Cinema Rediscovered 2017

I recently volunteered at this year's Cinema Rediscovered film festival. Predominantly hosted by the Watershed in Bristol, the eclectic programme included digital restorations, lesser known film gems and classics 're-viewed' through thought-provoking introductions and Q+As. It was fantastic to be part of this truly cinephilic event. Of the festival's offerings I particularly enjoyed Dr Peter Walsh's walking tour of Bristol's cinema history and filming locations, and a screening of Sweet Smell of Success (1957): a dark portrayal of corruption in the press industry, forming part of the festival's 'Manipulating the Message' strand. Having recently watched Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, it was also interesting to see another depiction of WWII on the big screen, this time through the British Government commissioned Millions Like Us (1943), which follows several women as they take up work in a British wartime aircraft factory. You can read more about Cinema Rediscovered here: www.watershed.co.uk/cinema-rediscovered

Volunteers and organisers of Cinema Rediscovered

National Cinema(s) course at 20th Century Flicks

This Spring I completed a film course run by the wonderful 20th Century Flicks in Bristol. The subject matter of National Cinema(s) sparked many discussions that I felt were particularly relevant to my research interests and I produced a short summary of my experience that has been posted on the 20th Century Flicks blog.

BAFTSS conference

I recently attended the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) conference at the University of Bristol. It was wonderful to return to the film and television department at Bristol and to see the lecturers that had made my masters degree study and subsequent teaching there such rewarding experiences. I am returning to start a PhD in Film and Television in the Autumn and the conference was an opportunity to listen to the work of other PhD students as well as some bigger names in the field of screen studies.

I attended some panels that I thought could be relevant to my research interests and noted the following key points/questions that could feed into my project:

Heritage and Quality Genres

Which socio-political events could be linked to the recent resurgence of British heritage film and television texts such as Downton Abbey, Great British Bake Off, The Imitation Game (and arguably Skyfall and Harry Potter)?

Twitter and social media brings a new element to British heritage discourse and may provide sources for analysing the audience reception/implications for these texts.

The concept of capitalising on British heritage and imperial nostalgia, not just through film and television texts but paratexts such as merchandise, theme parks and literature, and the particular ideas these texts reinforce.

Diversity in the UK Screen Industries

The top down influence of the Oscars on the business case for diversity at production level (only white males win awards and therefore make money).

Film Academics and Film Festivals

What role do film festivals play in the case for diversity on screen and, as a possible practical aspect to my research, how could a film festival challenge ideas about British heritage cinema?

Euro-Bollywood

The representation of British culture and landscapes in the products of film industries from other countries (e.g. Bollywood) and the relationship this has with exported images of Britain/Britishness.

A Thoroughly English movie Franchise: The James Bond Films

The successful ‘backwards and forwards looking’ formula of the James Bond and Harry Potter films and the implications for this.

MAPACA and Yale Conferences

Sorry this post is rather delayed as I have been busy with various things including applications for PhD study and funding.

My recent travels around North America culminated in two tri-state conferences. I very much enjoyed returning to the PCA/ACA community (I have previously attended SWPACA and EuPOP) and presenting at the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Drawing on the construction of the films' posters to demonstrate my points, I compared Daniel Craig's latest portrayal of James Bond in Spectre with his initial interpretation in Casino Royale, and I discussed some of the possible influences on and implications for this. My abstract can be viewed here: https://mapaca.net/conference/2016/p/contemporary-british-hero-daniel-craig-james-bond

The discussion following my presentation raised some really interesting questions around differences in the international reception of Bond and the franchise's relationship with an ever evolving cultural context.

- Why do different countries receive different cuts of these films e.g. China received a different cut of Skyfall
- Why did US and UK audiences respond differently to Spectre?
- Why is Bond still so popular when we have moved away from misogyny?

I was very honoured to find out that my presentation had been nominated for a Ralph Donald Award and I hope to hear the outcome of this soon.

As always I very much enjoyed watching presentations from fellow scholars, particularly those on Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, as I found them to be relevant to my research and indicative of a general interest in representations of British culture in popular entertainment texts.

I also attended a conference on Photography and Britishness, held at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, CT. It was particularly interesting to see representations of British culture in another medium and the differences in these images depending on the producer. Bristol based photographer Martin Parr gave a keynote on his career 'capturing' Britain and the following Q&A highlighted an association with tradition as the audience drew on his images of events of the British Establishment that haven't changed for hundreds of years (the odd ceremonies at Oxford University, the Epson Derby, the uniforms at Christ's Hospital School). This association was particularly interesting to me as I considered its application to the representations of British culture in some hugely successful film and television texts of recent years (Downton Abbey, The Queen, The King's Speech etc.). I found myself thinking of Riz Ahemd's quote again: 'The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies.' (from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/riz-ahmed-typecast-as-a-terrorist)

Keep Calm and Carry On... Travelling!

I haven’t posted in a while as I have been busy travelling across the USA on a trip that is serving multiple purposes: 1) visiting potential PhD programs, 2) attending two conferences, 3) satisfying my general curiosity (and hopefully PhD research topic) regarding representations of British culture abroad, 4) holiday!

