the question

ok.. what film if any would you consider to be typically british? a film that portrays a good stereotype of britishness..

bb8

Steve Crook

Almost anything by Powell & Pressburger.
Almost everything from the Ealing studios.
They all show different aspects being British.

Sorry, I'm not helping much am I?
I think it's an impossible question to answer because I don't think there is such a thing as a stereotype of Britishness.

Maybe you should ask someone who's not British :)

Steve

(1/2 Welsh, 1/4 Irish, 1/4 English Londoner)

Steve Crook

PaPAS

DB7

They'd say Notting Hill

The Italian Job has perhaps now become a British cultural icon?

Russ

Noel Coward's This Happy Breed I feel is a perfect example of all things English/British

Gibbie

I'm not British, but American with English background. Things have changed much over the past one hundred years. Since the time of Elizabeth to the 20th Century, England was a very Protestant country with a strong national identity. That changed drastically in the last century.

Since the time movies were made, there seems to be a Britishness mode of movies by decades. For example, early movies tended to focus on Bull Drummond adventure type heroes and then there were the Edwardian worldly gentleman types (David Niven). World War II stories influenced American notions of Britain well into the 70s. The Beatles had a huge influence on notions of Britishness. With all the cultural mix in the 60s most internationals tended to blend everything from Churchillian conservativeness to Mod style, especially in the case of James Bond and the Avengers. By the mid-80s, there developed a strong anti-British feeling due to political factors from anti-British sources and you will notice that even British made movies tended to show Britishness as dark and hypocritical. This is still the case. Most made for TV movies that are exported take this line or want to be seen as multicultural and will take a slight at the past, which is a mistake on both accounts.

Early movies portrayed the do-the-right-thing sort of traditional Britishness with actors like Ronald Coleman and on the other hand the coy gentleman type of Robert Donat. Many people still love the movies that represent the classy do the right thing British traditional character. The last good example of this was Chariots of Fire in the early 80s, which won an academy and saved British film - yet the industry moved in another direction. Movies like Sink the Bismark showed British character, while the 50s Ealing comedies set the stage for what people think of as cheeky British humo(u)r. While certainly not traditional, the Bond films and A Hard Days Night took Britain international and influenced everything. In the 70s, there was the Python crowd and the mysteries, like Tinkor Tailor Soldier Spy, or period pieces, like Glenda Jackson's Elizabeth R, that played on public television had a terrific influence on ideas of British national identity. Chariots was huge, but the two main characters were posited outside the mainstream, but reflect some notions of Britain in the 20s (although beware of reading history via the movies, even the good ones - read primary sources in addition from the period, if you want to understand British character). The Pythons influenced notions of British character worldwide with follow up from Dudley Moore, which later morphed into the Brassed Off/Trainspotting deadend thing.

In the 90s, TV movies like Brett's Sherlock Holmes and Thaw's Inspector Morse had a huge influence. Also movies wishboned the whole view of British character from Sense and Sensibility to The Full Monty.

There is a lot missing here like the character movies of Hitchcock and Lean, as well as, more historical movies. Frankly, while people knock it, many people still think of the British in the Victorian sense (which many go to Britain expecting) - which puts Mary Poppins at the top with Julie Andrews. It may sound silly now, but that's what American kids grew up with and other internationals did too. I must vote Mary Poppins.

Further resources:
The British Film Resource
http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/

British Film Institute
http://www.bfi.org.uk/

Brit Films
http://www.britfilms.com/

Rob Compton

Gibbie, if I may say so this is a brilliant post, full of insights - thank you

rgds
Rob

Gibbie

Rob,
Gladly. I hope it helps.
BTW, my people came from Oxon - Deddington.
Regards,
Gibbie

the question

Gibbie
thankyou for your interpretation of british film etc.. ive recently signed for an elective at my uni for film studies! my chossen seminar being to do with british national identity in film..its good to get other peoples ideas to consider..im gonna try to compile my arguments and opinions now

cheers
the question

bb8

Gibbie

The Question,

You're welcome. I hope it helps your studies at uni. I don't know what your professors are like, but many academics are rather hostile to traditional life. A safe way to deal with this issue is write a paper that addresses critical questions about national identity in film through the perceptions of the directors (the real movie authors) or the public. This way it is easier for your to write about those substantive issues you want to think through and not cost you a grade for even asking the questions.

Also, check on www.amazon.co.uk for books on film and read the reader reviews for potential help. I've looked on movie books myself and some of the good studies are quite expensive. School or public library may have a copy.

Best wishes,
Gibbie

Steve Crook

I thought that auteur theory had been laid to rest. How do the films of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger sit with auteur theory?

Powell certainly wasn't the real movie author of those films.

Steve Crook

PaPAS

Gibbie

That's a resonable critique. I think for people like David Lean, etc that was true. For others that certainly isn't the case. I knew a movie writer in Seattle who informed me about the big business of movie auteur today. That producer's name is Bottom Line. :)

MissGossage

With surprisingly few exceptions, the auteur theory is largely irrelevant to British film - which is perhaps one of the reasons they're still undervalued by the critical establishment.

For instance, who is the 'auteur' behind, say, the Ealing comedies or Gainsborough melodramas? And can we really read 'The Italian Job' as "un film de Peter Collinson" with a straight face?

If you haven't already come across it, I thoroughly recommend Jeffrey Richards' self-explanatory 'Films and British National Identity', the best book-length study of the subject I can think of, which includes some fascinating chapters on subjects I previously knew next to nothing about (the black socialist Paul Robeson's motives for starring in films unashamedly glorifying the British empire, for instance).

Steve Crook

Well as a Scottish film it contains many elements that only apply to Scotland (and Glasgow in particular). It's also about a specific sub-culture. It is representative of a small section of British culture - but then again, it is no more representative of the whole of British culture than something like Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) which was also set in Scotland and was about a specific sub-culture.

British culture is so diverse that I don't think any one film could capture it all. It's like trying to capture the ocean in a milk bottle

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS

DB7

Edinburgh in Shallow Grave and Trainspotting wink

Steve Crook

Oops.
I knew it was somewhere north of Watford :)

Steve

Steve Crook

PaPAS