The concept of masculinity in classic Hollywood Cinema was as strong and strict as in culture itself. As was the division between what is masculine and nonmasculine – rooted not only in stories told on screen, but also in cinematic ways in which those stories were told (lighting, camera angles etc.). According to longstanding classic Hollywood rules only femininity could be eroticised – never masculinity. Therefore, as Laura Mulvey insists, popular cinema was designed for a straight male viewer and for his point of view. However, as is widely known, there was (and is) a number of male stars, especially those that entered Hollywood since the ‘50s, that were defined either mostly, or also by their sexuality. Article shows that widening of the category of “non-masculine” (that in that period included women, boys, homosexuals and non-white males) made it possible also for male bodies to be shown and perceived as sexual spectacles.
Journey as Dialogue (in British Heritage Film) One of the most popular cultural themes—in both literature and cinema—is that of a journey. Moving in space and, sometimes, in time—be it in a literary sense or by means of the protagonists’ memories—facilitates comparison and contrast of different cultures, value systems, and causes and effects of actions and decisions. Journey remained one of the most significant plot-organizing motifs in films belonging to the so called Heritage Films which has been an important and controversial movement in British cinema. In those films, usually set during the glory days of the British Empire, journey in space (to Italy or colonial India) is connected to a journey in time, providing the authors with an opportunity (not always realized) to judge bygone reality and ‘rewrite’ the past. Using representative motion pictures from the Heritage Film movement as examples, the author of the article ponders upon the status of the journey motif in the context of cultural encounters and the degree to which restoration of an intercultural dialogue and the redefinition cultural “Others” was realized in films otherwise undermining so many aspects of the splendor of the British Empire (for instance, patriarchy.)
3
Dostęp do pełnego tekstu na zewnętrznej witrynie WWW
Film noir which achieved the peak of its popularity in the 1940s and 1950s in the United Stated was a very American phenomenon, born from the American experience and space – sense of being lost in a big, anonymous, unfriendly metropolis serving as a metaphor for the sense of being lost in a labyrinth of post-war existence. In the same time, from the very beginning of the 1940s, film noir was an international phenomenon, successfully lasting in forthcoming decades not only in America, but also elsewhere – it became defining for cinema and television of both France and Scandinavia. Indeed, most famous Scandinavian books, films and TV series are made in a neo-noir manner, with an addition of some significant local qualities. Nordic noir, unlike neo-noir in e.g. the contemporary USA, does not consist of postmodern stylization and intertextuality, but focuses on problems that define modern societies – social conflicts and controversies like racism, homophobia, patriarchy, violence against women and children, hatred towards immigrants and institutional inability to make them fit, challenges of ecology and so on. The article focuses on these aspects of Nordic noir as shown in two highly popular and critically acclaimed TV shows – The Killing (Forbrydelsen, 2007-2012) and The Bridge (Bron/Broen, 2011-2017).
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.