Dr Rosemary Overell, Our People, Media, Film and Communication

BA(Hons) PhD (The University of Melbourne)
Senior Lecturer

Contact

Email rosemary.overell@otago.ac.nz
Office: Burns 3N10

Rosemary is also currently convening the Master of Arts (Coursework) for the Division of Humanities.

@muzaken / researchgate.net / Google Scholar profile / Academia.edu

Research interests and supervision areas

Lacanian media studies
Lacanian feminist theory
Subcultural studies, particularly extreme metal and punk subcultures

Background

Rosemary completed a doctorate at the University of Melbourne in 2012. Before joining the department at Otago in 2013, Rosemary taught at the University of Melbourne in Cultural Studies. Between 2021 and 2023, she worked in The Department of Communication and New Media at the National University of Singapore.

Research and public engagement

Rosemary Overell's most recent work considers how gendered subjectivities are co-constituted by and through mediation. She draws particularly on Lacanian psychoanalysis to explore a variety of mediated sites, such as #MeToo and trans* bodies. In particular, she considers the intersections between affect and signification and how these produce gender. Rosemary has looked at media as varied as anime, extreme metal, reality television and documentary film. A full list of publications is below.

In addition to her academic scholarship, Rosemary writes regularly for The Conversation and un projects has contributed to public debates on how gender and the media work in the contemporary moment. She has also written for ArtNZ and collaborated with the New Models collective in 2021 on NM CODEX Y2K20

She ran a highly successful radio programme between 2013 and 2016 on 91FM Radio One called 'culture jamming'. This programme included interviews with academics, music practitioners and media workers on the intersections between music, culture and politics. Some archived podcasts are available here.

Rosemary is also on the editorial board of Psycholanalysis, Culture & Society, Continental Thought & Theory: A Journal of Intellectual Freedom, Metal Music Studies and Puratoke: Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Creative Arts and Industries. She has also been a fellow in Nagoya University's Gender Studies programme, under the mentorship of Professor Chika Tanimoto.

Rosemary Overell welcomes PhD proposals in the following areas: Lacanian media studies; Lacanian feminist theory; subcultural studies focused on extreme metal or punk.

Teaching

Rosemary Overell has taught papers on digital media and identity, contemporary media studies, critical journalism studies and music cultures.

In 2025, Rosemary co-ordinates:

MFCO 103 Introduction to Communication Studies
MFCO 213 Media Genres: Crime
MFCO 401 Advanced Media, Film & Communication Theory

Conferences organised

Completed supervisions

Honours

Ayodya Rathnayaka: Anime fans under lockdown in Singapore: a communicative theory of identity ethnography. (At NUS).
Taylor Adams: Navigating the 'In-Between': The Posthuman, Metamorphosis & Hopeful Becomings.
Oliver Dearnley-Smith: Madoka: Japanese anime from a Lacanian perspective
Julia Stewart: Bigger, Fatter, Gypsier: Biopower and My Big, Fat, Gypsy Wedding
Brianna Kirkham: The Business of Blogging
Sarah Rayner: Twitter and Television: New Interactions between Fans, Critics and Creators
Shelley Harding: Flourishing Under a Rose-Tine: Nostalgic Depictions of Misogyny in Mad Men

MA

LingLing Yana Hu: Jia Ling and fan discourse online.
Stanley Arvan WIjaya: Uncovering Visual Novels: Exploring the history and transformation of a cross cultural game genre. (At NUS)
Huang Yimin: Feminist Bloggers and Online Feminist Activism on Chinese Social Media. (At NUS).
Taylor Adams: From flayed bodies to frozen eggs: A cultural history of the body, somatechnics and the 're'-turn of the flesh.
Alison Blair:Children of the Revolution: Bolan, Bowie and the Carnivalesque.

PhD

Massimiliana Urbano:Becoming-common: Affective Technologies and Grassroots Activism in Contemporary Italy.
Bethany Geckle: Queer World-Making: Destabilising Heteronormativity through Skateboarding.
Hannah Herchenbach: On Becoming a Dunedin Rock Musician: The Cultural Politics of the Dunedin Sound.
Tha-era Yousef: Narrative Analysis of Online News Coverage of Controversial Case Studies of Women and Islam in Malaysia: 2014 to 2018.

