Luchino Visconti: Maestro of the Movies," a
retrospective presented by the Broooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, N.Y., February l992
(invited)
"Witness to Hollywood: Oral Testimony and Historical Interpretation in Reds,"
presentation at the Society of Cinema Studies conference, Los Angeles, l991, at the
conference on film and literature at Florida State University, January, 1991 and in the
Faculty Lecture Series at Middlebury College, September, 1991.
"The Historical Transition From Radio to Television," a lecture presentation to a class on
"American Television" at the University of Vermont, September, 1991.
"Hollywood History and the French Revolution: From The Bastille to The Black Book,"
presentation at the Society of Cinema Studies conference, Washington, D.C., l990 and as
an Abernathy Lecture, Middlebury College, l990
"History and the Historians in La Marseillaise," paper presented at a conference on Jean
Renoir, New York University, December, l989 (invited)
"Anthony Mann's Reign of Terror: the Representation of the French Revolution in Cold
War Hollywood," a paper presented as part of "Cinema and The French Revolution: A
Public Colloquium," at U.C.L.A., May l989 (invited)
"Political Persuasion and Elements of Satire in Dr. Strangelove and M.A.S.H.," a paper
presented at the Society of Cinema Studies conference, University of Iowa, l989
Chair and organizer of a panel, "Politics and Hollywood Comedy," at the Society of
Cinema Studies conference, University of Iowa, l989
"The Representation of the French Revolution in the Cinema: La Marseillaise (l938) and
Danton (l983)," two presentations as part of the NEH Summer Institute for High School
Teachers on the French Revolution at New York University, July l988 (invited)
"The Samurai, the Geisha and the Tea Ceremony as Distinctive Features of Japanese
Cinema," a presentation delivered to the University Scholars (an undergraduate honor
society) at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, March l988 (invited)
"Word to Image: Composition and Meaning in Von Stroheim's Greed," a paper presented
at a conference on "Intertextuality, Literary and Cinematic Representation," at Florida
State University, January l988
"Ideological Manifestations in the Historical Film," a paper presented at Society of
Cinema Studies conference, Pittsburgh, l983
"Significance Reexamined: A Report on Bruce Conner," a paper presented at the Society
of Cinema Studies conference, Syracuse, 1980.
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ADMINISTRATION & SERVICE
Director, Film and Media Culture Program, 2002 to 2008.
Director, Film-Video Studies, Middlebury College, 1995-1999, 2002.
Chair, Department of Theater, Dance, Film-Video, 1995-96, 1998-99.
Chair, Student Writing Award Committee, Society of Cinema & Media Studies, 2003-04
(invited by the President of SCMS)
Student Writing Award Committee, Society of Cinema & Media Studies, 2002-03
(invited by the President of SCMS)
Editorial Board, Cinema Journal, 1999-2002
Secretary-Treasurer, Executive Council, Society of Cinema Studies, l990l992 (elected by a national membership)
FELLOWSHIPS
Ada Howe Kent Summer Research Fellowship, 1993, 1997, 1999-2000, 2011-12.
Mellon Research Award for spring 2009 course release
Robert De Niro Fellowship at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, 2011
COURSES TAUGHT
Film Form & Film Sense
Film History I & II
Documentary: Art of Nonfiction Film
Japanese Cinema
Hollywood Film Genres
Politics & Film
Shakespeare: Text to Screen
Film Analysis
Politics & Comedy in Hollywood Film
Film Noir
Authorship & the Cinema: John Ford
TV & American Culture
Authorship & the Cinema: Orson Welles
American Film 1965-75
Authorship & the Cinema: Lubitsch, Hawks, Wilder, Allen
Contemporary Playwrights in the Cinema
Film Comedy
Shadow Boxing: the Prizefighter in American Culture
First Year Writing Seminar: Spectator Response in Comedy & Horror
First Year Writing Seminar: Romantic Comedy: Shakespeare and the Movies
Sept. 2011