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Professor Marcus Daniel History 452 (C): History and Film (Europe) London – Study Abroad Program Spring 2016

HIST 452(C): Film and Society in Post-War

Course Description

This course examines post-war British society and culture through the prism of cinema, with an emphasis on post-war social realism. Students will use the study and critical analysis of a series of major feature films produced, set, and filmed in England during this period to explore a series of central issues – of national identity, class, race, gender, sexuality, regional difference, generational conflict, work and leisure – in British society and popular culture since the 1950’s. By approaching film as both a primary historical source, a social document that records the social, material and cultural environment, and as a reflective artistic medium, that comments on and helps construct the social and political order, the course will provide students with a greater awareness of continuity and transformation in modern British society, and a grounding in the history of British film that moves beyond standard costume dramas and “history” films.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will develop a clear understanding of the major developments and movements in British cinema during the period since 1945. 2. Students will learn to relate the development of British cinema to the major trends and developments (social, economic, cultural and political) in English society during the post-war period. 3. Students will gain a greater appreciation for the distinctiveness of British culture, and the cultural and historical differences that shape the production and history of British film. 4. Students will be able to analyze and discuss film as a complex form of artistic representation and as a social document. 5. Students will use their understanding and exploration of British cinema during this period to develop and strengthen both their communication skills in the classroom and their skill as a writer.

Required Books

In addition to the course readings I will post online, please make to purchase a copy of Peter Clarke’s, Hope and Glory: Britain, 1900-2000 (2nd ed., 2004) This should be available in any good bookstore in the UK or online. If you also want to read a good general history of British film in this period, see Perry, The Great British Picture Show.

Class Requirements

Attendance & Participation

Regular attendance and active participation in class discussion is essential. Your participation in class discussions is crucial as this course will be taught in seminar rather than lecture form. Your attendance and participation will account for 25% of your final grade.

Writing

Good writing is central to the humanities and to the practice of history in particular, and I’ll be placing a strong emphasis on written work. Writing assignments will be used at each stage of the course to encourage you to learn, integrate and conceptualize the material we’re reading and viewing. Your writing should be used not just to passively record but actively explore texts and films, and to think about the ideas they express and contain. It should also be used to explore your own responses, ideas and thoughts. I’ll give you feedback on your writing throughout the semester, and by sharing your work with me and with other students, I hope you’ll develop your skill as a writer and a cultural observer and critic.

Assignments

Students are required to take notes on all the films they watch, and to write a short review (at least one page) about each film setting out its major themes and your response to the film, as well as exploring the relationship between the film and the broader themes of the course. Over the course of the semester, I also want each student to review two additional films of their own choosing from the lists I’ve provided on the syllabus. These notes and reviews will account for 50% of your final grade. Finally, students are required to write a final take-home essay (of at least 6 pages) on some aspect of post-war British cinema and society (25% of the final grade). All writing assignments must be completed to get a passing grade in the course.

Course Schedule

Before we meet, read Peter Clarke’s Hope and Glory through Chapter 7 so that you have a basic grasp of C20th British history before the 1950’s.

Make sure you read the required readings before class. The optional readings are just that: optional but they may be useful as you begin to think about your final paper.

Post War Society and the Rise of New Britain: The 1950s and 1960s

Week 1 “Angry Young Men” and “Kitchen Sink Realism”

Required Reading: Clarke, Hope and Glory, Chapter 8; John Hill, “Working Class Realism and Sexual Reaction” in James Curran and Vincent Porter (eds.), British Cinema History; Gavin Lambert, Review (Look Back in Anger), Film Quarterly (1959)

Optional Reading: Colin Young, “Interview With Tony Richardson” Film Quarterly (1960)

Film: Look Back in Anger (Dir. Tony Richardson, 1958)

Week 2 “A Working Class Hero Is Something to Be”

Film: Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (Dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1960)

Required Reading: Peter Cowie, “An Interview with Lindsay Anderson” Film Quarterly (1964); Elizabeth Sutherland, Review (Saturday Night, Sunday Morning), Film Quarterly (1961); Pauline Kael, “Commitment and the Strait-Jacket” Film Quarterly (1961);

Optional Reading: Freidman, “The Empire Strikes Out: An American Perspective on the British Film Industry” in Lester Friedman (ed.) Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism (1993)

Week 3 The Swinging Sixties: Affluence and Alienation

Required Reading: Clarke, Hope and Glory, Chapter 9: David Caute, Joseph Losey (1994)

Film: The Servant (Dir. Joseph Losey, 1963)

Week 4 Towards the Classless Society?

