The present course is an exploration into the multiple facets of British identity through the main movements, tendencies and styles of UK’s contemporary cinematographic productions, from 1990 to present times. Although it seeks to construct a sense of Britishness through film and trace the peculiarities of national filmmaking, it starts from the premise that the cinematic projection of national identity is neither monolithic nor stable, but heterogeneous and fluid, constantly embracing new internal divisions and ideological perspectives. Each lecture covers case studies of key British feature films and considers the ways in which the cinematic medium adds contemporary touches to Britishness on screen.
The first half of the course tackles the most significant film genres that have resurfaced over the last three decades, acknowledging both their connection to British tradition and the manner in which they have been revised so as to suit contemporary audiences. In this sense, romantic-comedies have been shaped as urban fairytales in which the British are represented in idealized and stereotypical terms that cater to international audiences and historical films have been revived, thriving as royal biopics that re-envision the institution of British monarchy and challenge its representation. Thus, heritage films that nostalgically dwelt on the greatness of the nation and longingly looked back at the aristocrats of the faithful adaptations of canonical novels have now made room for post-heritage dramas that distance themselves from aesthetic conservativism and focus instead on sexuality and gender and new-heritage films that tackle contemporary adaptations and reconceptualize the notion of heritage. In addition, while British cinema is internationally renowned for its gritty social realism, the trend has expanded. It has taken a turn towards either humorous feel-good films that still focus on social criticism and shifts in gender representation or, more pointedly, towards poetic cinema, prompting a softer, more intimate and ambiguous engagement with both characters and space that seeks to foreground the director’s own artistic signature within the realist framework. Humour also spills into a new wave of crime films, whose experimental and decisively British ‘New Laddism’ has brought them international success, alongside ‘heavier’ gangster films. In terms of comedy, the most successful approach has been that of genre comedies that rely on hybridity and intertextuality, bringing an English element to Hollywood scenarios. The tradition of the horror film is revived and reconfigured at the beginning of the millennium as well, witnessing the development of a new subgenre of ‘hoodie horror’, based on British social concerns.
The last few lectures reflect a more recent shift in British film studies that attests to the fact that UK cinematography has too readily been equated with English cinematography, ignoring or diminishing the separate filmmaking tendencies of the Celtic Fringe. This part of the course moves towards a more nuanced understanding of internal cultural diversity within the UK and thus, a growing sense of multiple national identities within the same area. In particular, it was the New Labour devolution of the late 1990s that gave a voice to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish film, offering them the opportunity to construct their own narratives and consequently reconfigure the notion of Britishness. Scottish cinematography has developed a distinctive character that refuses to be contained within the confining borders of tartanry and Kailyardism, Welsh cinematography has started to explore transnational identity negotiations and Northern Irish cinematography has focused on political productions that envision the region before and after the peace process, but also on films that situate themselves in between the Troubles paradigm and the newer inclination towards openness and multiplicity. Last, but not least, the final lecture tackles the emergence of Asian-British cinematography which portrays the struggles of South-Asian immigrants to come to terms with their split identity, while lightheartedly rendering their important contribution to the shaping of a multi-ethnic Britain.
Course instructor: Dr. Andreea Paris-Popa
SCHEDULE
Week 1: INTRODUCTION
Week 2: ROMANTIC COMEDIES AS CONTEMPORARY URBAN FAIRYTALES
Films: Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994), Notting Hill (Roger Michell, 1999)
Reading: from Murphy, Robert. “Urban Fairy-tales in Late 90s British Cinema.” The British Cinema Book. Ed. Robert Murphy. London: British Film Institute, 2009.
Optional watching: Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003)
Week 3: POST-HERITAGE FILMS: HISTORICAL FIGURES
Films: Elizabeth I (Shekhar Kapur, 1998), The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018)
Reading: from Vidal, Belén. Heritage Film. Nation, Genre, and Representation. New York, Chichester: Columbia University Press, 2012.
Optional watching: Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998), Stage Beauty (Richard Eyre, 2004)
Week 4: NEW-HERITAGE FILMS: RETHINKING HERITAGE
Films: Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2006), Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007)
Reading: from Fitzgerald, John. Studying British Cinema: 1999-2009. Leighton Buzzard: Auteur, 2010.
Optional watching: Breaking and Entering (Anthony Minghella, 2006)
Week 5: SOCIAL REALISM I: THATCHERISM AND POST-INDUSTRIAL MASCULINITY
Films: The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) and Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000)
Reading: from Schreiber, Mark. “Re-negotiating Concepts of Masculinity in Contemporary British Film.” Gender Forum 17 (2007).
Optional watching: Brassed Off (Mark Herman, 1996), Pride (Matthew Warchus, 2014)
Week 6: SOCIAL REALISM II: THE POETICS OF MARGINALITY
Films: Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2009), This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006)
Reading: from Forrest, David. New Realism: Contemporary British Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2020. Print.
Optional watching: Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)
Week 7: THE BRITISH CRIME WAVE AND ITS GANGSTERS
Films: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998), Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, 2000),
Reading: from Chibnall, Steve. “Travels in Ladland: The British Gangster Film Cycle, 1998-2001.” The British Cinema Book. Ed. Robert Murphy. London: British Film Institute, 2009.
Optional watching: Snatch (Guy Ritchie, 2000), Gangster No. 1 (Paul McGuigan, 2000)
Week 8: A HYBRID BRITISH SENSE OF HUMOUR
Films: Shaun on of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004), Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007)
Reading: from Kerry, Lucyann Snyder. Genre and Globalization: Working Title Films, the British Romantic Comedy and the Global Film Market. University of Exeter Ph.D Thesis, 2011.
Optional watching: The World’s End (Edgar Wright, 2013)
Week 9: THE BRITISH HORROR GENRE: THE HOODIES
Films: Eden Lake (James Watkins, 2008), Heartless (Philip Ridley, 2009)
Reading: from Walker, Johnny. Contemporary British Horror Cinema: Industry, Genre and Society. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2015. Print.
Optional watching: The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)
Week 10: SCOTTISH CINEMATOGRAPHY
Films: Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996), Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle, 1994)
Reading: from Blandford, Steve. Film, Drama and the Break-Up of Britain. Bristol, Chicago: Intellect Books, 2007. Print.
Optional watching: Sunshine on Leith (Dexter Fletcher, 2013), The Angel’s Share (Ken Loach, 2012)
Week 11: WELSH CINEMATOGRAPHY
Films: American Interior (Dylan Goch, Gruff Rhys, 2014); Patagonia (Marc Evans, 2010)
Reading: from Woodward, Kate. “Off-road and Off-beat: Gadael Lenin, American Interior and the Transnational Focus of Welsh Art Cinema.” Journal of British Cinema and Television 13.2 (April 2016): 292-311
Optional watching: Separado (Dylan Goch, Gruff Rhys, 2010)
Week 12: NORTHERN IRISH CINEMATOGRAPHY
Films: Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008), Mickybo and Me (Terry Loane, 2004)
Reading: from Coffey, Fiona. “Reinvisioning the Troubles: Northern Irish Film in Transition, 1990-2010.” Changes in Contemporary Ireland: Texts and Contexts. Ed. Catherine Rees. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
Optional watching: In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan 1993), Some Mother’s Son (Terry George, 1996), Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021)
Week 13: ASIAN-BRITISH CINEMATOGRAPHY
Films: Bend it like Beckham (Gurinder Chadha, 2002), Blinded by the Light (Gurinder Chadha, 2019),
Reading: from Hussain, Yasmin. Writing Diaspora. South Asian Women, Culture and Ethnicity. London, New York: Routledge, 2016.
Optional watching: East is East (Damien O’Donnell, 1999), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (John Madden, 2011)
Week 14: CONCLUSIONS
REQUIREMENTS AND EVALUATION
- A minimum of 50% attendance
- Presentation(s) and participation in class discussions 50%
- An end-of-term written essay 50%
British Cultural Studies 