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College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. William Thomas McBride

Associate Professor
English
Office
STV Stevenson Hall 336
Office Hours
By appointment T 12:30 - 1:30 pm
Office Phone
(309) 438-7998office
phone
Email
wmcbrid@ilstu.eduemail
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Current Courses

124.001Film Style And Literature

124.001Film Style And Literature

Teaching Interests & Areas

Film Style. Drama. American, British, Global Literature. The Tanakh and New Testament, Ancient Literature

Research Interests & Areas

Hermeneutics, Hitchcock, Soundtracks, Sacred Texts, Cultural Theory of the Popular, Dracula

Ph D

State University of New York at Buffalo

MA

University of Delaware

BA

University of Delaware

Provost’s Innovation and Enhancement Grant

The Provost's Office
2023

Book, Authored

Approaches to Teaching Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Editor. Modern Language Association, 2025.

Book, Chapter

“Marty Two Bad: Scorsese's Philosophy of Shots and the Music Video.” Neglected Scorsese Overlooked Films, Television Shows, and Commercials. Eds. Philip Sipiora and Gary Rhodes, Bloomsbury. October 2025
“`Wast Naked.’ A Biblical Scruple.” Troubling Topics, Sacred Texts. Readings in Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and Qur’an. Ed. Roberta Sabbath. De Gruyter Press, 2021.
“Dutchman Heaped in Modern Cinema.” Approaches to Teaching Amiri Baraka’s Dutchman. Eds. Gerald Early & Matthew Calihman. MLA, 2018.
“Hitchcock’s Stylized Capture of Post-Adolescent Fatheads.” Children in the Films of Alfred Hitchcock. Ed. Debbie Olson. McMillan-Palgrave, 2014.
“Le Rouge et le Noir et le Blanc: `Niki Hoeky'’s Cajun Chiasm of Indian Masking and Native Funk.” Creoles, Diasporas and Cosmopolitanisms: The Creolization of Nations, Cultural Migrations, Global Languages and Literatures. Ed. David Gallagher. Academica Press 2012,

Presentations

“Past the Outskirts of Infinity-The Yahweh Qadash Blues”. American Comparative Literature Association. (2019)
Normal Theater’s Spring Six Week Film School, Curator

THE UNGRATEFUL UNDEAD Fall 2020
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (Murnau 1922) 10/8
White Zombie (Halperin 1932) 10/15.
Dracula (Browning 1931) 10/22
Night of the Living Dead (Romero 1968) 11/5
Dead and Loving It (Brooks 1995) 11/12
Shaun of the Dead (Wright 2004)

THE KUBRICK SPECTACLE Spring 2019
The Killing (1956) 2/20
Lolita (1962) 2/27
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (64) 3/6,
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 3/20
A Clockwork Orange (1971) 3/27
The Shining (1980) 4/3.

CLASSIC BROADWAY STAGE TO STYLIZED HOLLYWOOD SCREEN Fall 2018
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1948 (Kazan 1951) 9/26, Dutchman LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka 1964 (Harvey 1966) 10/3
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee 1962 (Nichols 1966) 10/17
Boys in the Band Mart Crowley 1968 (Friedkin 1970) 10/24
Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 (Schlondorf 1985) 11/7
True West Sam Shepard 1980 (Goldstein 1981) 11/14.

WONDER WOMEN DIRECTORS Spring 2018
Christopher Strong (Arzner 1933) 1/24
The Hitch-Hiker (Lupino 1953) 1/31
A League of Their Own (Marshall 1992) 2/7
Lost in Translation (Coppola 2003) 2/21
Selma (DuVernay 2014) 2/28
Wonder Woman (Jenkins 2017) 3/7

THE SCORSESE STYLE: FROM ALICE TO SILENCE Fall 2017
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) 9/27
Taxi Driver (1976) 10/4
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) 10/11
Gangs of New York (2002) 10/25
Hugo (20112) 11/1
Silence (2016) 11/8

ALFRED HITCHCOCK: MASTER OF STYLE Spring 2017
Shadow of a Doubt 2/1
Notorious 2/8
Strangers on a Train 2/15
Vertigo 2/22, Psycho 3/1
The Birds 2/8

FILM NOIRS: VISUAL STYLE & FORTUNE Fall 2016
The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941) 9/21
Double Indemnity (Wilder 1944) 9/28
Murder My Sweet (Dmytryk 1944) 10/12
The Postman Always Rings Twice (Garnett 1946) 10/26
Out of the Past (Tourneur 1947) 11/9
Chinatown (Polanski 1974) 11/16
Interviewed on WJBC’s The Steve Fast Show promoting Six Week Film School, Alfred Hitchcock-Master of Style, Jan 29, 2017. https://audioboom.com/posts/5547371-william-mcbride-1-29-17?t=0
“Chuck Berry Drew Influences From Musical Melting Pot” discussing the historical and cultural impact of black rock progenitor Chuck Berry, interviewed by Mike McCurdy on WGLT’s Sound Ideas, April 4, 2017. http://wglt.org/post/chuck-berry-drew-influences-musical-melting-pot
“Hitchcock Pitches `Curve Balls’ During Film Festival,” promoting Six Week Film School, Alfred Hitchcock-Master of Style, interviewed by Mike McCurdy on WGLT’s Sound Ideas, Feb 1, 2017. http://wglt.org/post/hitchock-pitches-curve-balls-during-film-festival#stream/0

“Bogie & Bowie: The Quintessential Film Noir Anti-Hero & The Iconic Queer Pop Artist Hero.” “Wild Heroes: Media, Society, and the Need for Narrative” panel. The International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature and Media. Palmer House, Chicago, IL. July 7, 2016.

“Connecting the Dots 3 Years On Teaching an Online Film Course & Textbook,” Connecting the Dots for Effective Online Instruction panel, William Thomas McBride Chair. 2016 Teaching & Learning Symposium, Imagining the Future Reflecting on the Past. Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, Normal, Il, January 6, 2016.

“Why Stories Matter: Overcoming Oppression and Celebrating Diversity through Narrative,” panelist, Illinois State University’s Culturally Responsive Campus Community (CRCC) Conference, Uniting to Challenge Systems of Oppression, Old Main Room/Bone Student Center, October 25, 2016.

“`Who Told Thee That Thou Wast Naked?’ Troubling Nakedness and Knowing in the Tanak, New Testament, and the Qu’ran.” Sacred Aporia: Troubling Topics in Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur'an. American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. March 19, 2016.

Curator, Normal Theater’s Fall Six Week Film School, “Film Noirs: Visual Style & Fortune,” The Maltese Falcon 9/21, Double Indemnity 9/28, Murder My Sweet, 10/12 The Postman Always Rings Twice 10/26, Out of the Past 11/9, Chinatown 11/16. 2016

Grants & Contracts

Provost’s Innovation and Enhancement Grant to fund Milner Library's perpetual streaming media. $20,000. The Provost. Illinois State University. (2023)
MLA Approaches to Teaching Stoker's Dracula. Illinois State University. Illinois State University. (2020)
ISU Harold K. Sage Foundation Fund Grant. Illinois State University. Illinois State University. (2016)