Showing papers in "Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television in 2015"
TL;DR: The YMCA huts were built to provide soldiers with food and a place to rest on the frontline, or at home in military camps and railway stations as discussed by the authors, and the majority of which were portable units providing free showings to men in forward positions.
Abstract: This article will focus on the wartime cinema facilities provided by the philanthropic association the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the YMCA turned its attention to supporting troops fighting for Britain and her Empire. YMCA huts were built to provide soldiers with food and a place to rest on the frontline, or at home in military camps and railway stations. Alongside the arrangements for entertainments made by the Army at Divisional level, the YMCA had a central role in providing morale-boosting entertainment and moral-strengthening education to British soldiers. Films became a central mode of entertainment for British servicemen serving on the Western Front and the Mediterranean. Cinema shows were the most popular part of the concert party programme, with many cinema halls also acting as theatres. The YMCA had 77 cinema plants, the majority of which were portable units providing free showings to men in forward positions. There were 20 sp...
24 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the industrial role of transmedia storytelling during a period of Classical Hollywood is examined, focusing on the role of licensing, corporate authorship and cross-industrial relations.
Abstract: Re-contextualising the industrial evolution of transmedia storytelling—itself typically branded a product of contemporary media convergence—this article examines the industrial role of transmedia storytelling during a period of Classical Hollywood. Exploring the roles of licensing, corporate authorship and cross-industrial relations amidst the cultural context of the Second World War, the article draws on Superman and the expansions of the character’s storyworld across multiple media during the 1940s and 1950s to assess how the media of comics, radio, cinema and television can be recognised during this period as convergent industry platforms where transmedia narratives unfolded.
19 citations
TL;DR: Andrews book on convergence and divergence between cinema and television in the UK is a strong piece of historical research giving us a much clearer picture of the often-controversial and value-tainted relation between these two media as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: blockbusters and more art cinema films, international co-production, and she dedicates special attention to low-budget initiatives like Channel 4’s Warp X, regional initiatives like iFeatures and BBC’s Film Network—both an online platform and a guide for new talent. Hannah Andrews’ book on convergence and divergence between cinema and television in the UK is a strong piece of historical research giving us a much clearer picture of the often-controversial and value-tainted relation between these two media. It combines technology history; institutional and cultural policy history; production and distribution history; and the history of genres from various perspectives. The value of the book also lies in going against tendencies of digital determinism. The contemporary relationship between film and television is not determined by technology alone, it has to be studied carefully in a specific sociological and cultural context. The digital revolution is a revolution through new user platforms and the increased availability of content, but differentiation of content is still important just as cultural distinctions, policy and context.
14 citations
12 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines British documentary films about Cyprus during the British colonial era, primarily during the post-war period, and traces the production and reception of these films, considering the ways in which documentary representations of Cyprus shaped perceptions of the island and its relationship to Britain.
Abstract: This article examines British documentary films about Cyprus during the British colonial era, primarily the post-war period. Produced against a background of political upheaval, these documentaries reflect a highly fluid relationship between colony and metropolis. An initial sequence of travelogues was followed by several documentaries which promoted the apparent success of British development projects on the island, positioning it as a showcase for the benefits of enlightened imperial power. The subsequent militarisation of Cyprus in the mid-1950s led to films which endorsed Cyprus as a strategic outpost of the British Empire but also acknowledged the emergence of local resistance to British rule. Tracing the production and reception of these films, this article considers the ways in which documentary representations of Cyprus shaped perceptions of the island and its relationship to Britain. More generally, the article addresses the diffusion of documentary practices in the British Empire and the perceiv...
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the imagery and portrayal of First World War soldiers within modern computer games and argued that soldiers fall into two major groups largely defined by trends in narrative portrayal: the Individuals and the Mass.
