British Cinema

Why Study British Cinema? The history of British cinema can be said to suffer from anextreme inferiority complex in relation to Hollywood which has been reinforced over theyears by the comments of critics and film-makers alike. For example:

"Isn't there a certain incompatibility between troe terms "cinema" and "Britain"?(French director Fran~ois Truffaut in conversation with Alfred·Hitchcock. 1966)

"I do not think the British are temperamentally equipped to make the best use of themovie camera." (Indian film-maker Satyajit Ray 1963)

"It is one of the curiosities of film history that American films. when they seem to changewith the passing of years. become either better or worse, while on re-examinationBritish films. if they change at all, only become worse."(British film historian David Shipman in The Story Of Cinema, 1983)

Despite such put-downs, in recent years many students of film have begun taking theBritish cinema much more seriously as an area both under-explored and undervalued.This has led to the revaluation and reconsideration of a wide range of individual film­makers and genres which had been critically despised or ignored including AlfredHitchcock's British films (for a long time neglected in favour of his American output),Gainsborough costume melodrama, Hammer Horror, Ealing comedies and the CarryOn films. Such work has uncovered a rich tradition of filmmaking which is interestingand relevant as both artistic achievement and social document. The cinema is the greatpopular expressive form of the 20th century and as such can tell us a great deal aboutBritish culture over the last 100 years.

Cinema. Representation and Identity.

One of the recurring themes in British cinema is the vexed question of identity. This is aculture obsessed with boundaries and the notion of everyone knOWing his or her placewithin the social order. The class system sits at the heart of this system but otherfactors such as gender, sexuality and ethnicity also have a bearing on how an individualis situated within the pecking order. These roles, and the appropriate codes ofbehaviour pertaining to them, have in turn been rigidly policed by a combination of lawand peer pressure throughout the ages. It is no co-incidence that the cinema shouldprovide the means by which identity can be explored and even challenged. The cinemanot only documents the world, but is also a space amenable to dream and fantasy andtherefore provides the potential for imagining alternatives to existing social conventionsand roles.

I'

When we talk about Britain. what do we· usually mean? England and Britain arefrequently used as if they were interchangeable. Brainstorm a list of elements whichconstitute Britishness. What makes something British?

How British are you?

You live in Britain and this must influence how you think and behave to some extent.What is British about you? Your identity is clearly made up of lots of different elements:age, gender, race, class, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, interests and alldgiances. It is themixture of all of these which makes you unique. Rather than thinking of yourself assimply British, is there perhaps a way in which you identify more closely with Wales,Scotland. Ireland, England or with another country altogether? Do you or your parentsoriginally come from another country outside Britain and speak anoi'".er language aswell as English? How far do you or your family feel integrated into British society? Areyou or your parents a member of particular religious or cultural group? Do you identifywith a particular interest group or musical taste? How does this add to and shape youridentity?

Draw up a profile of your personal identity, drawing on all of these sources.

..~