Current supervisions

PhD

Eleanor Crabill: Myths and realities of impact and legacy in the post-FIFA Women's World Cup era.
Oliver Dearnley-Smith: Self-Alienated spirit: the subject and the social in Hegel and Critical Theory.
Frankie Fei: Feels like queer spirit: (re)imagining history and futurity in retro-queer narratives.
Deniz Karahan Alp: Between Emancipation and Domination: Herbert Marcuse and Social Media.
Peter Stapleton:The Punkumentary: Embodying a punk sensibility within the music documentary?

Publications

Billington, R. A., Overell, R., Nicholls, B., Daubs, M. S., & Fowler, C. (2026). “All that from two symbols?!”: An Adolescence roundtable. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2026.2634362 Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2025). [Review of the exhibition Never and before]. Art New Zealand, 195, 53. [Performance/Film/Composition Review]. Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2025, July). Clever cunts in the creative nation: Blood Duster's Fisting the dead in Keating's Australia. Association for Cultural Studies (ACS) Virtual Lecture Series, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland. [Research Presentation]. Other Research Output

Overell, R. (2024, October). Vulgar Taste? 'Real' Australian Gore Grindcore. Verbal presentation at the Metal and Change Conference, [Online]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2024). Don't worry darling: The anxious question of what women want after #MeToo? Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 29, 343-360. doi: 10.1057/s41282-024-00461-5 Journal - Research Article

2026

Journal - Research Article

2025

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2025). [Review of the exhibition Never and before]. Art New Zealand, 195, 53. [Performance/Film/Composition Review].

Other Research Output

2024

Chapter in Book - Research

Millar, I., Nicholls, B., Overell, R., & Tutt, D. (2024). Power and politics in Adam Curtis' Can't get you out of my head: An emotional history of the modern world. In C. Owens & S. Meehan O'Callaghan (Eds.), Psychoanalysis and the small screen: The year the cinemas closed. (pp. 163-189). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003272069-11

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2024). Don't worry darling: The anxious question of what women want after #MeToo? Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 29, 343-360. doi: 10.1057/s41282-024-00461-5

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2024). Me! Too! … or worse? Proceedings of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference. (pp. 28). Retrieved from https://iamcr.org

Overell, R. (2024). #MeToo backlash in Barbie and Tàr. Proceedings of the Joint Conference of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and the Association for Psychoanalysis Culture and Society (APS/APCS): Learning or not learning from experience. Retrieved from https://www.psychosocial-studies-association.org/

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2024, October). Vulgar Taste? 'Real' Australian Gore Grindcore. Verbal presentation at the Metal and Change Conference, [Online].

2023

Chapter in Book - Research

Overell, R. (2023). Simon Denny: Seeing things. In Documents 2021-2023. (pp. 120-133). Auckland, New Zealand: Michael Lett.

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2023). Favour & the brave [Review of the exhibition Bev Moon's Fortune]. Art New Zealand, (188), 70-73. [Performance/Film/Composition Review].

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2023). 'Don't worry darling' (2022): What do women want after #MeToo? Proceedings of the Australian & New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference: Ka mua, ka muri: Bridging communication pasts and futures. (pp. 97). Retrieved from https://www.anzca2023.com

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2023, April). Don't worry darling: What do women want after #MeToo? Verbal presentation at the LACK iv: Psychoanalytic Theory Conference, Burlington, USA.

Other Research Output

Moro, S., Overell, R. & Nicholls, B. (2023, August). Barbie: Possibilities and impasses. Pop up discussion hosted by the Media, Film and Communications Programme, University of Otago, New Zealand. [Public Discussion].

2022

Journal - Research Article

Adams, T., & Overell, R. (2022). Flayed bodies and the re-turn of the flesh: Foucault and contemporary gendered bodies. Continental Thought & Theory, 3(4), 116-151. doi: 10.26021/13021

Other Research Output

Overell, R. (2022) Methodological masturbation. LACK: Punctual musings. (26 August). Retrieved from https://lackorg.com/2022/08/26/methodological-masturbation/

2021

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2021). Voicing the real in extreme metal. Continental Thought & Theory, 3(3), 136-163. doi: 10.26021/12231

Zeiher, C., & Overell, R. (2021). The anxiety of #MeToo: A response to Jean-Claude Milner. Penumbr(a), 1, 151-164.