Abstract: This article examines the imagery and portrayal of First World War soldiers within modern computer games. The role of a soldier is a staple of computer games and the Second World War remains the most referenced and depicted conflict within the medium. Second World War games are highly influenced by cinematic portrayals of the conflict. The depiction of First World War soldiers, however, is a more recent and complicated development. Films focused on the First World War are not as populous as those depicting the Second and they also exist within different narrative conventions. By examining games such as Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Trenches 2, Verdun 1914–1918 and Trench Warfare, this article argues that soldiers fall into two major groups largely defined by trends in narrative portrayal: the Individuals and the Mass. However, because of the more morally complicated nature of the First World War and the audience’s expectations regarding the deadly nature of the conflict, figures within these groups come ...
10 citations
TL;DR: A survey of film-goers who lived in Rome between the years 1945 and 1960 as discussed by the authors analyzed the experience of film consumption, choice and movie taste in the capital at the time and investigated how the memory of events related to cinema-going was woven into people's personal narrative.
Abstract: Cinema was the most popular form of entertainment in Italy in the 1950s. In particular, Rome not only boasted the highest number of movie theatres in the country, but was also the home of cinema studios, production and distribution companies as well as film industry offices. Building upon a survey of film-goers who lived in Rome between the years 1945 and 1960, this article analyses the experience of film consumption, choice and movie taste in the capital at the time. Moreover, it investigates how the memory of events related to cinema-going was woven into people’s personal narrative. The project not only adds new dimensions to our understanding of audiences in Rome during the 1950s, but also looks into the way people construct their memories of the social experience of cinema-going and reflect upon them after over 60 years.
10 citations
10 citations
TL;DR: Danish television is a phenomenon as mentioned in this paper, and despite the fact that Denmark stands for one of Europe's smallest television markets, numerous Danish series have lately met with critical acclaim, despite its small size.
Abstract: Danish television is a phenomenon. Notwithstanding the fact that the country stands for one of Europe’s smallest television markets, numerous Danish series have lately met with critical acclaim. Da...
10 citations
9 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a detailed historical account of the Flemish film support process behind the allocation of official film funds for period adaptations and how the national question was involved is presented.
Abstract: During the 1970s and 1980s, ‘period adaptations,’ or period films based on the Flemish literary patrimony, were the most prominent and prestigious genre of film production in Flanders, the northern, Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Connecting the observation that official film policy largely determines Flemish film production with the dominant interpretation of period adaptations in Flemish cultural and national terms, these films are often seen as the product of an official Flemish film policy strategy. Drawing on original archival research and interviews with policy actors and film-makers, this article offers a detailed historical account of the Flemish film support process behind the allocation of official film funds for period adaptations and how the national question was involved. Contrary to common assumptions, this film support process was a very complex and often ambiguous one, whereby Flemish cultural nationalist concerns could work both to the advantage and to the disadvantage of period adaptat...
TL;DR: Weaver's Program Service Network (PSN) as discussed by the authors was a failed attempt to start a fourth American television network in 1957, which reflected the economics and ideologies of free-market capitalism as well as the tension between commercial imperatives and cultural legitimacy already familiar to the medium in the late 1950s.
Abstract: This article details former NBC president Sylvester ‘Pat’ Weaver, Jr.’s attempt to start a fourth American television network in 1957. The development of Weaver’s Program Service Network (PSN), and its ultimate failure, represent negotiations of several prominent discourses and practices within the television industry in the 1950s, including certain notions of the public interest, ‘high culture’ programming and quality audiences, and the changing economics of broadcasting. Drawing from archival evidence, I show that while PSN’s fourth-network status may hint initially at a lost opportunity for broader participation in the US broadcasting industries, and thus an alternate path that the medium may have taken, it nevertheless reflected the economics and ideologies of free-market capitalism as well as the tension between commercial imperatives and cultural legitimacy already familiar to the medium in the late 1950s. In spite of Weaver’s pronouncements about the oppressive three-network structure, the ‘service...
