Laura Álvarez Trigo

My primary research focuses on how media theory informs the literary style of postmodern American authors and how screens are thematized in contemporary audiovisual production. This interest in media originates from my undergraduate studies in communication and transverses all my projects, covering various fields from popular culture and gender studies to literature.

I have a PhD in North American Studies from Universidad de Alcalá (Instituto Franklin-UAH), with a dissertation on the representation of media and audiences in Don DeLillo. I am currently an assistant professor at Universidad de Valladolid in Spain

Talks and Presentations

By

Invited Talks

(Forthcoming) Workshop. Felix Martin Doctoral Seminar. SAAS Young Scholars. 12/03/2026.

“She Bites Back! Women as Canids in Literature and Popular Culture.” Evil Women Seminar. University of Madeira (Portugal). 31/08/2024.

Conferences

“Myths of Predetermined Roles in Police Drama TV: Intermediality and Hyperreality in ‘Especially Henious’ (Machado, 2017) and Interior Chinatown (Yu, 2020).” AEDEAN. Universidad del País Vasco (Vitoria, Spain). 12/11/2025-14/11/2025.

“¿Cómo se reconoce el abuso de poder en el ámbito universitario? Un análisis desde los Protocolos de Acoso de las Unidades de Igualdad.” I Congreso Nacional Una Universidad (Im)Propia. Estudios Críticos de la Academia. (Madrid, Spain). 04/06/2025-06/06/2025.

“It’s not the Midnight Realm, it’s just the suburbs: The World Beyond the Screen as a Metaphor of Entrapment in I Saw the TV Glow“. SAAS Conference. American Dreams, American Nightmares, American Fantasies. Universidad de Alicante (Alicante, Spain). 08/04/2025-10/04/2025.

“A Break in the Horror: Subverting Sonic Identity in Alternative Universe Podcast Episodes.” AEDEAN. Universidad Pablo Olavide (Sevilla, Spain). 06/11/2024-08/11/2024.

“Surveillance as the Only Path to Remembrance and Identity for AI in Kogonada’s After Yang.” BAAS. Online (organized by the British Association of American Studies, UK). 10/04/2024-12/04/2024.

“The Physical Presence of Television and the Role of Screens in Noah Baumbach’s White Noise (2022).” AEDEAN. Universidad de Las Palmas (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain). 08/11/2023 – 10/11/2023.

“We’re Never in the Dark: Raising Children under Constant Surveillance in Contemprary Sci-Fi Asian-American Fiction.” Darkness in the American Imagination. Online (Organized by PopMec Association, Spain). 04/09/2023-08/09/2023.

“Don DeLillo Goes to the Movies; or, the Movies Came For Don DeLillo, and Once Again Real Life Followed: A Roundtable Discussion.” with The Don DeLillo Association. ALA. (Boston, MA, USA). 25/05/2023-27/05/2023.

“Cursed 80s’ Nostalgia: Choose or Die and the Haunted Videogame.” AEDEAN, Universidad de Cáceres (Cáceres, Spain). 16/11/2022-18/11/2022.

“Modes of Media Tech Horror: The Power of Recordings in Archive 81.” Fear 2000. Online (organized by Sheffield Hallam University, UK) 01/07/2022-03/07/2022.

“The Portrayal of Mainstream Feminism in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Queen’s Gambit.” BAAS. Online (organized by the British Association of American Studies, UK). 21/04/2022-23/04/2022.

“Obsessive Rewatching: Television Viewing Behaviors in Contemporary US Women’s Literature.” PCA/ACA Popular Culture Association Conference 2022 (organized by PCA Association, USA). 13/04/2022-16/04/2022.

“Reality as Disposable: the Expendable Digital Image vs. the Desirable Virtual Existence in an AI Generate World.” Wastelands 34th European Association for American Studies Conference. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) (Madrid, Spain). 06/04/2022-08/04/2022.

“Television Viewing Behaviors: Obsessive Rewatching in The Last Samurai and My Year of Rest and Relaxation.” AEDEAN. Online (organized by Universidad de Cantabria. Santander, Spain). 24/11/2021-26/11/2021.

“Manichean Technology: Visual Motifs in Representations of Algorithmic Power.” I Congreso Internacional Motivos Visuales del Poder y la Esfera Pública. Online (organized by Universidad Pompeu Fabra. Barceclona, Spain). 20/09/2021-21/09/2021.

“Technology Goes Dark: Postmodern Gothic Modes in The Silence.” 50+ Shades of Gothic: The Gothic Across Genre and Media in US Popular Culture. Online (organized by PopMeC Association, Spain). 05/06/2021.

“The Symbolic Meaning of the Screen in Horror Narratives.” PCA/ACA Popular Culture Association Conference 2021. Online (organized by PCA Association, USA). 02/06/2021-05/06/2021.