Creative Work

Overell, R. (co-editor) (2021). New models codex Y2K20. Germany: New Models, 368p.

Overell, R. (2021). Silence / noise. New models codex Y2K20. (pp. 287-289). Germany: New Models.

Overell, R. (2021). Can the cozy be critical? New models codex Y2K20. (pp. 59-63). Germany: New Models.

Other Research Output

Millar, I., Tutt, D., Nicholls, B., & Overell, R. (2021, March). Can't get you out of my head: Power, politics and the films of Adam Curtis. Panel discussion hosted by the Media, Film and Communication Programme, University of Otago, [Online]. [Public Discussion].

2020

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2020, November). How much of this was real for him? Metal, terror and the real. Verbal presentation at the Centre for Laconian Analysis (CLA) Conference: Can't You See I'm Burning? Kei te kite koe kei te wera ahau? Auckland, New Zealand.

2019

Edited Book - Research

Overell, R., & Nicholls, B. (Eds.). (2019). Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjectures. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-25670-8

Chapter in Book - Research

Overell, R. (2019). Gender and musical subcultures in Japan. In J. Coates, L. Fraser & M. Pendleton (Eds.), The Routledge companion to gender and Japanese culture. (pp. 231-239). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Overell, R. (2019). The reveal of the real: Fact-checking and ‘not-tags’ in the current conjuncture. In R. Overell & B. Nicholls (Eds.), Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjectures. (pp. 107-130). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-25670-8_6

Overell, R., & Nicholls, B. (2019). Introduction: Post-truth and the mediation of reality. In R. Overell & B. Nicholls (Eds.), Post-truth and the mediation of reality: New conjectures. (pp. 1-12). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-25670-8_1

Overell, R. (2019). ‘I think Sydney’s pretty shit’: Melbourne grindcore fans and their others. In C. Hoad (Ed.), Australian metal music: Identities, scenes and culture. (pp. 71-90). Bingley, UK: Emerlad Publishing.

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2019). More than a hashtag: Excitement, anguish and the semblant of #MeToo. Theory & Event, 22(4), 792-819. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/736563

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2019). [Review of the exhibition Louise Menzies: In An Orange My Mother Was Eating]. un Projects: un Extended. Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/un-extended/reviews/louise-menzies/

Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles

Overell, R. (2019). Who said it? [Creative work]. un Magazine, 13(2), 8. Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/magazine/issues/issue-13-2/rosemary-overell/

Overell, R. (2019). Scooting through toy town. un Projects: un Extended, 12(1). Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/un-extended/dear-un/toy-town/

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2019). The reveal of the Real in hashtag politics. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP). (pp. 79). Retrieved from https://www.ascp.org.au

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2019, October). The reveal of the real in hashtag politics. Verbal presentation at the Lacan's Écrits Conference, Pittsburgh, USA.

Overell, R. (2019, May). #NotAllMen: A Lacanian feminist reading of a popular hashtag. Verbal presentation at the LACKiii: Psychoanalysis & Separation Conference, Worcester, USA.

Other Research Output

Stringer, R., Fowler, C., and Overell, R. (2019, March). Terror nullius: Screening and discussion panel. Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Public Discussion].

2018

Edited Book - Research

Dale, C., & Overell, R. (Eds.). (2018). Orienting feminism: Media, activism and cultural representation. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 207p. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-70660-3

Chapter in Book - Other

Dale, C., & Overell, R. (2018). Introduction: Orienting feminism: Media, activism, and cultural reprsentation. In C. Dale & R. Overell (Eds.), Orienting feminism: Media, activism and cultural representation. (pp. 1-5). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-70660-3

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2018). Queer will: Hikkomorias willful subjects. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 19(2), 206-219. doi: 10.1080/14649373.2018.1463069

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2018). [Review of the exhibition What should I do, now with my hands?]. un Projects: un Extended. Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/un-extended/reviews/beth-caird/

Overell, R. (2018). [Review of the exhibition Two Cups and a Jimmy's Mince and Cheese Pie Wrapper]. un Projects: un Extended. Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/un-extended/reviews/jay-hutchinson/

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R., & Dale, C. (2018, May). Orienting feminism. Workshop presentation at the Excitement Studies Symposium, Nagoya, Japan.

