Alexx Apicella

Ph.D. student
apicelam@g.ucla.edu

Alexx Apicella is academically fascinated by the hard-to-watch and the unwatchable. They received their B.A. in five majors from Miami University of Ohio in 2019 where they studied cultural theory, queer theory, history and literature, with a focus placed on global revolutionary movements, modern and historic fascist action, social justice and queer existence. During this time, they studied abroad in England, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Apicella received their M.A. in Cinema and Media Studies at UCLA in 2020. Their capstone thesis involved a queer reconstruction of the Final Boy trope in 1980s slasher films centered around graphic depictions of rape and sexual assault. Their research interests have further developed to expand outside of fictional horror and into non-simulated depictions of horror, extremism and pornography as it appears in non-filmic media.

Research Interests

Horror and the horrific, extremity and extremism, porn and pornographies, queerness and queer theory

Education

M.A. Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, 2020
B.A. Black World Studies, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2019
B.A. Classical Humanities, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2019
B.A. English Literature, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2019
B.A. Latin American, Latino/a, & Caribbean Studies, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2019
B.A. Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, 2019

Presentations

“Penetrated Bodies: Rape and Sexual Assault as a Final Boy Queering Agent,” PCA 2021 National Conference, virtual (June 2-5, 2021).
“Intertextual Queerness in Wes Craven’s Scream,” PCA 2019 National Conference, Washington, D.C. (April 17-20, 2019).