Carter Moulton, who received a BA in Journalism with a minor in Film Studies from Michigan State University in 2011, is now a PhD candidate in Screen Cultures at Northwestern University, where he researches media industries, fandom, and transmedia tourism. He also serves as a Graduate Teaching Fellow and Teaching Consultant at Northwestern’s Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching.

Moulton currently is working on his dissertation, tentatively titled “The Blockbuster Experience: Event Media, Media Events, and Contemporary Cinemagoing Culture,” which focuses on today’s expanded network of cinemagoing sites — movie theaters, escape rooms, “VR” attractions, theme parks, studio tours, fan festivals, tourism sites, and pop-up bars — and explores how current industry practices have reformed the standards of media-going in the last 20 years.

He already has published several articles on topics ranging from 3D cinema (CineAction) and Blu-Ray “special features” (Media Fields Journal) to “TV Everywhere” apps (The Popular Culture Studies Journal), midnight movies (The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema), Hollywood’s cooption of cult fandom (The New Review of Film & Television Studies), and the convergence of nostalgia and speculation in promotional media (The International Journal of Cultural Studies).

Before coming to Northwestern, Moulton taught college composition as a master’s student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and later as a lecturer at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University.

As an undergraduate student, he minored in Film Studies during a time when MSU’s Department of English was developing a Film Studies major.

“Throughout the various film courses I took at MSU, I gained a foundational knowledge about cinema history and theory that continues to shape my work today,” he said. “These courses also helped me develop as a critical thinker and provided me with a clearer picture of who I am as a writer.

“Also, my passion for pedagogy (and for creating inclusive learning environments) was in no small part sparked by Justus Nieland’s film courses. His mentorship and dedication to teaching served and continues to serve as a model for my own pedagogy.”

Another program that has impacted his career is the Film in Britain study abroad program offered by MSU’s Department of English.

“That was truly a transformative experience for me,” he said. “The combination of meeting industry practitioners and screening films at the BFI, exploring new places and cultural sites, and attending my first international film festival offered a holistic approach to learning that I had never experienced before. It also sparked my interest in cross-cultural exchange, which culminated with me joining the Peace Corps (Thailand) in between earning my MA and PhD. My time at MSU impacted my life in so many ways.”