“The Intersectional Heroine of Digital TV Narratives: Intertextuality, Affect and Fandom in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.” Discourses of Fictional (Digital) TV Series. Online (organized by Universitat de València. Valencia, Spain). 03/11/2020-06/11/2020.

“A Screen in between: Intertextuality, Consciousness and Interpersonal Communication in DeLillo.” AEDEAN. Universidad de Alicante (Alicante, Spain). 13/11/2019-15/11/2019.

“Literature Ladies: Comparing Gender in Literary Prices in Spain and the US.” Historical Links Between Spain and the Americas.” Instituto Franklin-UAH (Alcalá de Henares, Spain). 25/04/2019-27/04/2019.

“Don DeLillo’s Adapted Novels: Language and Space into Film.” SAAS Conference. The Image and the World: Interactions between American Literature, Media, Visual Arts and Film. Universidad de Salamanca (Salamanca, Spain). 09/04/2019-11/04/2019.

“Una pantalla entre nosotros: conciencia y comunicación interpersonal en las novelas de Don DeLillo.” VII Jornadas de jóvenes investigadores. Universidad de Alcalá (Alcalá de Henares, Spain). 12/12/2018-13/12/2018.

“Las damas y los caballeros de la literatura: asociaciones de género en los textos periodísticos sobre premios literarios.” Noviembre Feminista. III Jornadas de Investigadorxs Feministas. Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid, Spain). 22/11/2018-23/11/2018. [with Sebastián Montes Valencia]

“Cold Communities: A Secret Experience in Zero K.” Secrecy and Community in Contemporary Narrative in English. Universidad de Granada (Granada, Spain). 04/10/2018-05/11/2018.

“The Intersection Between Media Theory and Literary Analysis in Don DeLillo.” American Studies Postgraduate Symposium. University of Kent (Canterbury, UK). 11/06/2018.

“La percepción del tiempo a través del lenguaje en Ted Chiang y Don DeLillo.” Mundos (im)posibles: Futuro y utopía en la literatura, el cine y el arte. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Madrid, Spain). 25/10/2017-27/10/2017.

“Don DeLillo and Media Theory.” Congrès de l’AFEA: La recherche du bonheur. Université de Strasbourg (Strasbourg, France). 06/06/2017-08/06/2017.

“Media as Collective Consciousness in Don DeLillo.” 18th Annual Conference of the SASA. University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, UK). 04/03/2017.

“El drag más allá del lip-sync: análisis de la producción audiovisual de Jink Monsoon.” III Congreso MUCA. Universidad de Murcia (Murcia, Spain). 16/02/2017-18/02/2017.

“La damisela y el monstruo: Construcción de relaciones románticas arquetípicas por medias y fans en Star Wars: el Despertar de la fuerza.” Noviembre Feminista 2016: tejiendo redes, transofrmando realidades. Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid, Spain). 17/11/2016-18/11/2016.

“The Self as Facsimile: Artists’ Attempts at Self-Representation in Don DeLillo.” 2nd American Studies PhD Exchange. Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic). 17/06/2015-20/06/2015.

Dissemination Talks

“Brujas, vampiras y conciencia feminista: cómo entender mejor el cine de terror desde su trasfondo sociocultural.” [Witches, female vampires and feminist conscience: how to better understand horror cinema from its sociocultural background] Vermú por la ciencia. Iniciactiva. Gondomatik (Valladolid, Spain). 26/10/2024.

“Día de las mujeres 2023.” [Women’s Day 2023] Online talk. Instituto Franklin-UAH. 13/03/2023.

“STEM en la cultura popular estadounidense: evaluación del discurso de género, estereotipos e integración.” [STEM in US popular culture: assessment of gendered discourses, stereotypes and integration] Round table with Anna Marta Marini and Jody del Río Manzanas. Mary Read bookshop (Madrid, Spain). 11/11/2022.

“Día Internacional de las Mujeres: Poetas y Traductoras.” [International Women’s Day: poets and translators] Online talk. Instituto Franklin-UAH. 10/03/2022.

“Día Internacional de la Mujer. Feminismos y arte en Norteamérica.” [International Women’s Day. Feminisms and art in North America] Online talk. Instituto Franklin-UAH. 08/03/2021.

“Día Internacional de la Mujer. Feminismos y arte en Norteamérica.” [International Women’s Day. Feminisms and art in North America] Talk. Instituto Franklin-UAH. Universidad de Alcalá. 09/03/2020.

“Creación de relaciones románticas arquetípicas en Star Wars: de los creadores a los fans.” [Creation of archetypal romantic relationships in Star Wars: from creators to fans] I Encuentro Evas Modernas ¡Matar a don Juan! Contra los mitos del amor romántico (Madrid, Spain). 22/03/2019.

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