Allison Cooper

Director
Kinolab: A Digital Humanities Project for the Analysis of Film Language, with Fernando Nascimento (lead collaborator) and David Francis (developer), 2014-present.

Principal Investigator
"A Digital History of the Close-Up in Narrative Film and Television," with Joel Burges (Co-PI, University of Rochester) and Fernando Nascimento (Co-PI, Bowdoin College), 2023-Present.

Articles, Book Chapters, and Video Essays

“Alterity Onscreen: A Gen-X Mediascape.” In "The Personal Mediascape in the Age of Videographic Heterotopias." Ed. Joel Burges and Allison Cooper. ASAP/Review: Open-Access Reviews of Arts of the Present. 16 December 2024. 

"Collaborative Film Language Analysis in the Networked Information Era." In The Italianist Film Issue. Ed. Danielle Hipkins, Elena Past & Monica Seger. Vol. 41, no. 2, 2021.

"Exploring Film Language with a Digital Analysis Tool: the Case of Kinolab," co-authored with Fernando Nascimento and David Francis. Digital Humanities Quarterly. Eds. Taylor Arnold, Stefania Scagliola, Lauren Tilton, and Jasmijn van Gorp. Vol. 15, no. 1, 2021.

“Cinema all’aperto/Open-Air Cinema.” Italian Cinema from the Silent Screen to the Digital Image. Ed. Joseph Luzzi. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020, pp. 399-40.

“Kinolab: A Digital Humanities Project for the Analysis of Film Language.” In “A Dossier of Projects at the Intersection of Italian Studies and Digital Humanities.” Ed. Allison Cooper and Crystal Hall. Italian Culture. Ed. Ramsey McGlazer and Lorenzo Fabbri. Vol. 37, no. 1, 2019, pp. 137-143.

“Performing Rome.” In “Acting and Performance in Italian Screen Studies.” Ed. Catherine O’Rawe and Dana Renga. The Italianist Film Issue. Ed. Charles Leavitt, Catherine O’Rawe, and Dana Renga. Vol. 37, no. 2, 2017, pp. 263-267.

“Giuseppe Ungaretti’s Disanimate Modernism.” Annali d’Italianistica. Ed. Luca Somigli and Simona Storchi. Vol. 33, 2015, pp. 99 – 115.

“Roma, Caput Violandi” and “Conclusion.” In “Italy’s Other Mafias in Italian Film and Television: a Roundtable.” Ed. Dana Renga and Allison Cooper. The Italianist Film Issue. Ed. Alan O’Leary. Vol. 33, no. 2, 2013, pp. 204-206 and pp. 229-230.

“Growing up Camorrista: Antonio and Andrea Frazzi’s Certi bambini.” Mafia Movies: A Reader. Ed. Dana Renga. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011, pp. 346 – 353.

“Gender, Identity, and the Return to Order in the Early Works of Paola Masino.” Italian Modernism: Italian Culture Between Decadentism and Avant-Garde. Ed. Mario Moroni and Luca Somigli. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004, pp. 379 – 399.

Book Reviews

Review of The Cinema of Paolo Sorrentino: Commitment to Style, Russell J. A. Kilbourn (2020). In Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies. Ed. Flavia Laviosa. 10.1 (2022): 126-130. 

Translations

Co-translator. Michelangelo Antonioni, The Architecture of Vision: Writings and Interviews on Cinema. Ed. Marga Cottino-Jones. New York: Marsilio Publishers, 1996. Reissued by University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Other Publications

"Kinolab: A Platform for the Digital Analysis of Film Language in Narrative Flm and Media." In Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies. Ed. Flavia Laviosa. 8.1 (2020): 95-98.

Presenter, "Responsible A.I. Summit," National Humanities Center, North Carolina, July 2024.

"Alterity Onscreen: A Gen-X Mediascape," Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Boston, March 2024.

"Race, Representation, and the Close-Up from Miracolo a Milano to Moonlight: Using DH Methodologies to Analyze Narrative Film's Most Powerful Tool," University of New Hampshire, March 2023.