Required Reading: Fay Weldon “Some Like it Rough” Guardian (October 15, 2004)

Film: Alfie (Dir. Lewis Gilbert, 1966)

Week 5 High Hopes? Immigrant England in the 1960s

Required Reading: Enoch Powell, “Rivers of Blood Speech”

See the slightly problematic but fascinating BBC TV series on this speech and its legacy. Please watch at least part one on You Tube and then read the script of the speech reprinted in (an upper bracket conservative newspaper) at the link following this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP7fETsKYkA&feature=related

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers- of-Blood-speech.html

Film: To Sir With Love (Dir. James Clavell, 1967)

Additional Films on the 50’s and 60’s

Every Day Except Christmas (Lindsay Anderson, 1957); Room at the Top (Dir. Jack Clayton, 1958) We Are the Lambeth Boys (Karel Reisz, 1959) Peeping Tom (Dir. , 1960) A Taste of Honey (Dir. Tony Richardson, 1961) A Kind of Loving (Dir. , 1962) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Dir. Tony Richardson, 1962) The L-Shaped Room (Dir. Bryan Forbes, 1962) This Sporting Life (Dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1963) Billy Liar (Dir. John Schlesinger, 1963) Distant Voices, Still Lives (Dir. Terence Davies, 1988) and The Long Day Closes (1992) A Hard Day’s Night (Dir. Richard Lester, 1964) Darling (Dir. John Schlesinger, 1965) Georgy Girl (Dir. John Schlesinger, 1966) Blow Up (Dir. Michaelangelo Antonioni, 1966) If (Dir. Lindsay Anderson, 1968) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Dir. , 1969)

The Decline and Fall of (Old) Great Britain: The 1970’s-1980’s

Week 6 Things Fall Apart: Britain in the 1970’s

Required Reading: Clarke, Hope and Glory, Chapter 10; Carlon Tanner, Review (Sunday, Bloody Sunday) Film Quarterly (1972)

Film: Sunday, Bloody Sunday (Dir. John Schlesinger, 1971)

Week 7 My Generation and Working Class Rebellion

Required Reading: John Street, “Youth Culture and the Emergence of Popular Music” in Gourvish and O’Day (eds.), Britain Since 1945

Film: Quadrophenia (Dir. Franc Rodham, 1979)

Week 8 The Last Gasp of the British Empire: Thatcherism, Punk and the 1980’s

Required Reading: Clarke, Hope and Glory, Chapter 11; Leonard Quart, “The Religion of the Market: Thatcherite Politics and British Film in the 1980’s” in Lester Friedman ed., Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism (1993); Quart, “Politics of Irony: The Frears/Kureishi Films” in Wheeler Winston Dixon (ed.), Re-Viewing British Cinema (1994)

Optional: Lester Freidman and Scott Stewart, “Keeping His Own Voice: An Interview With ” in Wheeler Winston Dixon (ed.) Reviewing British Cinema

Film: My Beautiful Launderette (Stephen Frears, 1985)

Additional Films on 1970’s and 1980’s

Performance (Dir. Nicholas Roeg, 1970) A Clockwork Orange (Dir. Staney Kubrick, 1971) Melody (retitled S.W.A.L.K.) (Dir. Warris Hussein, 1971) The Naked Civil Servant (Dir. Jack Gold, 1975) The Long Good Friday (Dir. John MacKenzie, 1980) Gregory’s Girl (Dir. Bill Forsyth, 1980) The Great Rock and Roll Swindle (Dir. Julien Temple, 1980) Educating Rita (Dir. Lewis Gilbert, 1983) Letter to Brezhnev (Dir. Chris Bernard, 1985) Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (Dir. Stephen Frears, 1987) High Hopes (Dir. , 1988)

The Rise of a New England?: The 1990’s-2000’s

Week 9 Cool Britannia: Blair and the Revival of Britain in the 90s

Reading: Clarke, Hope and Glory, Chapter 12; Moya Luckett, “Image and Nation in 1990’s British Cinema” in Robert Murphy ed., British Cinema of the 90s; Pamela Gibson, “Fewer Weddings and More Funerals: Changes in the Heritage Film” in Robert Murphy (ed.) British Cinema of the 90’s (2000)

Film: Four Weddings and a Funeral (Dir. Mike Newby, 1994)

Week 10 Not So Cool, Not So British

Required Reading: John Hill, “Failure and Utopianism: Representations of the Working Class in British Cinema in the 1990’s” in Friedman, Fires Were Started

Film: Trainspotting (Dir. , 1996)

Week 11 The End of Great Britain?

Reading: Catherine Hall, “British Cultural Identities and the Legacy of Empire” in David Morley and Kevin Robins eds. British Cultural Studies (2003)

Film: East is East (Dir. Damien O’Donnell, 2000)

Week 12 Film: (Dir. , 2006)

Additional Films 1990-Present

Life is Sweet (Dir. Mike Leigh, 1991) London Kills Me (Dir. Hanif Kureishi, 1991) Riff Raff (Dir. , 1991) (Dir. , 1992) In the Name of the Father (Dir. , 1993) The Buddha of Suburbia (Dir. , 1993) Secrets and Lies (Dir. Mike Leigh, 1995) The Full Monty (Dir. Peter Cattaneo, 1997) Brassed Off (Dir. Mark Herman, 1997) Nil By Mouth (Dir. Gary Oldman, 1997) Sliding Doors (Dir. Peter Howitt, 1998) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Dir. Guy Ritchie, 1998) (Dir. Roger Michell, 1999) Snatch (Dir. Guy Ritchie, 2000) (Dir. , 2000) (Dir. , 2000) ’s Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001) Dirty Pretty Things (Dir. Stephen Frears, 2002) (Dir. Richard Curtis, 2003)