TL;DR: Louvain, Southampton, and Stevens Point, Wisconsin this article were all affected by the Great War, including direct damage to its buildings, reprisal executions of its citizens and German occupation for the four years of the war.
Abstract: The Great War broke out at the moment that the film industry at all levels, production, distribution and exhibition was becoming established. Here the attention is on the local cinema cultures of three spaces: Louvain in Belgium, Southampton in England, and Stevens Point, Wisconsin, in the United States. The areas share marked differences: Louvain suffered considerably, including direct damage to its buildings, reprisal executions of its citizens and German occupation for the four years of the war; Southampton witnessed the parade of war through its role as the main embarkation point for British troops, as well as suffering the loss in unprecedented number of casualties which the British people endured; and Stevens Point was different again in that the war directly touched the local community, with its considerable German and Polish immigrant population, as the politics of the nation shifted from isolation to engagement. These were all factors in the exhibition strategies of local cinema exhibitors who ne...
TL;DR: The early years of the CBC's flirtation with the medium offer a unique opportunity to analyze its early years and its prioritization of positive public relations as mentioned in this paper. But the CBC did not establish a television station prior to the Second World War, and it was not until the lack of television threatened its public relations efforts and international reputation that the Corporation took action.
Abstract: Through the early part of the 1930s, rumours of television’s arrival circulated in Canada. When the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) took control of broadcasting in November 1936, those eagerly awaiting television looked to the CBC for progress towards the establishment of a network. With the majority of Canadian private radio stations unwilling or unable to invest in television, the task was left to the public broadcaster. It was not until the lack of television threatened the CBC’s public relations efforts and international reputation, however, that the Corporation took action. These motivating factors highlight the CBC’s priorities in its early years as it tried to escape the shadow left by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, Canada’s first public broadcaster. While it did not establish a television station prior to the Second World War, the Corporation’s flirtation with the medium offers a unique opportunity to analyze its early years and its prioritization of positive public relations ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine some aspects of the social history of cinema in wartime, focusing on reconstructing the cinema experiences of Australian soldiers during the First World War, considering some of their responses to, and interactions with, what they saw.
Abstract: This article examines some aspects of the social history of cinema in wartime. Only limited attention has been paid thus far to the ways in which First World War soldiers experienced the ‘picture shows’. It focuses on reconstructing the cinema experiences of Australian soldiers during the First World War, considering some of their responses to, and interactions with, what they saw. It places this history within the broader story of entertainment and recreation for service personnel and seeks to elucidate the role of cinema in the lives and experiences of soldiers and veterans.
TL;DR: For the last several decades, innovations in digital technologies have been making historical and theoretical questions increasingly central to how audiences experience the cinema as discussed by the authors, and most prominently, the question of "Why?"
Abstract: For the last several decades, innovations in digital technologies have been making historical and theoretical questions increasingly central to how audiences experience the cinema. Most prominently...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the reasons why cinema newsreels disappeared when television introduced news broadcasts and why the information format of the cinema pre-programme was unable to adapt, acquire new functions and continue.
Abstract: Why did cinema newsreels disappear when television introduced news broadcasts? Why was the ‘information format’ of the cinema pre-programme unable to adapt, acquire new functions and continue? Such...
TL;DR: A Hole in Babylon as mentioned in this paper was a fictionalised account of the 1975 Spaghetti House siege, with a sympathetic portrayal of three black men whose botched attempt at an armed robbery escalated into a six-day siege.
