Biography
Max Kaplan is a PhD candidate in the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Communication Arts Department. His research focuses on the politics of audiovisual cultures and the re-circulation of popular music catalogs through sync licensing.Education
- M.A. City University of New York Graduate Center, 2022
- B.S. University of Pittsburgh, 2015
- Book Review: “Automatic Artistry: Negotiating Musical Creativity in a Technological Age,” The Velvet Light Trap.
- “The Midwestern Accent as Comedic Trope: To Fargo and Beyond,” The Middle West Review (Forthcoming)
- “A24 Music: Reinventing Synergy Through Musical Paratexts,” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565261422349
- “Transport is Arranged: A Travelogue,” Manifold @CUNY.
- “Television Curation in the Playlist Era,” Journal of Popular Television Vol. 11 (3). https://doi.org/10.1386/jptv_00106_1
- “Audiovisual Afterlives: The Soundtrack of Liberal Nostalgia,” Master’s Thesis, CUNY Graduate Center.
- 2026- “The Audiovisual Afterlives of Fleetwood Mac: Intertextual Value in the Age of Derivative Media,” Music and the Moving Image, New York City.
- 2026- “Describe your Song Here: Comparing Affordances and Value in Generative AI Music Services,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago.
- 2025- “A24 Music: Reinventing Synergy Through Musical Paratexts,” Hollywood Conference, Los Angeles.
- 2025- “Nostalgia Mode At Play: Saltburn Club Nights and The Shaping of a Platformed Past,” International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Paris.
- 2025- “Nostalgia Mode At Play: Saltburn Club Nights and The Shaping of a Platformed Past,” Music and the Moving Image, New York City.
- 2024- “Audiovisual Remediation from the Y2K Film to the New Music Video,” Music and the Moving Image, New York City.
- CA 100: Introduction to Speech Composition
- CA 313: Pop Music Cinema
- CA 351: Television Industries
- CA 351: Television Industries (Summer, 2026)
- The Velvet Light Trap, Book Review Editor 2026
- Midwest Graduate Film and Media Studies Symposium, Board Member, 2026
- Telluride Film Festival FilmSCHOLAR, September 2025