About Dahlia
DAHLIA SCHWEITZER is a pop culture critic, writer, and professor. Described by Vogue as “sexy, rebellious, and cool,” Schweitzer writes about film, television, music, gender, identity, and everything in between. She studied at Wesleyan University, lived and worked in New York City and Berlin, and completed her MA and PhD at the Art Center College of Design and UCLA. She is currently chair of the Film and Media department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
In addition to her books, Dahlia has essays in publications including Cinema Journal, Journal of Popular Film and Television, Hyperallergic, Jump Cut, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, and The Journal of Popular Culture. She has also released several albums of electronic music, including Plastique and Original Pickup.
Professor
As a professor of film and media studies, Dahlia exposes her students to a variety of theoretical approaches and cinematic techniques, asking them to approach both with analytical inquisitiveness. Her aim is to pass her own curiosity on to her students, encouraging them to think across their classes and experiences to create intellectual connections between course materials and the world in which they live. She strives to remind her students that the loudest voice is not necessarily correct, and in so doing, helps them find their own.
Media Critic
Declared “one of the world’s leading analysts of popular culture” by renowned author Toby Miller, Dahlia writes about film, television, music, gender, identity, and everything in between. Her work can be found across mainstream, academic, and emergent channels in both long and short form. Repeatedly drawn to popular culture, Dahlia loves to analyze and unpack cultural artifacts in order to explore how they reflect social and historical issues, as well as looking at how they reinforce or interrogate common cultural assumptions.
Author
Dahlia has written numerous books exploring aspects of film and television. Regardless of the topic—serial killers, private detectives, or even zombies—all of her writing engages directly with questions of self versus other, private versus public space, examining depictions of gender, identity, and race. She traces how these depictions evolve and examines what they mean about our changing world. In her latest project, Dahlia explores the ways haunted homes have become a venue for dramatizing anxieties about family, gender, race, and economic collapse.
Books
Cindy Sherman’s
Office Killer
Going
Viral
L.A.
Private Eyes
Haunted
Homes
Blog
Why the Movement to Boycott Israel Disgusts and Disappoints Me
I never intended to use this blog to post about politics, let alone about religion and politics. This blog originally began as a medium to talk about art, sexuality, dating, identity – the issues that generally preoccupy my brain – and I know these are the topics most people prefer to read about, so to them I apologize for this interlude. When the war broke out in Gaza, it was impossible for me to stay detached. After all, I was in Tel Aviv when rockets were fired. These were my family...
How Many Deaths Are Enough?
There have been many, MANY anti-Israel posts zipping their way around the Internet. Facebook, in particular, seems to breed them, the venomous hate seeping through comment threads, trollers determined to push their particular agenda. For the most part, I make a conscious effort to avoid them. I know these are people whose minds cannot be changed, whose opinions are firmly entrenched, and I don't see the point in endless name-calling and antagonism. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, little...
This Is Personal
It has been recently brought to my attention that I post too much about Israel on Facebook. I guess it's a real downer to be reminded that half a world away a vicious and deadly conflict is taking place. Perhaps somewhere a memo has circulated that Facebook is best suited for selfies and photos of elaborately arranged meals. Would you prefer reminders of palm trees and sunsets? The thing is, it's personal. I agree that the present conflict in Syria is horrible, and I wish there was more outcry...