Abstract: This article draws on my interviews with the writer/director Horace Ove and the producer Graham Benson, in order to explore the production history of the Play for Today, A Hole in Babylon. Filmed during a particularly turbulent decade in British race relations, A Hole in Babylon was a fictionalised account of the 1975 Spaghetti House siege. Horace Ove was intent on providing a sympathetic portrayal of three black men, whose botched attempt at an armed robbery escalated into a six-day siege. Ove’s insistence that the underlying motivation for the crime was ideological ensured that the play courted controversy, even before it was actually transmitted on television. Much of A Hole in Babylon was shot on location in and around Ladbroke Grove; an area which was, during the 1970s, inexorably linked to black political expression and struggle. Furthermore, the scenes in A Hole in Babylon depicting the siege were filmed in the restaurant basement that had been the locus of the real-life hostage-taking just four ye...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined local film culture based on an analysis of actual attendance and revenue figures from the major first-run cinema of Ghent, the Capitole, between 1953 and 1971.
Abstract: This article examines local film culture based on an analysis of actual attendance and revenue figures from the major first-run cinema of Ghent, the Capitole, between 1953 and 1971. Using unique archival material captured in a database containing information on 801 films, this cultural economic analysis explores issues like financial policy, programming strategies and taste patterns in a pivotal period of crisis in the film market. A first analysis describes the programming strategies of cinema Capitole based on preferences in genre of the films, their country of origin and year of production. A second analysis studies the popularity of these programmed films based on reruns and finally, a financial analysis of the data on the ticket prices, gross revenues, taxes, admission numbers and net income characterizes this cinema in times of crisis.
TL;DR: One month after the outbreak of the Second World War, the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was introduced in Britain in an attempt to grow more food to feed a nation in conflict, at which time the government persuaded people on the Home Front to convert their gardens into allotments in order to cultivate vegetables as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: One month after the outbreak of the Second World War, the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign was introduced in Britain in an attempt to grow more food to feed a nation in conflict, at which time the government persuaded people on the Home Front to convert their gardens into allotments in order to cultivate vegetables. Correspondingly, strategies were also created to encourage farmers to transform their land as part of the war effort. The campaign for the production of food not only concerned the need to educate in order to provide for the country, but also provided an impetus for community and patriotism. Outlining the need for home-grown products and productive cultivation of the landscape, Dig for Victory in the Second World War was a scheme that was professional from the outset involving the screening of numerous newsreels and documentaries in its implementation. That this plan was mobilised at such short notice owes a debt to the First World War, a period that witnessed the birth of film as official propagand...
TL;DR: Sounder (Ritt, 1972) as discussed by the authors was a Depression-set drama that marked a break from the post-Second World War social problem film and its images of black suffering and was the antithesis of the violent and controversial blaxploitation boom of the period that channelled black rage and defiance.
Abstract: Following the decline of the Civil Rights movement and the rise of Black Power in the late 1960s, race and its representation were the subject of impassioned debate. A key feature of this debate was Sounder (Ritt, 1972), a rare example of a black historical that has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. Unique and contradictory, this Depression-set drama both marked a break from the post-Second World War social problem film and its images of black suffering, and was the antithesis of the violent and controversial blaxploitation boom of the period that channelled black rage and defiance. Emphasising universal themes over those of race, namely family love and dignity in the face of adversity, Ritt’s film was widely acclaimed in the national press, but also served to highlight the profound opposition between the ideologies of racial integration and racial separation within the African American community and American society at large.
TL;DR: For several years, the "Golden Age of Radio" has provided a base of study for the majority of radio scholars as discussed by the authors, from presidential fireside chats to vaudeville programs.
Abstract: For several years, the ‘Golden Age of Radio’ has provided a base of study for the majority of radio scholars. From presidential fireside chats to vaudeville programs, the 1920s–1950s were a prosper...
TL;DR: The authors investigated how this context influenced the development of British propaganda policy and official film-making in Malaya and Singapore, and, more specifically, how a group of British governmental institutions, including the Foreign Office Information Research Department, Colonial Office Information Department, and the Regional Information Office in Singapore, reacted to that context, and were involved in that development.
