Social Art Cinema of the 1990s: Commodifying the Concept of British National Cinema By Jeongmee Kim Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2003. To my parents Contents Abstract Acknowledgements Introduction Part I. Social Art Cinema as National Cinema Chapter 1. Ideas of National Cinema 18 Chapter 2. The Emergence of Social Art Cinema: Channel 4 and 41 British Cinema in the 1980s Part II. The Elements of the 90s British Film Industry Chapter 3. Funding and Distribution Structure: The Localisation and 62 Commercialisation of British Cinema towards a Global Audience Chapter 4. Selling Popular British Cinema as an Identifiable Entity 90 Chapter 5. National Cinema in the Multi-media Age 119 Part III. Case Studies Chapter 6. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: The Critical Reception 141 of Its Popularisation and Stylisation Chapter 7. Towards a Global Audience: Trainspotting, Localised Subject 162 Matter and Globalised Image Chapter 8."Billy Earns Its Stripes": Selling Billy Elliot in the UK and USA 185 Chapter 9. Elizabeth: DVD and the Authenticity of the Heritage Film 207 Conclusion 233 Appendix Bibliography 239 Abstract This study explores the ways in which "social art cinema" has been constructed as a form of national cinema in the context of the 1990s. It discusses how particular institutional issues of the period affected signification revolving around the genre and, consequently, how that affected the concept of national cinema. This research draws upon a range of agendas relating to financial and distribution structures, promotional activities and multi-media consumption that were involved in encouraging the proliferation of social art cinema. This study contends that the success of social art cinema as a generic style was a key factor in constructing an idea of British cinema as a cultural entity. By examining how the institutional elements created this idea, I discuss how social art cinema was positioned as a national cinema in the market place through such elements. The primary objective of this study is therefore to make a contribution towards the growing body of scholarly work that considers the role played by the idea of national cinema in the very commercial environment of the contemporary film business where expressions of national specificity can often seen indistinct. The study also presents evidence for the need to consider contextual aspects when discussing the idea of national cinema. Thus, by examining the commercial aspects of national cinema, I demonstrate that national cinema should not only be defined by accounts of socio- political engagement, but should encompass institutional agendas as well. Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Mark Jancovich, for his insightful comments and support, especially in my final stage of this research. I also would like to thank Julian Stringer for his encouragement through all these years and invaluable critical input without which I would not have been able to complete this research. I would also like to thank Paul Grainge for all his support. I am indebted to many people who have always been here for me. Without them I would not have been able to carryon: Kate Egan and Rebecca Feasey for their love and faith in me which has driven me to see what I was capable of, Peter Hammond for all the coffee we consumed and for the laughter and tears we had together, and Basil Glynn for his patience, generosity, encouragement, faith and especially, all his criticism. I would like to thank Ian Brookes for his attentive reading and comments at the very last stage of my research. I would also like to thank a number of individuals who inspired and encouraged me over the years: Roxana Belecheanu, Celeste-marie Bernier, Paul Binnion, Gladys Chau, Chrysanthi Gallou, Nathan Hunt, Chris Lacey, Eddie Lindon, Marisela Mendoza, Tim Noble, Luca Pruno, Lisa Rull, Manu Tupou, Bing Ziang and Eugenia Zouzoula for their love and support. I am also indebted to all my friends who made everything possible over these years: Gianluca Baldassare, Simona Bosco, Jenny Carlson, Francisco Martin Peredo Castro, Juan Salgado Ibarra, Ramon Lewis, Samuel Mani, George Noulas, Patrick Ortolland, Nicolas Pinet, Alain Raoul and James Wallace for their love; and Jo Kyung-heui, Jun Kyung-zoo, Jung Kyung-young, Lee Nam-heun and Yun Yoon-young for their patience, love and belief. I would also like to thank Lee Sang-heui to whom lowe more than words can say. I would like to give special thanks to my family for their love and support throughout my life and I am grateful to Kim Eun-hyun for inspiring me. I dedicate this thesis to my parents, Kim Moon-woo and Choi Deung-ja who have shown me so much love and dedication far more than anyone else could ever give and setting such a fine example to their daughter with their tremendous zest for life. Introduction British Cinema and the Idea of National Cinema In his article 'Critical Theory and 'British Cinema',' Andrew Higson argues that to understand the history of British cinema, I "the relationship between film and ideas (my italics) of a national cinema" should be taken into account.i This indicates how the debates about the meaning of national cinema are significant factors in the history and development of British cinema. In this article, Higson discusses "ideas of a national culture." What he means by a national culture is a film culture which has been shaped by realist film debates. Higson argues that because of a critical preference for realist films, many anti-realist or fantasy films have been dismissed in British film history. Bearing this in mind, in this research, I utilise the concept of the construction of ideas of a national culture in relation to the position of anti-realist film as well as realist film debates. As I discuss in the following chapter, I believe that the anti-realist position has also contributed towards institutionalising a certain type of national culture. In addition, I argue that even though both critical approaches have chosen different types of film in order to examine British national cinema, this national film culture has formed a singular concept of national cinema and a singular definition of British cinema. Therefore, I would like to emphasise the importance of examining "ideas of national cinema." What the notion of "ideas of a national cinema" suggests is that there is a need to understand the concept of national cinema as the articulation of an imagined text. In his study of nationalism, Benedict Anderson proposes that the nation is an imagined political community bound by a false consciousness conveyed through the perception of 2 the people themselves.' If I apply Anderson's theory to national cinema then it becomes clear that national cinema itself is an idea which is more an institutionalised construct than it is a true reflection of national identity. In other words, national cinema is a contingent and replaceable concept that typifies the way in which cinema has been historically contrived. As a nation is bound through the idea of community," national cinema is imagined to represent that community. What this means is that the idea of national cinema is subject to a specific cultural discourse in the reception of British cinema at a given time. The reception of a film can be seen as being institutionalised through academic and social contexts both of which contribute to the meaning of a film. These contextual factors are intertwined with each other and need to be examined together in order to understand the meanings that become attributed to a specific film and how that in tum affects discourses of national cinema. Yet, debates about national cinema have often treated the relationship between text and context as a single rather than as a multiple discourse. Consequently, the term "British cinema" has been institutionalised through a particular concept of national cinema. As Higson notes: Each perspective will inevitably offer a different way of thinking through what it is that makes cinema 'British' .... Ideological criticism might explore the role that cinema has played in shaping and maintaining the idea of the British nation, imagining its inhabitants as members of a national community with a shared identity. A cultural historical perspective might explore the ways in which British films are rooted in national traditions. A reception studies approach might look at the ways in which promotional 3 discourse, reviewing practices and audiences have worked with particular ideas of national identity and nationhood' What all these approaches have in common is their consideration of how British films reflect the nation and national culture and, as a result, it has often been the case that the idea of national cinema conceptualises a certain "national" theme or style. For example, British cinema has been characterised as a particular type of narration with a "distanced and objective point of view" and a "pictorial and pastoral space" that differs from classical Hollywood style," In addition, national cinema debates have also prioritised the issue of projecting a particular kind of national identity, often with an emphasis on the everyday life of Britain. From this point of view, Gainsborough costume drama, for instance, reconceptualised ideas of national identity in post-war Britain through its flamboyant use of mise-en-scene," This type of approach that searches for signs of national identity results from a belief that British films are always constructed around a projection of something national. 8 Therefore, rather than examining the historical contour of national cinema and how the notion of British cinema has been configured, national cinema debates have constructed a cultural outline of British cinema that relates to national identity.