Dr Rebecca Beirne
Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci (Screen and Cultural Studies)
- Email:rebecca.beirne@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:0249215081
Career Summary
Biography
Keywords
- Gender and sexuality studies
- LGBTIQ Studies
- Media studies
- Mental health in the media
- Television studies
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 470107 | Media studies | 50 |
| 470208 | Culture, representation and identity | 50 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
| Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|
| Senior Lecturer | University of Newcastle School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci Australia |
Teaching
| Code | Course | Role | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| FMCS1000 |
Film, Media, Culture | School of Humanities and Social Science - Faculty of Education and Arts - The University of Newcastle So many of the defining moments in our lives are accompanied by an experience with the media or have grown out of our relationship with the media. The media are a central part of how we live, work and play. This course provides a interdisciplinary framework for the analysis of our complex relationship with diverse forms of media. It will introduce students to a range of analytical approaches to the study of film, media and culture, and their application to specific texts, situations and events. |
Coordinator | 3/3/2016 - 20/6/2018 |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Book (5 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Beirne RC, Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, 228 (2012) [A4] | ||||
| 2011 | Beirne RC, Bennett JE, Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand, I. B. Tauris, London, 296 (2011) [A3] | Open Research Newcastle | |||
| 2008 |
Televising Queer Women, Palgrave Macmillan US (2008)
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| 2008 |
Beirne RC, Lesbians in Television and Text After the Millennium, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 233 (2008) [A1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | |||
| Show 2 more books | |||||
Chapter (18 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 |
Ford H, Beirne R, 'Teaching screen and cultural studies online', 78-93 (2025)
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| 2018 | Beirne RC, 'Representing Lesbians', The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality, Routledge, New York (2018) | |||||||
| 2017 |
Beirne R, 'REPRESENTING LESBIANS IN FILM AND TELEVISION', 38-48 (2017)
Lesbian sexuality has a history of invisibility in moving-image media. Lesbian representation in television series has also frequently followed similar themes. One of t... [more] Lesbian sexuality has a history of invisibility in moving-image media. Lesbian representation in television series has also frequently followed similar themes. One of the potential outcomes of increased lesbian representation in the media is offering points of identification for lesbian and bisexual women. Identifying and articulating definitional boundaries in lesbian and gay media studies is not quite as simple as it may initially seem, with associated terminology coming under fire where it is seen to exceed its relevance. Feminist film theory's intensive focus upon the gaze has resulted in much scrutiny as to the extent to which lesbian sexual representation caters to the heterosexual male gaze. When lesbian sex becomes almost invisible even in an encyclopedia entry about lesbian pornography, the most explicit of sexual representations, it shows the extent to which the discussion of lesbian sexual representation has become mired in discussions of authenticity, gender and politics.
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| 2012 |
Beirne RC, Habib S, 'Trauma and triumph: Documenting Middle Eastern gender and sexual minorities in film and television', -, 41-58 (2012) [B1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2012 | Beirne RC, 'Queer women on television today', Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 1-10 (2012) [B1] | Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2012 | Beirne RC, 'Mapping lesbian sexuality on Queer as Folk', Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 63-71 (2012) [B2] | |||||||
| 2012 | Beirne RC, 'Interrogating lesbian pornography: Gender, sexual iconography and spectatorship', Hard to Swallow: Hard-Core Pornography on Screen, Wallflower Press, London 229-243 (2012) [B1] | Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2011 | Bennett JE, Beirne RC, 'Introduction', Making Film and Television Histories: Australia and New Zealand, I. B. Tauris, London xvii-xxiii (2011) [B2] | Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| Show 15 more chapters | ||||||||
Journal article (10 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 |
Beirne RC, 'Extraordinary minds, impossible choices: mental health, special skills and television', MEDICAL HUMANITIES, 45, 235-239 (2019) [C1]
Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of televisual protagonist and major secondary characters specifically identified within the text as havin... [more] Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of televisual protagonist and major secondary characters specifically identified within the text as having a diagnosed mental illness. This is a significant development in the context of characters with a mental illness on television, who were previously usually minor and heavily stigmatised. A key trend with these new protagonists and major characters is the attribution of special talents or powers associated with mental health conditions. This paper analyses the discursive construction of this trope in five recent television series: Sherlock (UK, BBC, 2010-), Homeland (USA, Showtime, 2011-), Perception (USA, TNT, 2012-2015), Hannibal (USA, NBC, 2013-2015) and Black Box (USA, ABC, 2014). Theoretically, this paper draws on Sami Schalk's formulation of the superpowered supercrip narrative', which refers to the representation of a character who has abilities or "powers" that operate in direct relationship with or contrast to their disability'. This paper is also indebted to Davi A Johnson's Managing Mr. Monk' (2008) for its discussion of mental illness as attaining social value' through becoming a resource with economic and ethical value, as do the conditions of the fictional characters explored in this article. Schalk's work on disability is here expanded to a more specific discussion of mental illness on television, while Johnson's work is updated to discuss whether the newer characterisations reflect the same rhetorical positioning as Monk (USA, USA Network, 2002-2009), one of the earliest texts celebrated for featuring a lead, sympathetic character clearly and explicitly identified with a mental health condition. Of the five lead characters examined here, three are figured as responsible for their symptoms because they have chosen not to take medication or withdraw from their medication. It is concurrently presented that if they do take medication, it dampens their abilities to perform valuable work in the community, thus removing their use value within the world of the series.