Overell, R. (2018, May). Exciting times? #metoo, Jouissance and the contemporary feminist subject. Verbal presentation at the Excitement Studies Symposium, Nagoya, Japan.

Overell, R. (2018, June). #metoo: Mediated feminisms in a new conjecture. Verbal presentation at the Asian Conference on Cultural Studies: Fearful Futures: Cultural Studies and the Question of Agency in the Twenty-First Century, Kobe, Japan.

Overell, R. (2018, February). Voice the real in extreme metal: Horror, gender and the growl. Verbal presentation at the Desire Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.

Other Research Output

Overell, R. (2018, November). Marie Shannon: Rooms found only in the home. Un Extended blog. Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/un-extended/reviews/marie-shannon/

Overell, R. (2018, April). A tale of two events...Dear UN blog. Retrieved from http://unprojects.org.au/un-extended/dear-un/dunedin/

2017

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2017). "I knew it was abnormal but I didn't want to change": Hikikomori as willful subjects. Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS), the Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS), & the International Conference on Japan & Japan Studies (IICJ): Global Realities: Precarious Survival and Belonging. (pp. 62). Retrieved from https://accs.iafor.org/accs2017/#programme

2016

Chapter in Book - Research

Overell, R. (2016). Brutal masculinity in Osaka's extreme-metal scene. In F. Heesch & N. Scott (Eds.), Heavy metal, gender and sexuality: Interdisciplinary approaches. (pp. 245-257). London, UK: Routledge.

Journal - Research Other

Kavka, M., & Overell, R. (2016). Special issue: Mediating the real. MEDIANZ, 16(2), 1-5. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol17iss2id205

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2016). Voicing the real in extreme metal: Horror, gender and the growl. Proceedings of the New Research on Horror Conference. Retrieved from http://www.otago.ac.nz/horror2016/index.html

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2016, June). Emancipating spectatorship: A history of singular, subjective, introspective and idiosyncratic engagements with cinema. Keynote presentation at the Department of Media, Film & Communication (MFCO) Early Career/Graduate Conference: Revisiting Audiences: Reception, Identity, Technology, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Overell, R. (2016, June). Approaching audiences: Affective methodologies. Workshop presentation at the Department of Media, Film & Communication (MFCO) Early Career/Graduate Conference: Revisiting Audiences: Reception, Identity, Technology, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Overell, R. (2016, August-September). Mediating the "real" politics on facebook. Verbal presentation at the Mediating the Real Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Bennett, L., Dale, C., Overell, R., & Geoghegan, C. (2016, July). Feeling Asia-Pacifics: Tensions and torsions of art in Aotearoa New Zealand this century. Verbal presentation at the Cultural Typhoon: Can you Feel It? Cultural Intervention in the Globalising Cities, Tokyo, Japan.

2015

Chapter in Book - Research

Overell, R. (2015). The Nikkeijin underground in Japanese extreme metal. In C. Feldman-Barrett (Ed.), Lost histories of youth culture. (pp. 179-197). New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Overell, R. (2015). Brutal belonging in other spaces: Grindcore touring in Melbourne and Osaka. In S. Baker, B. Robards & B. Buttigieg (Eds.), Youth cultures and subcultures: Australian perspectives. (pp. 89-102). Farnham, UK: Ashgate.

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2015). I ain't afraid of no feminist killjoys: The Ghostbusters nostalgia 'crisis'. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/i-aint-afraid-of-no-feminist-killjoys-the-ghostbusters-nostalgia-crisis-36904

Overell, R., & Wilson, O. (2015). Special issue: music/media/politics. MEDIANZ, 15(1), 1-6. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol15iss1id1

Overell, R. (2015). Boots Riley on music/media/politics for the 21st century [Interview]. MEDIANZ, 15(1), 7-16. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol15iss1id2

Overell, R. (2015). When women receive a “wife bonus” capitalism is winning. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/when-women-receive-a-wife-bonus-capitalism-is-winning-42891

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2015). Noisy voices and gender in popular music. Proceedings of the Trans/forming Feminisms Conference: Media, Technology, Identity. Retrieved from http://transformingfeminisms.noblogs.org/

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2015, May). Making sense of mess: Fieldwork gender and Japan. Verbal presentation at the 5th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS), Kobe, Japan.

