Description
Book SynopsisRecent years have seen an increased interest in issues of national identity and representation, and cinema is a major medium where strands and layers of representational systems come together in cross-cultural dialogues. Beauty and the Beast provides an account of the specific development of depictions of Italy and the Italians in British cinema. Girelli draws upon cultural and social history to assess the ongoing function of “Italianness” in British film, and its crucial role in defining and challenging British national identity. Drawing on British literary and filmic tradition to analyse the rise of specific images of the Italian Other, this book makes original use of archival material such as WWII footage – and a selected corpus of significant British films.
Table of ContentsChapter 1: 'History and Representation of Italian Immigrants in Britain' - Page 29 - Elisabetta Girelli Chapter 2: 'Italianness in 1940s British Cinema' - Page 51 - Elisabetta Girelli Chapter 3: 'Italianness and Masculinity in 1950s British Cinema' - Page 93 - Elisabetta Girelli Chapter 4: 'The New Italian Glamour: Italian Film Stars in British Cinema from the Early 1950s to the Mid-1960s' - Page 119 - Elisabetta Girelli Chapter 5: 'Italianness, British Cinema, and Thatcherism' - Page 147 - Elisabetta Girelli
