Melenia Arouh

BA, Philosophy, Deree – The American College of Greece; MA, Film Studies, University of Southampton; PhD, Film Aesthetics, University of Southampton

Melenia Arouh, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Deree – The American College of Greece. Her current teaching includes such courses as Philosophy and Cinema, Aesthetics, Introduction to Film, American Cinema, and Film Analysis. Her research interests are interdisciplinary as she works on scholarship that links film and media theory with philosophical enquiry. Her publishing is on philosophical investigations of cinema (“Mapping Cinema Space”; “What is the Philosophy of Cinema?”; “The Different Meanings of Film Form”); on philosophical and cultural analysis of films and artworks (“Schindler’s List Revisited”; “Hamilton and the Poetics of America”; “Culture Wars Narratives in Horror Hunting Films”); and on social enquiry of film-related practices (“Toxic fans: Distinctions and ambivalence”; “Digital Piracy as a Socio-Cultural Practice: A study of the Greek Market”). Forthcoming this academic year is a journal article on “The Moral Ambivalence of Online Political Activism by Film and Television Celebrities”, and an anthology chapter on “Slasher Aesthetics: A Formal Evaluation of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Research Projects

• Preying on the Other: Culture Wars Narratives in Horror Hunting Films (book chapter co-author, 2024): Analyzes how horror hunting films, particularly The Hunt (2020), reflect the intensified culture wars post-2016 U.S. election by depicting an ideological “Other” as menacing and morally repugnant monster, satirizing clashing values through human-against-human misanthropic narratives.
• Digital Piracy as a Socio-Cultural Practice (journal article co-author, 2024): Studies digital piracy of films and television shows in Greece as a cultural behavior shaped by access, not just legality.-Hamilton and the Poetics of America(journal issue co-editor, 2023): Examines the cultural and political impact of the musical Hamilton through diverse analysis.
• What Is the Philosophy of Cinema? An Alternative Reading (book chapter, 2020): Introduces the philosophy of cinema, surveying its diverse research approaches and highlighting major issues, particularly through the contributions of women philosophers, to outline key areas of inquiry within the discipline.
• The Different Meanings of “FilmForm” (journal article, 2020): Examines ambiguities in the concept of “form” in film aesthetics, analyzing its relation to content, medium, and style, and highlighting its significance and the type of aesthetic analysis it enables.
• Toxic Fans: Distinctions and Ambivalence (journal article, 2020): Examines the complex dynamics of toxic fan behavior in film and television fandoms, exploring how fans navigate their identities and relationships with producers.