Dan Herbert

Dan Herbert Photo
After graduating from UNM in 2001, Daniel Herbert earned his MA and PhD in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California. In 2008, he joined the faculty in the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures at the University of Michigan (where he surprisingly and happily works alongside his former UNM Media Arts classmate Colin Gunckel!).
At Michigan, Herbert has taught a wide array of classes in film and media studies, including Adaptations, Apocalyptic Media, the Contemporary Film History, and Film Theory, among others. He feels especially “at home” at the University of Michigan because the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures has a similar curriculum as UNM – balancing courses in film history, theory, and media production within a liberal arts environment.

Herbert is the author of two books and a number of essays. His first book, Videoland: Movie Culture at the American Video Store (UC Press, 2014: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520279636), was inspired by his work as a clerk at Alphaville Video in Albuquerque during the 1990s and early 2000s. Videoland provides a cultural, industrial, geographic, and historical analysis of video rental stores and their impact on movie culture during the last several decades. Herbert’s research examined print sources and other archival materials, but also involved several cross-country road trips where he interviewed over one hundred video store workers. In addition to charting the historical rise and fall of the rental industry, Videoland explores the architectural design of video stores, the social dynamics of retail encounters, the video distribution industry, the proliferation of video recommendation guides, and the often surprising persistence of the video store as an adaptable social space of consumer culture.

Herbert’s second book is Film Remakes and Franchises (Rutgers UP, 2017: https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/film-remakes-and-franchises/9780813590066). This short book examines how remakes and sequels have been central to the film industry from its very inception, yet also considers how the recent trends toward reboots and transmedia franchises depart from those historical precedents. The book also explores how contemporary filmmakers have used reboots and franchise movies to inject timely social commentary and diversity into established media properties.

In addition to writing and teaching, Herbert enjoys spending time with his wife Anna (BA English, ’99) and their daughter Clara at their home in the woods on the outskirts of Ann Arbor, where their neighbors include birds, deer, and baby foxes.

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