Theorising National Cinema / Edition 1

by Valentina Vitali, Paul Willemen

Overview

Why do we think of clusters of films as 'national cinema'? Why has the relationship between the nation and film become so widely and uncritically accepted? 'Theorising National Cinema' is a major contribution to work on national cinema, by many of the leading scholars in the field. It addresses the knotty and complex relationship between cinema and national identity, showing that the nationality of a cinema production company, and the films that its made, have not always been seen as pertinent. The volume begins by reviewing and rethinking the concept of national cinema in an age of globalisation, and it goes on to chart the parallel developments of national film industries and the idea of a nation state in countries as diverse as Japan, South Korea, Russia, France and Italy. The issues of a 'national cinema' for nation states of contested status, with disputed borders or displaced peoples, is discussed in relation to film-making in Taiwan, Ireland and Palestine. The contributors also consider the future of national cinema in an age of trans-national cultural flows, exploring issues of national identity and cinema in Latin America, Asia, the Middle-East, India, Africa and Europe. 'Theorising National Cinema' also includes a valuable bibliography of works on national cinema.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781844571208
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/22/2008
Edition description:	2006
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Valentina Vitali is Lecturer in Comparative Film and Media Studies and Paul Willemen is Professor of Film Studies at University of Ulster, Coleraine.

Table of Contents

Introduction Valentina Vitali / Paul Willemen.- Part I: Theories.- History, Textuality, Nation: Kracauer, Burch, and Some Problems in the Study of National Cinema (Phil Rosen).- The National Revisited (Paul Willemen).- Reconceptualizing National Cinema/s (Stephen Crofts).- Part II: Histories.- Italian Cinema and History (Maria Wyke).- Russia: The Cinema of Anti-Modernity and Backward Progress (Mikhail Lampolski).- National Cinema in Ireland (Martin McLoone).- British Cinema as National Cinema (John Hill).- Ozu and the Nation (Kathe Geist).- The Break-up of the National Body: the Films of Takashi Miike (Mika Ko).- Taiwan New Cinema, or a Global Nativism? (Kuan-Hsing Chen).- From National Cinema to Cinema and the National: Chinese-Language Cinema and Hou Hsiao Hsien's 'Taiwan Trilogy' (Chris Berry).- 'We're in the Money!': A Brief History of Market Power and Risk-Aversion in the American Film Industry from the Edison Trust to the Rise of Transnational Media Conglomerates (David A. Cook).- National and Post-National French Cinema (Martine Danan).- From Cine-mania to Blockbusters and Trans-Cinema: Reflections on Recent South Korean Cinema (Soyoung Kim).- The Hidden Conscience of Estimated Palestine (Elia Suleiman).- Part III: Crossroads.- Early Cinema and Modernity in Latin America (Ana M. Lopez).- The Quest for / Obsession with / the National in Arabic Cinema (Sabry Hafez).- National/International/Transnational: The Concept of Trans-Asian Cinema and the Cultural Politics of Film Criticism (Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto).- Not a Biography of the 'Indian Cinema': Historiography and the Question of National Cinema in India (Valentina Vitali).- On the National in African Cinema/s: a Conversation (John Akomfrah).- Spaces of Identity: Communication Technologies and the Reconfiguration of Europe (David Morley / Kevin Robins).- Bibliographic Resource (Paul Willemen / Valentina Vitali).