“When One Scholar’s Trash is Another Scholar’s Treasure: Building an Academically Crowdsourced Digital Clip Archive for the 21^st Century,” special presentation at From Waste to Asset: Making Sense of Italian Film and Television Production in the Digital Era, DAMSLab, Università di Bologna, June 2019.

"Viewing Italian Media from a Distance: Computational Approaches to Film and Television Analysis," graduate and post-graduate seminar at "Mediating Italy in Global Culture", Department of the Arts, University of Bologna, June 2019.

“How Do You Watch Half a Million Films? Cinema Studies in the Era of Big Data,” The Ohio State University, January 2019.

Digital Humanities Methodologies in Modern and Contemporary Italian Studies (Session Organizer and Participant), American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, Sorrento, June 2018.

Digital Humanities Methodologies in Early Modern Italian Studies (Session Organizer), American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, Sorrento, June 2018

“Kinolab: A Digital Humanities Project for Film Collection and Analysis,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference, Toronto, March 2018.

“From Netflix Quantum Theory to Enhanced Video Analysis: Developing DH Tools for Screen Studies,” Sadler Seminar on Digital and Quantitative Methods for the Study of Screen Cultures, University of Leeds, May 2017.

“Migratory Nightmares in Contemporary Italian Horror Cinema,” Innovations and Tensions: Italian Cinema and Media in a Global World, 1^st International Conference of the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, Rome, June 2017.

Roundtable on the Current State of Digital Humanities and Italian Studies (Session Organizer and Co-Chair), Modern Language Association Conference, Philadelphia, January 2017.

“Performing Rome,” American Association for Italian Studies Annual Conference, Baton Rouge, April 2016.

The Ideological Space(s) of Italian Cinema and Television (Session Organizer), Modern Language Association Conference, Austin, January 2016.

“The Second Fall of Rome: Argento’s La terza madre in the Tertio Millennio,” Cinema & History: Time, Memory, Identity in the Images of the New Millennium; Roma Tre Università degli Studi, Rome, November 2015.

Memorializing Italy (Session Organizer), Modern Language Association Conference, Vancouver, January 2015.

NULab Omeka and Neatline Workshop (Participant), Boston, Northeastern University, April 2014.

Digital Humanities Short Course (Participant), Digital and Computational Studies Initiative, Brunswick, Bowdoin College, January 2014.

Introduction to Digital Humanities Faculty Retreat (Participant), Northeast Regional Computing Program, Endicott House, Dedham, MIT, August 2013.

“Pasolini’s Sacred and Profane Mamma Roma,” Rome’s Modernity: Trauma, Fracture, Narration; the British School at Rome, October 2012.

“Italy’s Other Mafias in Film, Television and Other Medias,” Roundtable Discussion, American Association for Italian Studies XXXII Annual Conference, Charleston, May 2012.

“Building a Symbolic Capital: The Monumental Planning of Modern Rome,” The Postmodern Palimpsest: Narrating Contemporary Rome, Coventry, The University of Warwick, February 2011.

“Technology, The Great War, and Literary Apocalypses from Mafarka il futurista to La coscienza di Zeno,” Apocalissi: Eschatological Imagination in Italian Culture, from Dante to the Present, Cambridge, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge, October 2009.

Film Narrative (CINE 1101)
Motion pictures reflect and influence the stories we tell about our society and ourselves; they also transport us far from our familiar world via their universal language of images, bridging geographic, political, economic, and racial divides. A key factor in film’s global success lies in its ability to draw us into its world with very little effort on our part. This apparent effortlessness, however, belies careful decisions by directors about their films’ compositions and structures, as well as strategic decisions by producers and distributors regarding the production, distribution, and marketing of movies. Film Narrative introduces students to a variety of motion pictures from different countries and time periods, emphasizing the fundamental elements and strategies of film as a medium and the contextual factors that shape our experiences of the movies we watch.  

Italy's Cinema of Social Engagement (CINE/ITAL 2553)
An introduction to Italian cinema with an emphasis on Neorealism and its relationship to other genres, including Comedy Italian Style, the Spaghetti Western, the horror film, the "mondo" (shock documentary), and mafia movies, among others. Readings and discussions situate films within their social and historical contexts, and explore contemporary critical debates about the place of radical politics in Italian cinema (a hallmark of Neorealism), the division between art films and popular cinema, and the relevance of the concept of an Italian national cinema in an increasingly globalized world. No prerequisite required. Taught in English. (Films screened in Italian with English subtitles).

