Biography
Dr. Wiedenfeld studies esthetics and culture with one focus on U.S. cinema and another on modernist literature. His book Hollywood Sports Movies and the American Dream (Oxford University Press, 2022) demonstrates a current of progressive politics that runs from Rocky to White Men Can't Jump and Ali, guided by an Arendtian approach to the politics of popular culture. In parallel with his research on sports he has written on professional women's soccer as a reporter. Elsewhere, his article "Up-to-Speed Cinema" asserts that D.W. Griffith's singular contribution to cinema was faster editing, propelled by deficient studio facilities. Dr. Wiedenfeld has also published work on Flaubert's style that follows his focus on punctuation and whitespace in modernist literature. Before turning to scholarship he made 16mm experimental films, video installations, and mixed-media performances.
Courses in 2025/26
- CIN201Y1 - Film Cultures I
- CIN320H1S - Sports Movies
- CIN460H1F - Beauty of the Cut