Module Identifier EN33820  
Module Title READING FILM: BRITISH CINEMA AFTER 1940  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Dr David E Shuttleton  
Semester Semester 1  
Course delivery Seminars / Tutorials   20 Hours Seminar. (10 x 2 hr seminar workshops)  
  Practical   30 Hours (10 x 3 hr viewing sessions)  
Assessment Semester Assessment   Continuous Assessment: 2 essays (2,500 words each)   100%  
  Supplementary Assessment   Resubmit any failed elements and/or make good any missing elements.    

Brief description

The focus is upon films made during or immediately after the Second World War, a period when British film making is considered to have been at the height of its powers. You will be encouraged to consider how the set films problematise ideological formations concerning nationhood, the family, class, gender identity, sexuality and generational conflict. The syllabus begins with films made during the war itself and continues with work reflecting the war's longer-term impact on British culture, particular regarding class and gender. The distinctive, neo-romantic films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger ('The Archers'), raise questions about the politics of film aesthetics. 'Noir' thrillers like The Third Man or Brighton Rock invite questions about film style and constructions of masculinity. Through a concern with women's melodrama, we shall also consider representations of gender, and in particular psychoanalytic and feminist film theory. Powell's controversial Peeping Tom invites associations between psychoanalytic theory and cinematic voyeurism. The module closes with debates about social realism and marginal identities prompted by the New Wave's representation of Northern working-class life.

Content

Duration and Teaching
To be taught over one semester in 10 two hour sessions combining lectures and seminars: in addition a regular weekly venue/time will be designated for students to view set films on video. NOTE: as this will be on WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS, please bear this in mind if you have other commitments. FOR LEGAL REASONS THE TUTOR CANNOT 'LOAN OUT' VIDEOS TO INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS, but the films are usually available from local commercial rental outlets.

Introductory Reading
You might consult Graeme Turner, Film as Social Practice (Manchester University Press); Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film (Harper Collins) or Mast, Cohen and Braudy (eds), Film Theory and Criticism (4th edition, OUP) Secondary reading lists on specific topics will be made available throughout the module.

1. Introduction

2. 'How We Fight': In Which We Serve (1942) (Noel Coward)

3. 'Why We Fight': either Went the Day Well or (1942) (Cavalcanti) or A Canterbury Tale (1944) (Powell and Pressburger)

4. Neo-Romanticism: either A Matter of Life and Death (1946) or The Red Shoes (1948) (Powell and Pressburger).

5. The Post-War 'Spiv' Cycle: either The Third Man (1949) (Carol Reed) or Brighton Rock (1947) (Boulting Brothers)

6. Women and Film I: Rebecca (1940) (Hitchcock)

7. Women and Film II: Brief Encounter (1945) (David Lean)

8. The Cinematic Gaze: Peeping Tom (1960) (Michael Powell)

9. The New Wave: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) (Karel Reisz)

10. Social Problem Films: A Taste of Honey (1962) (Tony Richardson) and/or Victim (1962) (Dearden)