Abstract: During the immediate post-war period, crucial historical changes took place which influenced the use of the British official film in Malaya and Singapore. The most important of these were the emergence of Singapore as a strategic outpost at the outset of the Cold War, and Malaya as a vital component of the post-war British economic Sterling-zone system. This article investigates how this context influenced the development of British propaganda policy and official film-making in Malaya and Singapore, and, more specifically, how a group of British governmental institutions, including the Foreign Office Information Research Department, Colonial Office Information Department, and the Regional Information Office in Singapore, reacted to that context, and were involved in that development. The article attempts to establish how these institutions, and specifically the Regional Information Office in Singapore, were active in the use of official British information services and the official film in the region, and...
TL;DR: This paper examined how different forms of writing mediate the past, focusing on two ostensibly distinct types of authorship: the light that writing projected on-screen, and the life-writings found in letters and diaries.
Abstract: This article examines how different forms of writing mediate the past. In doing so, I focus on two ostensibly distinct types of authorship: the light that writing projected on-screen, and the life-writings found in letters and diaries. Between 1914 and 1919 in Britain, cinema and personal testimonies intervened in historiography in apparent opposition to one another. It is easy for us now to assume that state-censored, propagandistic movies narrated the state’s version of the First World War, while secret, illegal accounts written by personnel on the Western Front line described actuality (while letter writing was permitted – subject to censorship – all serving personnel were banned from keeping diaries). However, a study of British ambulance trains reveals that films and life-writings have a shared vocabulary, which complicates the two media’s connections to history and to one another. I argue that by interrogating the motifs congruent on the screen and the page, and by reading films and testimonies in t...
TL;DR: The authors examined the representation of the Merchant Navy on BBC radio in Britain during the Second World War and argued that men of the merchant Navy were presented as brave and courageous under enemy fire and were consequently given access to much of the prestige generally reserved for the armed forces.
Abstract: This article examines the representation of the Merchant Navy on BBC radio in Britain during the Second World War. It discusses how this essential, but dangerous, wartime role was presented to the British public by arguably the most prevalent wartime cultural medium. It uses extensive research in the BBC’s Written Archive Centre, using both radio broadcasts and listener research, to understand how the role of the Merchant Navy was portrayed and understood during the war. This article argues that, unlike other civilian occupations, men of the Merchant Navy were presented as brave and courageous under enemy fire and were consequently given access to much of the prestige generally reserved for the armed forces.
TL;DR: Like any genuinely cataclysmic event, the ‘Great War’ is deeply rooted in myth; but, unlike the global contest of the great powers a century earlier, this conflagration could be relived courtesy of the silver screen.
Abstract: The First World War is also the first cinematic war, its onset chiming with the necessary technology becoming widely available. There now existed a mechanical means of recording armed combat on fil...
TL;DR: This article examined the popular reception of Italian war films in Second World War Italy, particularly in the final years of the conflict, focusing on critical responses to fictional features that developed war narratives in line with the state's propaganda guidelines.
Abstract: Making use of original archival material, this article examines the popular reception of Italian war films in Second World War Italy, particularly in the final years of the conflict. It focuses on critical responses to fictional features that developed war narratives in line with the state’s propaganda guidelines. Police sources that registered audiences’ reactions show that numerous readings ran counter to the original film projects as defined by the directors and producers. Deconstructing the intentionalist approach, this article builds towards a more balanced view of Fascist propaganda that takes its failures and audience reactions into account. Divergent readings are also investigated in the light of the cognitive processes that led spectators to elaborate them. Examining the variety of spectators’ responses, the article consequently underscores audiences’ heterogeneity. It therefore pleads for an extension of the concept of the ‘resistant spectator’ as one that cannot be understood solely in terms of...
TL;DR: The proceedings Importing Asta Nielsen: The International Film Star in the Making 1910-1914 as discussed by the authors provide an expansive overview of the history of the star in the movie industry.
Abstract: Based on a 2011 international conference at the German Film Museum, the proceedings Importing Asta Nielsen: The International Film Star in the Making 1910–1914 provide an expansive overview of the ...