|
Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2015 |
Beirne RC, 'Piracy, geoblocking and Australian access to niche independent cinema', Popular Communication, 13, 18-31 (2015) [C1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2014 |
Beirne R, 'New Queer Cinema 2.0? Lesbian-focused films and the internet', Screen, 55, 129-138 (2014) [C1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2012 |
Beirne RC, 'Teen lesbian desires and identities in international cinema: 1931-2007', Journal of Lesbian Studies, 16, 258-272 (2012) [C1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| 2009 |
Beirne RC, 'Screening the dykes of Oz: Lesbian representation on Australian television', Journal of Lesbian Studies, 13, 25-34 (2009) [C1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | ||||||
| Show 7 more journal articles | ||||||||
Media (3 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Beirne R, 'The first bisexual Bachelorette and the messy history of bisexual representation on reality TV' (2021) | ||
| 2017 | Beirne R, 'TV's troubling storylines for characters with a mental illness' (2017) | ||
| 2015 | Beirne R, 'Spoiler alert: old-man-power trumps a successful young woman in The Intern' (2015) |
Other (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Beirne RC, 'Sex Wars of the 1980s', LGBTQ America Today ( pp.1122-1125). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (2009) |
Report (2 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 |
Grushka K, Bennett J, Parkes RJ, Beirne R, Donnelly D, Falzon C, Gallagher B, Imre R, Lowrie C, May J, Sharp H, 'Visual media texts: Teaching and assessing the humanities & social sciences in a post-literate age', 1-18 (2013) [R1]
|
Open Research Newcastle | |||
| 2013 |
Grushka KM, Bennett J, Parkes R, Beirne R, Donnelly D, Falzon C, Gallager B, Imre R, Lowrie C, May J, Sharp H, 'Visual Media Texts: Teaching and Assessing the Humanities and Social Sciences in a Post-literate Age', 1-17 (2013)
|
Review (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Beirne RC, 'Queer German cinema', Directory of World Cinema: Germany (2012) [D2] |
Grants and Funding
Summary
| Number of grants | 8 |
|---|---|
| Total funding | $69,284 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20211 grants / $2,000
CHSF Working Parents Research Relief Scheme$2,000
Funding body: College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle
| Funding body | College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Scheme | CHSF - Working Parents Research Relief Scheme |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2021 |
| Funding Finish | 2021 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
20191 grants / $14,725
Multidisciplinary humanities applications of metadata and computational text analysis$14,725
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
| Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Dr Marie-Laure Vuaille-Barcan (Lead), Dr Rebecca Beirne, Dr Erin McCarthy, Prof Christof Schoch (University of Trier) Prof Fotis Jannidis (University of Wurzburg) |
| Scheme | Strategic Network and Pilot Project Grants Scheme |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2019 |
| Funding Finish | 2019 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
20181 grants / $6,059
Australia-Germany Joint Research$6,059
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Rebecca Beirne, Dr Katrin Betz, Dr José Calvo Tello, Dr Chrisof Schoch |
| Scheme | Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme (DAAD) |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2018 |
| Funding Finish | 2019 |
| GNo | G1800271 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
20172 grants / $30,000
Society, Health and Disability Research Group: New Horizons$15,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
| Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
|---|---|
| Scheme | FEDUA Strategic Networks and Pilot Projects (SNaPP) |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
Representing Mental Health Conditions on Television, 2006-2016$15,000
Television has historically failed to offer a diverse representation of individuals and characters with mental conditions in a context where. The number and prominence of characters with mental health conditions, has, however, improved in recent years. And as Philo et.al. observe in their 2014 study conducted for UK mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness: “There are encouraging signs that we are moving away from outdated ‘mad and bad’ stereotypes in TV drama and moving towards more authentic, sympathetic and complex characters.”