My travels began on the West Coast giving me time to explore Los Angeles and California before I moved onto Texas and up through the mid-west to the East Coast for the final leg of the trip. It has been particularly interesting to see elements of British influence and presence and to try to understand what ideas this might be conveying about ‘Britishness‘ today.

The title of this post is appropriate because the Keep Calm and Carry On motto has made it across the Atlantic and adorns many notepads and pencil cases in the stationary stores I have visited in the States. As a phrase originating from World War II this can be considered a more old fashioned representation of Britishness: the idea of maintaining a stiff upper lip in the face of wartime adversity (insert picture of Winston Churchill here!). This association of Britishness with a sort of old fashioned chic was repeated to me when visiting the highly regarded British works of art and literature at the Huntington Library and Art Collections in San Marino, CA. In the early 1900s, American railway pioneer Henry E. Huntington sought older pieces from Britain to display in his Californian ranch and with Gainsborough’s Blue Boy (ca. 1770) being considered one of the most highly prized items in the collection I felt that Britain was again being associated with an enduring past. Moving onto Texas a conversation with a local revealed that he very much associated Britishness with the television show Downtown Abbey (a drama depicting British aristocrats in the early 1900s) and the idea of old-fashioned sophistication. I felt this theme prevail again in Michigan when, upon revealing my nationality, I was asked on more than one occasion what I thought of various members of the Royal family. Of course this is in no way a reliable picture of the influence and presence of Britishness in the USA today but from the snapshots I experienced I could feel a sense of admiration for Britain’s long history, the traditions that have come with that long history and remain today, and the sense of sophistication that seems to be associated with these traditions. The stiff upper lip motto Keep Calm and Carry On could be seen as encompassing aspects of both tradition and sophistication with the phrase’s connotations of robustness and quiet pride.

My experience in the USA has reminded me of a piece by Riz Ahmed, which was published in the Guardian in September 2016: Typecast as a Terrorist. In discussing his experiences as a British Muslim actor working in the USA, Ahmed writes, ‘The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies.’ I had certainly felt this in my travel observations and now the big question is why is this myth exported? Why does British culture manifest abroad in ways such as the ones I experienced on my travels? What are the implications for this?

The Other Art Fair, Bristol 2016

Straying slightly from my research focus, I wanted to write about my recent experience attending The Other Art Fair at Bristol's Arnolfini. Part of the fair included performances by BitterSuite's Debussy String Quartet: a fully sensory concert in which the audience members are blindfolded, given tastes and scents, and are physically moved by the performers in ways that enhance the experience of listening to the music. It was an enriching experience as I imagined colourful scenes, even jumped a little at times and felt liberated moving with the music in a physical manner. BitterSuite are performing at Wilderness Festival this weekend and are looking to set up more concerts in the long term: http://www.bittersuite.org.uk

The Other Art Fair also included The Art of Dining: a pop-up restaurant scene celebrating quintessentially British food and drink (think fish and chips, bread and butter, lots of tea, and crockery adorned with members of the Royal Family). This immersive experience is created by Ellen Parr and Alice Hodge and includes the work of photographer Martin Parr, whom I have recently become more interested in due to his documentation of British life through photographs. Parr is interested in the difference between the mythology of the place and the reality of it and I feel that this in some ways intersects with my interests in representations of Britishness in popular culture. I hope to attend Parr's keynote address at a conference on Photography and Britishness, which is being held at the Yale Center for British Art this November.
http://www.martinparr.com/2013/pop-up-magic/

Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI

I recently attended one of Mark Kermode's monthly appearances at the BFI in London. The movie critic's regular slot on the Southbank sees him answering questions from the audience, commenting on the latest movie news, discussing guilty pleasures with a special guest and screening clips from lesser known filmic gems. In summary it's 90s minutes of film geek paradise. During the evening some particularly interesting questions were raised:

Are critics out of touch with audiences? This was in response to Batman V Superman's success at the Box Office in it's opening weekend despite the bad reviews it received. Kermode pointed out that after the opening weekend, ticket sales for the film dropped dramatically, which indicated that movie-goers, like the critics, had not been fond of the film. In light of this, another question on this topic could be: given that so many people went to see Batman V Superman anyway, despite the poor reviews, what is the role of a movie critic? I enjoy reading reviews and have written some myself so I would argue that the thumbs up from a critic is particularly key for the success of lesser known films that do not generate anticipatory followings. However, for films such as Batman V Superman, which already have an established fan-base, the contribution of the film critic could be considered as slightly different. In my case, as a comic book movie fan, I wanted to see if Zack Snyder's superhero adaptation had got it as wrong as the critics had suggested. This movie-going experience ended up becoming something quite different: it was actually quite fun spotting the problems that I had read about in the reviews.

Why have movie running times increased? Does this allow for more artistic freedom or has it started a trend for films to be longer than they need to be? Kermode's answer to this was yes and yes. He stated that he had initially campaigned for longer running times so that filmmakers would have more artistic freedom but instantly regretted this as he felt that it was often used as a way for filmmakers to justify their importance without considering whether the story really needed the extra running time. He referred to Quentin Tarantino as a culprit for unnecessarily long running times. The question now is whether running times will continue to increase?