America Through a British Lens: Cinematic Portrayals 1930-2010

by Andrew Hoffland

Overview

 As the British watched their empire crumble and the United States became the dominant world power, many British films warned of the dangers posed by American culture. Americans were frequently portrayed as disconcertingly ambitious, reckless and irreverent. Yet the same films that depicted the U.S. as an agent of chaos also suggested Britons might do well to embrace American-style energy and egalitarianism. Movies like Love Actually, The Quatermass Xperiment, 28 Weeks Later, Local Hero and Alfred Hitchcock’s Secret Agent have delved into the storied “special relationship” between the U.S. and U.K. These films and many more examined in this first book-length study of British movies about America, reveal much about British attitudes regarding power, gender, class, sexuality and emotion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476625560
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	10/20/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

James D. Stone is an associate professor in the Department of Cinematic Arts at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Introduction: Admitting America to British Life 4
1. “I used to like gangsters and newspaper films, but I’m not so sure now”: The Hollywood Dreams of Jessie Matthews and the British Film Industry 27
2. “But he’s so kind and friendly!” The Mysterious American
in 1930s British Cinema 53
3. Johnny in the Clouds: ­Middle-Class Fantasies of the American G.I. 78
4. “Funny thing about controls, suddenly they go haywire”:
Debating the Necessity of Restraint in Postwar Britain 106
5. “A ­well-intentioned but inexperienced colossus”: British
Cinema, Picture Post and the Redefinition of National
Identity in the Postwar Period 128
6. A World Worth Saving? Redefining National Identity
in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain 155
7. “You’re his little English bitch and you don’t even know it”:
Gendering ­Anglo-American Relations in Post–9/11 British Cinema 170
Chapter Notes 189
Bibliography 199
Index 207