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A certain tendency?: style and meaning in the British New Wave

Taylor, Barnaby Falcon (2005) A certain tendency?: style and meaning in the British New Wave. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.94686) (KAR id:94686)

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https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/01.02.94686

Abstract

Conventional approaches to the British New Wave tend to place their greatest emphasis upon viewing the films as a series, stressing the similarities they share with one other and using the fact of these similarities to include them in broader debates about class, gender and/or ideology. Dissatisfied with this tendency, my intention is to take an alternative approach and consider each of the films individually.

This is not to deny that the similarities between these films don’t exist. Nevertheless, for the sake of revivifying the study of British cinema, I see little methodological sense in being content merely to reproduce existing critical discussions. Instead, I intend to define my own critical position and demonstrate that we might fruitfully consider the detail of an individual film without having to continually reemphasise the similarities that might be shared with other films.

In each case, I will show that a re-distribution of critical emphasis will not only allow my discussions of the films to be based around questions of their style and meaning but will also allow the problematic relationship between these films and the question of realism to be reconsidered.

There is an important distinction to make here. I’m not suggesting that social realist conventions weren’t utilised by the films. Nevertheless, a repeated emphasis upon the use of these conventions leading to a flawed series of films has become little more than an effective means of closing down discussion. Surely, there is something else that we might start to say about these films? To this end, my approach will be based upon the idea of difference. Though there might be inevitable or unavoidable similarities between Room at the Top and A Kind of Loving, the main focus of my investigation will be upon the differences that can be found at the level of their respective style and meaning.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.94686
Additional information: This thesis has been digitised by EThOS, the British Library digitisation service, for purposes of preservation and dissemination. It was uploaded to KAR on 25 April 2022 in order to hold its content and record within University of Kent systems. It is available Open Access using a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) licence so that the thesis and its author, can benefit from opportunities for increased readership and citation. This was done in line with University of Kent policies (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/strategy/docs/Kent%20Open%20Access%20policy.pdf). If you feel that your rights are compromised by open access to this thesis, or if you would like more information about its availability, please contact us at ResearchSupport@kent.ac.uk and we will seriously consider your claim under the terms of our Take-Down Policy (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/regulations/library/kar-take-down-policy.html).
Uncontrolled keywords: British cinema; The British New Wave
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
SWORD Depositor: SWORD Copy
Depositing User: SWORD Copy
Date Deposited: 11 Nov 2022 15:16 UTC
Last Modified: 11 Nov 2022 15:16 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/94686 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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