This study offers a close analysis of lead and major secondary characters and storylines in 32 television series appearing from 2006-2016 to offer a qualitative perspective on whether they have indeed moved away from established stigmatized stereotypes or not. Of particular interest is the potential of having multiple series where protagonists experience a mental health condition, instead of a secondary or one-off character. This study used mixed methods to: identify major characters in Anglophone scripted television series who are narratively diagnosed with a mental health condition; group the results in a variety of permutations including diagnoses, behavioural characteristics, age, gender, and treatment (therapy, medication and hospitalization); and conduct a close analysis of individual representations.
Funding body: University of Newcastle Faculty of Education and Arts
| Funding body | University of Newcastle Faculty of Education and Arts |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Rebecca Beirne |
| Scheme | Faculty Fellowship (Mid-Career Researcher) |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2017 |
| Funding Finish | 2017 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
20112 grants / $11,500
Visual Media Texts$10,000
Funding body: Centre for Teaching and Learning, The University of Newcastle
| Funding body | Centre for Teaching and Learning, The University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Dr Kathryn Grushka, Dr James Bennett, Dr Robert Parkes, Dr Rebecca Beirne, Ms Debra Donnelly, Dr Chris Falzon, Ms Bronwyn Gallagher (RA), Dr Robert Imre, Dr Claire Lowrie, Dr Josephine May, Dr Heather Sharp. |
| Scheme | Teaching and Learning Grant |
| Role | Investigator |
| Funding Start | 2011 |
| Funding Finish | 2011 |
| GNo | |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | N |
The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealands Annual Conference, Auckland, 290611 - 1/7/2011$1,500
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
| Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Rebecca Beirne |
| Scheme | Travel Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2011 |
| Funding Finish | 2012 |
| GNo | G1100644 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
20081 grants / $5,000
Lesbian in World Cinema$5,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Rebecca Beirne |
| Scheme | New Staff Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2008 |
| Funding Finish | 2008 |
| GNo | G0189587 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
| Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | PhD | What Should We Watch?: The Evolution And Implications Of A Film Canon | PhD (Cultural Studies), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
| 2023 | PhD | An Exploration of Contemporary Spoken Word Poetry and its Functions Within Community | PhD (English), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
| 2022 | PhD | What Can We Learn from the Stories of Women with Complex Relationships in the NSW Public Health System? | PhD (Cultural Studies), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
| 2020 | Masters | Representations of Women in Fantasy Literature at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century | M Philosophy (English), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
| 2019 | PhD | Atmosphere in 1960s Japanese Cinema | PhD (Cultural Studies), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
Past Supervision
| Year | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | PhD | Self-Presentations on Social Network Sites: Emerging Adults and their Marketised Personas | PhD (Comm & Media Arts), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Co-Supervisor |
| 2022 | PhD | The Treatment of Culturally Dissonant Women: Ancient Rome and Online Contemporary Anglophone Culture | PhD (Classics), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
| 2022 | PhD | Hella Queer: The Representation of Female Same-Sex Sexuality in Contemporary Anglophone Graphic Narratives | PhD (Cultural Studies), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
Research Projects
LGBTQ+ representation in popular culture 2003 -
Grants
Lesbian in World Cinema
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Rebecca Beirne |
| Scheme | New Staff Grant |
The Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealands Annual Conference, Auckland, 290611 - 1/7/2011
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
| Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor Rebecca Beirne |
| Scheme | Travel Grant |
Publications
Beirne R, 'Queering the Slayer-Text: Reading Possibilities in Buffy the Vampire Slayer', Refractory: a journal of entertainment media, 5 (2004) [C1]
Beirne R, 'Embattled Sex: Rise of the Right and Victory of the Queer in Queer as Folk', New Queer Aesthetic on Television: Essays on Recent Programming, McFarland & Company, Inc, Jefferson, North Carolina, United States 43-58 (2005) [B1]
Beirne R, 'Fashioning The L Word', NEBULA: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship, 3, 1-37 (2006) [C1]
Beirne R, 'Dirty Lesbian Pictures: Art and Pornography in The L Word', Critical Studies in Television, 2, 90-101 (2007) [C1]
Beirne R, 'Lesbian Pulp Television: Torment, Trauma and Transformations in The L Word', Refractory: a journal of entertainment media, 11 (2007) [C1]
Beirne R, 'Introduction: A History of Lesbian Television Criticism', Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, United Kingdom 1-16 (2008) [B1]
Beirne R, 'Mapping Lesbian Desire in Queer as Folk', Televising Queer Women, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, United Kingdom 99-107 (2008) [B1]
Beirne RC, Lesbians in Television and Text After the Millennium, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 233 (2008) [A1]
Beirne R, 'sex wars of the 1980s', 1-3, 1122-1125 (2008)
Beirne R, Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, New York & London, USA & UK, 272 (2008) [A3]
Beirne R, 'Introduction', Televising Queer Women, Palgrave Macmillan US 1-15 (2008)
Beirne R, 'Introduction', Lesbians in Television and Text after the Millennium, Palgrave Macmillan US 1-20 (2008)
Beirne RC, 'Interrogating lesbian pornography: Gender, sexual iconography and spectatorship', Hard to Swallow: Hard-Core Pornography on Screen, Wallflower Press, London 229-243 (2012) [B1]
Beirne RC, Habib S, 'Trauma and triumph: Documenting Middle Eastern gender and sexual minorities in film and television', -, 41-58 (2012) [B1]
Beirne RC, Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, 228 (2012) [A4]
Beirne RC, 'Queer German cinema', Directory of World Cinema: Germany (2012) [D2]
Beirne RC, 'Queer women on television today', Televising Queer Women: A Reader, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 1-10 (2012) [B1]
Beirne R, 'New Queer Cinema 2.0? Lesbian-focused films and the internet', Screen, 55, 129-138 (2014) [C1]
Beirne RC, 'Piracy, geoblocking and Australian access to niche independent cinema', Popular Communication, 13, 18-31 (2015) [C1]
Beirne R, 'REPRESENTING LESBIANS IN FILM AND TELEVISION', 38-48 (2017)
Beirne RC, 'Representing Lesbians', The Routledge Companion to Media, Sex and Sexuality, Routledge, New York (2018)
Beirne R, 'The first bisexual Bachelorette and the messy history of bisexual representation on reality TV' (2021)
Students
| Program | Research Title |
|---|---|
| PhD College of Human and Social Futures |
Hella Queer: The Representation of Female Same-Sex Sexuality in Contemporary Anglophone Graphic Narratives |
Conceptualising and depicting mental ill health 2016 -
Grants
CHSF Working Parents Research Relief Scheme
Funding body: College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle
| Funding body | College of Human and Social Futures | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Scheme | CHSF - Working Parents Research Relief Scheme |
Society, Health and Disability Research Group: New Horizons
Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
| Funding body | University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts |
|---|---|
| Scheme | FEDUA Strategic Networks and Pilot Projects (SNaPP) |
Publications
Beirne R, 'TV's troubling storylines for characters with a mental illness' (2017)
Beirne RC, 'Extraordinary minds, impossible choices: mental health, special skills and television', MEDICAL HUMANITIES, 45, 235-239 (2019) [C1]
Students
| Program | Research Title |
|---|---|
| PhD College of Human and Social Futures |
What Can We Learn from the Stories of Women with Complex Relationships in the NSW Public Health System? |
Edit
Dr Rebecca Beirne
Position
Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci
College of Human and Social Futures
Focus area
Screen and Cultural Studies
Contact Details
| rebecca.beirne@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Phone | 0249215081 |
| Mobile | 61418265991 |
Connect with me
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