Eadington Gaming Fellow Alex Kupfer: In Residence October 19 - November 15

Alex Kupfer with the Binions Horseshoe Collection MS-00325

Alex Kupfer received his doctoral degree from the Department of Cinema Studies at New York University in fall 2015. His research and teaching interests focus on American film history, nontheatrical motion picture exhibition, and sports culture. He is currently working on a book project which examines the relationship between intercollegiate football, higher education, and American film industries before television.

At UNLV Special Collections, Kupfer will conduct research illuminating the relationship between sports media and cultural memory. To do so, he will examine print and audiovisual materials related to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and Benny Binion, owner of the Horseshoe Casino. He intends to show how the broadcasts of the WSOP since the tournament began in 1970 constructed an idealized history of poker, gaming culture, Binion, and Las Vegas for multiple generations of television viewers.

Kupfer’s Colloquium talk, “The Biggest Game on TV: Benny Binion, the WSOP, and the Nostalgic Construction of Poker’s Past,” is scheduled for Monday, November 16, at 3 PM.

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