Description
Book SynopsisThis is a landmark study which examines the film and reading tastes of working-class consumers in 1930s Britain. Drawing on a wealth of original research, Robert James argues that working-class consumers used popular film and fiction to answer a range of cultural and social needs in this tumultuous decade. -- .
Table of ContentsDedication
Acknowledgements
Contents
Introduction
1. ‘The people’s amusement’: The growth in cinema-going and reading habits
2. ‘Fouling civilisation’? official attitudes towards popular film and literature
3. Trade attitudes towards audience taste
4. Working-class tastes: national trends in film popularity
5. Working-class tastes: national trends in literature popularity
6. Working-class tastes: South Wales Miners’ Institutes
7. Working-class tastes: Derby
8. Working-class tastes: Portsmouth
9. Popular film and literature: textual analyses
Conclusion: ‘Giving the public what it wants’
Bibliography
Appendices:
I Broader patterns of film popularity
II Sidney Bernstein questionnaires, 1932 and 1934: Pre-report material
III Patterns of literature popularity
Index