Divas, Stardom, and Celebrity in Modern Italy (CINE/ITAL 3077)
Before there was Beyoncé there was Borelli; before Clooney there was Mastroianni; before Trump there was Berlusconi. The diva derives from Italy’s nineteenth-century opera, silent film, and Catholic culture. Today, she has evolved into a secular alternative to traditional female religious icons such as the Madonna and the Magdalene. Alongside the figure of the diva is that of her historical male counterpart, the divo, initially a sort of demigod in early Italian cinema who has now come to reflect contemporary Italy’s crisis of masculinity. Beyond their origins and evolution, the diva, divo, and modern star can ultimately be defined as performers who know how to play any role while superimposing their own image onto a character. “Divas, Stardom, and Celebrity in Modern Italy” examines in detail the question of how those images have been constructed, transmitted, and received from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Prerequisites include one prior Cinema Studies course (or course cross-listed with Cinema Studies) or permission of the instructor (acooper@bowdoin.edu). Taught in English (films screened in Italian with English subtitles).

Film History from 1975 to the Present (CINE 2203)
Focuses on developments in filmmaking over the last fifty years, including international trends in the uses of film as a storytelling medium and in the global film market. Examines the rise of New Hollywood and the Movie Brats in the 1970s amid the decline of the big studios, as well as the emergence of alternatives to classical Hollywood filmmaking in Europe, Russia, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific Rim. Considers the responses of twenty-first-century filmmakers to the terrorism, financial disaster, immigration crises, and uncertain political leadership of recent decades. Examines modern technologies that have affected how films are made and consumed, from videocassettes in the 1980s to contemporary streaming services. Explores intense disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic for filmmaking and across national cinemas.

Ethics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Co-taught with Eric Chown, Michael Franz, and Fernando Nascimento (DCS 2475).
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming nearly every aspect of society and our personal lives. This course invites students to explore fictional and non-fictional worlds transformed by AI and consider them in light of ethics, politics, and their impact on individuals. Students will use an array of literary and cinematic narratives to enrich their understanding of AI as it relates to those who develop it, those who use it, and those who seek to create policies governing its applications in society. AI-based artifacts will be examined from both conceptual and functional perspectives. The course will culminate with a look at how human agency can shape AI in order to move it closer to serving the common good. 

• Bowdoin College News on "Why Studying the Humanities is Essential for Designing Artificial Intelligence Systems" (2024)
  
  
• Allison Cooper and Jon Cavallero (Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies at Bates College) discuss the summer blockbuster 'Barbenheimer' phenomenon on Maine Calling's "Going to the Movies" episode (11 August 2023) and "Bowdoin Scholars Weigh In on Blockbuster Movie Releases Oppenheimer and Barbie" from Bowdoin College News (2023)

• Bowdoin College News on the collaborative "Digital History of the Close-Up" project (2023)
  
  
• University of Rochester's News Center on the collaborative "Digital History of the Close-Up" project (2023)
  
  
• The Portland Press Herald and Inside Higher Ed on the National Humanities Center's selection of Bowdoin to participate in its Responsible Artificial Intelligence Curriculum Design Project (2022)
   
• Bowdoin College News on the roll out of the Computing Ethics Narratives project and associated website (2021)
  
  
• Bowdoin College News on how the Covid-19 pandemic helped Kinolab find its audience (2021)
  
  
• Hamilton College News' "Hooray for Bollywood" describes the Fall Semester 2020 collaboration between Kinolab and Hamilton Prof. Pavitra Sundar's Bollywood Cinema course (2020)
  
  
• Film critic and journalist Amy Nicholson discusses Italian film divas with Professor Cooper for Focus Feature's podcast Zoom, "Viva the diva! What makes her divine?" (2020)
  
  
• Q&A with Susanna Roffredi on the representation of children in Italian cinema and Italian neorealism (2019)
  
  

