This is a practice Textual Analysis that came out of recent lessons with my current first year Film group. We did all the research and planning together in class, and wrote the first 2 paragraphs together. I then sent all students away to finish their own version of the essay, and I did the same. This is my version. Textual Analysis Film: Dr. Strangelove or: … Continue reading IBDP Textual Analysis: Dr Strangelove
Even the most cursory glance at the A-level film specification reveals a shocking lack of diversity, which has become even more embarrassing as the Black Lives Matter movement has gathered pace in the wake of the unlawful killing of George Floyd. The (informal) word from EDUQAS is that a new list of set texts is on the way which will seek to address this lack … Continue reading BHM: Suggestions for a more diverse AL curriculum (part 1)
Damien Chazelle’s La La Land and Matt Ross’s Captain Fantastic might appear to originate from very different political perspectives, however both emerged from the contentious period of the 2015-16 US presidential campaign. An analysis of left and right wing thought in America is useful for spectators to interpret how apparently opposing ideas can influence filmmakers, as is a consideration of the country’s unique founding ideologies … Continue reading A-Level exam answer: How useful is an ideological critical approach in examining the impact of Captain Fantastic and La La Land on the spectator?
Both Shane Meadows’ This is England and Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin centre around the difficulties associated with teenage boys approaching adulthood, however whereas This Is England revolves around Shaun as the central protagonist, …Kevin pursues an alternative perspective, using the title character as a focal point to explore the identity of his mother, Eva. Although the spectator will automatically form their … Continue reading A-Level exam answer: How useful has an ideological critical approach been in understanding key characters in This Is England and We Need To Talk About Kevin?
Please note the following is adapted from my dissertation on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry, from 2006. ———————————- Drama has always held an important and prestigious place in television schedules, and for nearly forty years this status was exemplified by the single play. This chapter will trace the development of the single play in … Continue reading The Evolution of the Television Play and the Establishment of Channel 4
Please note the following is adapted from my dissertation on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry, from 2006. 1. MEANTIME (1983) Meantime was the first film Mike Leigh made with the newly established Channel Four, a creative partnership which would result in a further five feature films for cinematic distribution over the next fourteen years, … Continue reading An Analysis of Leigh’s ‘Meantime’ and ‘Naked’
Please note the following is adapted from my dissertation on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry, from 2006. 1. UP THE JUNCTION (1965) Up The Junction was Ken Loach’s fourth Wednesday Play, following A Tap on the Shoulder (the first play to be broadcast in the Wednesday Play slot, attracting 10million viewers), Wear a Very … Continue reading An Analysis of Loach’s ‘Up the Junction’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’
Please note the following is taken from my dissertation (dated 2006) on the television play and its role in the development of the British film industry. Ken Loach and Mike Leigh represent two of Britain’s most dedicated and long-standing filmmakers. Numerous other directors of their generation, coming from similar roots in television drama, have left Britain for Hollywood – Alan Parker has had … Continue reading The Careers of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach
The British film industry of the 1980s and 1990s was dominated by the ‘heritage’ film, to an extent where such films often overshadowed examples of different types of filmmaking. The 1980s in particular where characterised by the success of such films as Chariots of Fire (1981) and A Room With a View (1985), and this was a pattern which continued into the 1990s, with … Continue reading Breaking free from heritage: ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ and ‘Trainspotting’
The 1980s and 1990s were a time of rapid social change; as class barriers shifted, attitudes evolved – towards class, but also towards the different nationalities that make up Britain. Devolution of power to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in the late 1990s was an important step in undermining what Peter J. Taylor called ‘the English presumption’ – the automatic equation of ‘British’ … Continue reading ‘Britishness’ and British Film in the 1980s and ‘90s
Film Studies with Miss Home 