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Visions of England: Class and Culture in Contemporary Cinema


Visions of England: Class and Culture in Contemporary Cinema

Paperback by Dave, Paul

Visions of England: Class and Culture in Contemporary Cinema

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£23.99

ISBN:
9781845202934
Publication Date:
1 Mar 2006
Language:
English
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:
Berg Publishers
Pages:
224 pages
Format:
Paperback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 24 - 29 May 2024
Visions of England: Class and Culture in Contemporary Cinema

Description

Visions of England is a provocative and original exploration of Englishness, in particular English class, in contemporary cinema. Class has been a central part, whether consciously or not, of much of English social analysis and artistic production for over a century. But as a way of interpreting society, class has found itself sidelined in a postmodern world. Visions of England presents a detailed analysis of the changing landscape of English class and culture. Visions of England explores a wide range of film production - from gangster thrillers like Lock, Stock Two Smoking Barrels to the period cinema of Elizabeth, from cult classics like Performance and Trainspotting to the mainstream romantic comedy of Notting Hill and Bridget Jones, from the social realist drama of Billy Elliot and The Full Monty to the multicultural comedy of Bend it like Beckham, and the experimentalism of films such as London Orbital and Robinson in Space. An extraordinarily wide-ranging and incisive study, Visions of England rewrites the relationship of film and Englishness.

Contents

1. Preface 2. Introduction: British Cinema and Class: Pastoral Visions 3. The Upper Classes: The Heritage Film 4. The Middle Classes: Fairy Tales and Idylls 5. The Working Class: Elegies 6. The Underclass: Fantasy and Realism 7. The Lumpenproletariat; Countercultural Performances 8. The Problem of England: Aesthetics of the Everyday 9. Peculiar Capitalism: Occult Heritage 10. Epilogue.

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