Dr Christina Wilkins

Dr Christina Wilkins

Department of Film and Creative Writing
Lecturer in Film and Creative Writing

Contact details

Address
University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am researcher in contemporary film, television and literature with a specialism in adaptations and mental health. I have published books in adaptation studies, most recently the edited collection Authenticity and Adaptation (2025) and my monograph Embodying Adaptation (2022) which looks at character, the body, and adaptation. My most recent book, Male Mental Illness in Contemporary Culture (2025) focuses on gender, suicide, and mental illness across literature, television and film.

Qualifications

  • PhD English and Film, University of Southampton (2016)
  • MA English, University of Southampton (2010)
  • BA (Hons) English, University of Southampton (2009)

Biography

The majority of my early academic experience was at the University of Southampton where I studied English. I moved into Film and Television with my PhD which looked at the mediation of gendered and religious identities in contemporary vampire narratives. This led me to thinking about adaptations, which has been my particular area of interest for the last ten years. I am currently the Co-Chair of the Association for Adaptation Studies (AAS) and I established the BAFTSS Adaptation SIG in 2022. I am an Associate Editor for the Adaptation journal. Alongside this, I have been researching into mental health and established the Mental Health Humanities Researcher Network in 2023.

I have previously taught at the University of Winchester and the University of Southampton across the film, English, and American studies departments. Outside of academia, I have been a poetry editor and copywriter.

Teaching

I teach across Film and Creative Writing, including Adaptation: Theory and Practice, Identity and Cultural Narratives, and Multimedia Adaptation for the DMCI programme.

Postgraduate supervision

I am interested in supervising projects that explore contemporary film and television, around themes of mental health, identity, gender, or projects within adaptation studies.


Find out more - our PhD Film Studies  page has information about doctoral research at the University Âé¶¹¾«Ñ¡.

Research

My primary research area is adaptations. I have published various chapters related to this field, regularly participate in the AAS conferences (and am on the board of trustees), have established the BAFTSS Adaptation group, am Associate Editor for Adaptation and have recently released books in this area. Embodying Adaptation: Character and the Body Ìý(2022) examines the connection between character and the body, and the hierarchies inherent within this relationship. It seeks to find a new approach to adaptations that is framed by the body and its importance in our increasingly intangible society. Authenticity and Adaptation (2025) is a recent edited collection I put together exploring the intersections between authenticity in contemporary culture and the concept of adaptation.

My other research interests include mental health, identity, memory, and queer studies. This is reflected in the chapters I have published on these topics. Another strand of my research is male mental health and suicide in contemporary culture, which is the focus of my newest monograph, Male Mental Illness in Contemporary Culture.Ìý

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Wilkins, C (ed.) 2025, . Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture, 1 edn, Palgrave Macmillan.

Wilkins, C 2025, . 1 edn, Palgrave Macmillan.

Wilkins, C 2022, . Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture, 1 edn, Palgrave Macmillan.

Article

Wilkins, C 2025, '', Literature Film Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 3.

Wilkins, C 2023, '', Humanities , vol. 12, no. 4, 66.

Wilkins, C 2023, '', Humanities , vol. 12, no. 4, 66.

Wilkins, C 2023, '', Adaptation.

Wilkins, C 2022, '', Adaptation, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 460–463.

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Wilkins, C 2025, . in Utopian Fictions. SUNY Press.

Wilkins, C 2023, . in S Bacon (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1-16.

Wilkins, C 2022, . in M Pomerance & RB Palmer (eds), Autism in Film and Television: On the Island. University of Texas Press. <>

Wilkins, C 2021, . in M Leggatt (ed.), Was it Yesterday?: Nostalgia in Contemporary Film and Television. SUNY series, Horizons of Cinema, SUNY Press, pp. 197-210. <>

Wilkins, C 2020, . in M Cornelius & S Ginn (eds), Apocalypse TV. McFarland.

Digital or Visual Products

Wilkins, C & Jones, N, , 2025, Digital or Visual Products. <>

Humphreys-Lamford, R, Wilkins, C & Jones, N, , 2025, Digital or Visual Products.