• Bowdoin College News on the Computing Ethics Narrative project and Kinolab's role in it (2019)

• Bowdoin College News on Rome and contemporary Italian horror cinema (2017)

• Professor Cooper on analyzing film digitally at the University of Leed's Sadler Seminar on "Digital and Quantitative Methods for the Study of Screen Cultures" (2017)

• Bowdoin College News on digital humanities approaches in the classroom (2015)
  
  
• Bowdoin College News on the beginnings of the Bowdoin Digital Clip Archive (2014)

Life at Bowdoin keeps the college community pretty busy: sometimes so much so that we forget we are surrounded by beautiful coastline and rolling countryside! The routes described below are personal favorites: run them in all seasons and you will cultivate a deep appreciation of Maine’s constantly changing natural beauty. Whether you are a new runner looking for flat, easy routes close to Bowdoin or an experienced distance runner looking for more challenging routes to take you further afield, there is something here for you! And if running isn’t your thing, all of these routes are equally accessible by bicycle. They all start from Bowdoin’s Edwards Center for Art and Dance (21 Longfellow Avenue) and, with the exception of the last route, they are all loops that will bring you back to where you started.

Note that most of these routes include rural or semi-rural roads with narrow or no shoulders, so please exercise caution and practice safe running habits: run in the daylight, don’t run with earphones (or, if you must, turn the volume down), and run against traffic so you can see oncoming cars.

3.3 Miles: Maine/Hemlock/Meadowbrook
Easy, flat, suburban route close to Bowdoin that briefly crosses the Brunswick Town Commons trail system as you leave Meadowbrook Rd and head toward Bowdoin's soccer field. 

4.45 Miles: Maine/Melden/Beech/Meadowbrook
Easy, flat, suburban route close to Bowdoin that briefly crosses the Brunswick Town Commons trail system at the end of Melden Dr and again as you leave Meadowbrook Rd and head toward Bowdoin's soccer field.

5.47 Miles: Maine/Pleasant Hill/Woodside/Church/McKeen
Relatively easy route along rural and suburban roads with gentle hills.

6.44 Miles: Harpswell/Middle Bay/Pennellville/Maine
Relatively easy route along rural and suburban roads with gentle hills, includes the historic Pennellville district with its beautiful ship captains' mansions.

7.51 Miles: Maine/Pleasant Hill/Raymond/Church/McKeen
Somewhat hilly route along rural and suburban roads, including the very picturesque Raymond Road.

8.25 Miles: Harpswell/Middle Bay/Pennellville/Simpsons Point/Mere Point/Maine
Relatively easy route along rural and suburban roads with gentle hills, includes the historic Pennellville district with its beautiful ship captains' mansions.

9.10 Miles: Harpswell/Middle Bay/Pennellville/Simpsons Point/Mere Point/Maine
Relatively easy route along rural and suburban roads with gentle hills, includes the historic Pennellville district with its beautiful ship captains' mansions and a quick out and back to Simpsons Point.

9.21 Miles: Maine/Pleasant Hill/Woodside/Rossmore/Mere Point/Maine
Hilly route along primarily rural roads with beautiful water views at Woodside and Rossmore.

10.43 Miles: Harpswell/Middle Bay/Pennellville/Simpsons Point/Mere Point/Rossmore/Maquoit/Maine
Somewhat hilly route along primarily rural roads, includes the historic Pennellville district with its beautiful ship captains' mansions and a quick out and back to Simpsons Point with additional water views along Rossmore.

11.14 Miles: Maine/Pleasant Hill/Highland/Bunganuc/Woodside/Maquoit/Maine
Hilly route along primarily rural roads with beautiful water views at Bunganuc Landing and Woodside.

12.18 Miles: Maine/McKeen/Church/Casco/Bunganuc/Woodside/Maquoit/Rossmore/Mere Point/Maine
Somewhat hilly route along suburban and rural roads with multiple beautiful water views at Bunganuc Landing, Woodside, and Rossmore.

12.41 Miles: Maine/Pleasant Hill/Flying Point/Lower Mast Landing/S Freeport
Very hilly one-way route along primarily rural roads with water views at Porter Landing and along S Freeport Rd.