media, representation of britishness power point final

Representation of Britishness

Comparison of films through the decades:Bridget Jones: The Edge of ReasonEducating RitaUp The Junction

Up The Junction

Up The Junction Director: Peter Collinson

Year of release: 1968

Based on the Book called Up The Junction by Nell Dunn

Production companies: BHE Films, Paramount Pictures (Distributor, USA)

Principal cast: Dennis Waterman, Suzy Kendall, Maureen Lipman.

Notable personnel: Soundtrack was written by Manfred Mann and Mike Hugg.

The Plot Polly Dean (Suzy Kendall) gives up a privileged life in Chelsea and moves to

a working class community in Battersea where she takes a job in a confectionery factory in an attempt to distance herself from her moneyed

upbringing and learn to make a living for herself.

She becomes friends with two working class girls and forms a

relationship with a working class boy who envies her access to an easy life and is frustrated by her denial of it.

Key Events in Britain in the 1960s

The decade was labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the libertine attitudes that emerged during this decade. A ‘counterculture’ was created in the second half of the decade which consisted of young people revolting against the conservative norms of the time, as well as remove themselves from main stream liberalism.

The 1960s have become synonymous with all the new, exciting, radical, and subversive events and trends of the period, which continued to develop in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and beyond. In Africa the 1960s was a period of radical political change as 32 countries gained independence from their European colonial rulers.

Popular Culture The counterculture movement dominated the second half of the 1960s,

its most famous moments being the Summer of Love in San Francisco in 1967, and the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York in 1969. Psychedelic drugs, especially LSD, were widely used medicinally, spiritually and recreationally throughout the late 1960s.

Films defining the decade: Some of Hollywood's most notable blockbuster films of the 1960s include: Psycho, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Birds, The Pink Panther, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music; The Jungle Book, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Bonnie and Clyde; The Graduate; Night of the Living Dead; Easy Rider;

Planet of the Apes; The Lion In Winter; The Wild Bunch.

The counterculture movement had a significant effect on cinema. Movies turned increasingly dramatic, unbalanced, and hectic as the cultural revolution was starting. This was the beginning of the New Hollywood era that

dominated the next decade in theatres and revolutionized the movie industry. Films such as Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968) are examples of this new, edgy direction.

Films of this time also focused on the changes happening in the world. Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider (1969) focused on the drug culture of the time.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960s

Representation Of Britishness Up The Junction focuses on working

class life in Battersea in the 1960s and the contrast between the working class life and the lives of the privileged.

Up The Junction is set in Battersea, London which then in the 1960s was seen as a very working class and rather depressed district, the main female protagonist (Polly) represents the contrast between Battersea and Chelsea with Chelsea being a wealthy area and the residences being mainly upper middle class.

Polly, the main female protagonist, is a countertype of a typical Chelsea girl in the 1960s, she moves to Battersea to prove to herself that she can be independent.

Representation Of Britishness

Up The Junction is part of the British New Wave cinema which focuses on social realism within Britain.

Social realist texts usually focus on the type of characters not generally found in mainstream films. This has usually involved the representation of the working class at moments of social and economic change.

Free Cinema and New Wave chose to represent the working class neither in victim mode, nor in heroic worker mode as had been done previously. The working class were to be seen as more energetic and vibrant.

Source: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/tag/film_genres/

Educating Rita

Summary GENRE(S): Comedy | Drama | Romance WRITTEN BY: Willy Russell DIRECTED BY: Lewis Gilbert TAGLINE: A comedy about a teacher and a very

memorable student STARS Michael Caine and Julie Walters

Bored with teaching undergraduates English literature, Frank Bryant (Michael Caine) reflects through a whisky glass on his failed marriage and his attempt at becoming a poet. His world is turned upside down by the arrival of Rita (Julie Walters), a hairdresser who has decided to find herself by taking an Open University course. Excited by her freewheeling and acute observations, Frank also feels a deep sadness as he watches her warm impulsive reactions being replaced by the sort of cold analytical approach he so much loathes in other students and colleagues. (IMDB)

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

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Awards

Won Best Actor, Actress and Film at the 1984 BAFTA awards.

Nominated for Best Actor, Actress and Writer at the 1984 Oscars.



Films of the 1980’s

The 1980s saw the continued rise of the blockbuster, an increased amount of nudity in film and the increasing emphasis in the American industry on film franchises, especially in the science fiction, horror, and action genres. Much of the reliance on these effect-driven blockbusters was due in part to the Star Wars films at the advent of this decade and the new cinematic effects it helped to pioneer.

The teen comedy sub-genre saw its popularity rise during this decade



The 1980’s

In the 1980’s was also known as the Thatcher era. Unemployment skyrocketed and social ills such as homelessness and absolute poverty, which had been almost entirely eradicated in Britain during the post-war era, became common features of British life again.

The 1980s: Renaissance and Recession Although major American productions, such as The Empire Strikes

Back and Superman II, continued to be filmed at British studios in the 1980s, the decade began with the worst recession the British film industry had ever seen. In 1980 only 31 British films were made, down 50% on the previous year, and the lowest output since 1914.

The play deals with England's class system, the shortcomings of institutional education, and the nature of self-development.

