Bibliograph

Rule, Britannia!, the biopic and Britishnational identity

Type

Label

Rule, Britannia!, the biopic and Britishnational identity

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Rule, Britannia!

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Series statement

The SUNY series, horizons of cinema

Sub title

the biopic and Britishnational identity

Summary

Assesses how cinematic biographies of key figures reflect and shape what it means to be British. Rule, Britannia! Surveys the British biopic, a genre crucial to understanding how national cinema engages with the collective experience and values of its intended audience. Offering a provocative take on an aspect of filmmaking with profound cultural significance, the volume focuses on how screen biographies of prominent figures in British history and culture can be understood as involved, if unofficially, in the shaping and promotion of an ever-protean national identity. The contributors engage with the vexed concept of British nationality, especially as this sense of collective belonging is problematized by the ethnically oriented alternatives of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish nations. They explore the critical and historiographical issues raised by the biopic, demonstrating that celebration of conventional virtue is not the genre's only natural subject. Filmic depictions of such personalities as Elizabeth I, Victoria, George VI, Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, Iris Murdoch, and Jack the Ripper are covered

Target audience

adult

Classification