2014

Authored Book - Research

Overell, R. (2014). Affective intensities in extreme music scenes: Cases from Australia and Japan. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 211p.

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2014). Intermediality and interventions: Applying intermediality frameworks to reality television and microblogs. Refractory, 24. Retrieved from http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2014/08/06/overell/

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2014). Miranda Kerr goes geisha in Vogue … and that might be OK. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/miranda-kerr-goes-geisha-in-vogue-and-that-might-be-ok-32031

Overell, R. (2014). [Review of the book Japanoise: Music at the edge of circulation]. Perfect Beat, 15(1), 97-99. [Book Review].

Overell, R. (2014). Australia's first cat cafe: Stroke of genius or needless fluff? The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/australias-first-cat-cafe-stroke-of-genius-or-needless-fluff-26811

Overell, R. (2014). Gwar is over? The subcultural politics of thrash metal. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/gwar-is-over-the-subcultural-politics-of-thrash-metal-24789

Overell, R. (2014). Lorde vs Miley: Where young feminism meets old class bias. The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/lorde-vs-miley-where-young-feminism-meets-old-class-bias-22531

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2014, May-June). Nikkeijin metal and minoritarian belonging in Nagoya, Japan. Verbal presentation at the 4th Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS) & the 4th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS), Osaka, Japan.

Overell, R. (2014, December). Miley as tastelessly white: race and taste in contemporary pop music. Verbal presentation at the Space, Race, Bodies Conference: Geocorpographies of City, Nation, Empire, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Overell, R. (2014, April). Lorde and Miley: Class politics and contemporary girlhood. Verbal presentation at the Music / Media / Politics Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Overell, R. (2014, December). Becoming minor: Nikkeijin metal and minoritarian belonging in Nagoya, Japan. Verbal presentation at the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Australia/New Zealand Annual Conference: Into the Mix: People, Places, Processes, Dunedin, New Zealand.

2013

Chapter in Book - Research

Overell, R. (2013). (I) hate girls and emo(tion)s: Negotiating masculinity in grindcore music. In T. Hjelm, K. Kahn-Harris & M. Levine (Eds.), Heavy metal: Controversies and countercultures. (pp. 201-227). Sheffield, UK: Equinox.

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. (2013). Explainer: What is K-pop and J-pop? The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-k-pop-and-j-pop-20956

Overell, R. (2013). AKB48, headshaving and the sexual politics of J-Pop. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/akb48-headshaving-and-the-sexual-politics-of-j-pop-11995

Overell, R. (2013). Change in packaging presents a fresh Miley Cyrus commodity. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/change-in-packaging-presents-a-fresh-miley-cyrus-commodity-17523

Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Overell, R. (2013). 'Brazilian / Japanese evil bastards': nikkeijin understandings of 'Japanese-ness' in Nagoya's grindcore scene. Proceedings of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music Australia/New Zealand (IASPM-ANZ) Conference: Popular Music, Communities, Places, Ecologies. Retrieved from http://iaspm.org.au/iaspm-anz-2013-brisbane-program/

Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Overell, R. (2013, October). 'Brazilian/Japanese evil bastards': Nikkeijin understandings of 'Japanese-ness' in Nagoya's grindcore scene. Verbal presentation at the Edward W Said Symposium: Intellectual, Cultural Critic, Activist, Dunedin, New Zealand.

2012

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2012). '[I] hate girls and emo[tion]s': Negotiating masculinity in grindcore music. Popular Music History, 6, 198-223. doi: 10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.198

Journal - Research Other

Overell, R. T. (2012). [Review of the book Making music in Japan's underground: The Tokyo hardcore scene]. Japanese Studies, 32(2), 309-311. doi: 10.1080/10371397.2012.695177

2010

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2010). Emo online: Networks of sociality/networks of exclusion. Perfect Beat, 11(2), 141-162. doi: 10.1558/prbt.v11i2.141

Overell, R. (2010). Brutal belonging in Melbourne's grindcore scene. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 35, 79-99. doi: 10.1108/S0163-2396(2010)0000035009

2009

Journal - Research Article

Overell, R. (2009). The Pink Palace, policy and power: Home-making practices and gentrification in Northcote. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 23(5), 681-695. doi: 10.1080/10304310903056328