Cinema and Society

4 total works

Licence to Thrill

by James Chapman

Published 31 October 1999

A cultural history of the most popular and enduring film series of all time. Chapman explores the origins of the Bond films in Fleming's novels, locates them in the spy thriller genre, discusses the Bond formula and places the suave British secret agent's adventures in cinema history and film culture.

Projecting Tomorrow

by James Chapman and Nicholas John Cull

Published 18 December 2012

Cinema and science fiction were made for each other. Science fiction has been at the cutting edge of film technology and the genre has produced some of the most ambitious, imaginative and visually spectacular films ever made. Yet science fiction cinema is about more than just state-of-the-art special effects. It has also provided a vehicle for film-makers and writers to comment on their own societies and cultures. In this new study of the genre, James Chapman and Nicholas Cull examine a series of landmark science fiction films from the 1930s to the present. They include genre classics, including 'Things to Come', 'Forbidden Planet', 'Planet of the Apes' and '2001: A Space Odyssey', alongside modern blockbusters 'