Harriet Fletcher

(She/her)

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Dr Harriet Fletcher is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. She is an interdisciplinary Media and Cultural Studies scholar with expertise in the study of popular culture, particularly in relation to celebrity, the Gothic, gender and feminism.

Harriet researches the intersections of celebrity and the Gothic in literature, media and popular culture. Her book Gothic Celebrity: Fame and Immortality From Lord Byron to Lady Gaga is out now with Bloomsbury Academic. Exploring the provocative intersection of celebrity and the Gothic, this book examines representations of decaying, dead and undead celebrities in literary texts, visual media and popular culture.

She is also developing her research on gender and celebrity through an interdisciplinary project that explores the feminist reclamation of the ‘bimbo’ figure. She is interested in mapping a broad cultural history of the bimbo and how this sits alongside contemporary feminist movements and timely reappraisals of women in 1990s and 2000s popular culture. The project involves the study of celebrity culture, film, television, social media and fashion.

Her research on Andy Warhol deals with the construction of his celebrity image, his interests in fame in the late 20th century, and how aspects of his work can be described as 'Gothic' in their preoccupation with death and decay. She has written on Warhol's celebrity portraits and self-portraits from the 1960s-80s, with particular focus on his images of Marilyn Monroe. She has a broad knowledge of Warhol's career and his relationship with celebrity culture.

Experience

  • 2022–present
    Lecturer in Media and Communication, Anglia Ruskin University
  • 2025–present
    Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication, Anglia Ruskin University
  • 2016–2022
    Associate Lecturer, Lancaster University

Education

  • 2021 
    Lancaster University, PhD in English Literature
  • 2015 
    Lancaster University, MA English Literature
  • 2014 
    University of Exeter, BA English

Publications

  • 2025
    Gothic Celebrity Fame and Immortality from Lord Byron to Lady Gaga, Bloomsbury Academic
  • 2022
    The death of the star: celebrity decay and the Gothic portrait in Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych, Celebrity Studies

Grants and Contracts

  • 2016
    Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Studentship
    Role:
    Funding Source:
    Lancaster University

Professional Memberships

  • The International Gothic Association
  • British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies

Contact Harriet for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision