British Film

This book explores British cinema in relation to its social political and cultural contexts.

Jim Leach (Author)

9780521654197, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 August 2004

300 pages, 80 b/w illus.
23.4 x 15.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.44 kg

"Jim Leach's British Cinema is an engaging introduction to and meditation on what the opening chapter describes as a "complex" and "messy" cinema" Letters in Canada 2004 Jim Ellis

This book explores British cinema in relation to its social political and cultural contexts. Each chapter deals with a specific topic and includes close readings of key films from different historical periods. Topics include realism, expressionism, popular cinema, film and theater, sexuality and gender, comedy, class and ideology, heritage film, and diasporic cinema. Demonstrating the richness and variety of a national cinema that has traditionally struggled to define itself between the paradigms of Hollywood popular film and European art cinema, British Film also addresses the problematic concept of 'national character' as it has been applied in studies of national cinemas and cultures, and the increasing pressure on all of these ideas in the age of globalization. Designed for the general reader, this volume is suitable for use as a textbook, providing comprehensive coverage of British cinema and detailed discussion of specific films that can be used in tandem with screenings.

1. The national health: Great Britain/deep England
2. The magic box: what is British cinema?
3. The common touch: the art of being realistic
4. The mirror crack'd: British expressionism
5. Millions like us: British cinema as popular cinema
6. The stars look down: acting British
7. No sex please - we're British: sex, gender, and the national character
8. Carry on regardless: The British sense of humor
9. Sexy beasts: British monsters
10. The ruling class: ideology and the school movie
11. The long memory: history and heritage
12. I'm British but …: Empire and after.

Subject Areas: Media, information & communication industries [KNT]