The film focuses on how Rita struggles to interact anymore with the largely uneducated and sub-literate peers from her own background, but similarly struggles to interact with the educated classes. Rita's original preconceptions of the educated classes are that they lead better lives and are happier people. (Wiki)

Representations of Britishness

The Working Class – uneducated, sub-literate and poverty stricken.

The Middle Class – wealthy, educated and privileged.

How the two do not mix in society. How education is a foundation.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

Key Facts Director: Beeban Kidron

Date of release: 12th November 2004

Budget: $70m (est.)

UK box office: £10,400,000 (504 screens)

US box office: $8,700,000 (530 screens)

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant

Other noticeable personnel: Helen Fielding (screenplay and novel) Richard Curtis (screenplay) Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (producers)

Nominations: Nominated for a Golden Globe, (best performance by an actress in a motion picture) UK Empire Award for best British film

The Plot

http://www.bridgetjonestheedgeofreason.co.uk/



The decade – key features The 2000’s was a popular

decade for your average rom-com

With films such as The Holiday and Something's Gotta Give

The director Nancy Meyer’s was often referred to as ‘the queen of romantic comedy’

Figures suggest films made in Britain and staring British stars have dominated the UK box office in this decade

Mamma Mia! The Movie was the top film in UK cinemas

Bridget Jones Diary was 18th in the top 20 films in the UK cinema

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/nancy-meyers-the-romcom-queen-1862430.html

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23787184-british-films-are-stars-of-noughties.do

Quotes So basically, when Richard Curtis calls, you seem to be ready to go to work.

Yeah, old friends and things, and this one — that seems fine. “But I'm not in a hurry to go and sit in big development meetings and make great, big commercial films. I do have a touch of apathy about that.” Hugh Grant

Would you work with Richard Curtis again?“I like Richard and I think Richard wants to strike out to new territory. So if he did call again, I'd think it'd be something different, interesting.” Colin Firth

We didn't want it just to seem like an homage to something else. Colin Firth “I was more comfortable with the idea of making this film because it’s not a

sequel in the traditional sense. There is a book that has been written and so her journey has continued and I had nothing to do with it.” Renee Zellweger

“The dialect on the other hand… Boy, that I had to pay a lot of attention to. Because Bridget has kind of a lispy thing that she does. So there was a lot to pay attention to. But let me tell you, I had a lot of help.” Renee Zellweger

http://movies.about.com/od/bridgetjonesedgereason/a/bridgethg103004.htmhttp://movies.about.com/od/bridgetjonesedgereason/a/bridgetcf103004.htmhttp://movies.about.com/od/bridgetjonesedgereason/a/bridgetrz110404.htm

Critical reception

“There's a big empty space where the heart of this movie should be.” Film Journal International 01/03/07

“It's testament to Zellweger's likeability and skill that the film is still enjoyable, but it lacks the element of surprise.” BBC 11/16/04

“There are some true moments of revelation, but they're neither substantial enough nor inspired enough to touch the original.” Film Focus 11/06/04

“Instead of laughing with Bridget, The Edge of Reason laughs at her.” Aboutfilm.com 21/11/04

“Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is not as good as the original – the Thai prison sequence makes certain of that – but it still works.” Aisle Seat 11/20/04

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/bridget_jones_the_edge_of_reason/

Britishness - characters Bridget Jones – larger

woman with weaknesses the British can associate with

Mark ‘Darcy’ – inter-textual link – English Literature Pride and Prejudice and Colin Firth’s most famous role as Mr Darcy

Daniel Cleaver – the ‘charmer’

Jermemy Paxman – cameo appearance – has a stereotypical image of upper class Britishness







Britishness - Setting

London – recognisable location

Countryside – typical English countryside

Thailand – maybe attract other audiences?

Britishness - Stereotypes The accent – Hugh Grant The larger woman The upper class – Mark Darcy and

lawyers Upper class location with Bridget

Jones finding it difficult to fit in The locations – stereotypical

English countryside The family Christmas gatherings –

the Christmas jumper and buffet food

The fight between Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy – ‘very British’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfKXbS7f5Xw&feature=related

Representation of Youth Not so much youth but age In the film a lot of emphasis is

put on Bridget Jones’s age and the relationship between her age and her marital status

Bridget Jones is portrayed as being very self-conscious about being in her 30’s and not settled down

Example – one scene after she argues with Mark Darcy she walks past a grave that has ‘Bridget Jones – spinster’ this signifies her thoughts and worries at the time

Working Title – A signature style Bridget Jones Diary: The

Edge of Reason is typical of Working Titles British Romantic Comedies

Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis are involved again to create a stereotypical British film similar to other films by Working Title: debut Four Weddings and a Funeral, Nottinghill and Love Actually

Comparison of the 3 films…

Similarities and differences between Up The Junction, Educating Rita and Bridget

Jones Diary: The Edge of Reason

Main female protagonists Up the junction and Educating Rita both communicate

the gap between the working class and middle class. They all show class differences however, Educating Rita

and Up The Junction represent the differences between the working class and middle class whereas Bridget Jones represents the differences between middle class and upper class.

This could be in relation to the eras these films were set in and the interests of the target audiences of each film.

media, representation of britishness power point final

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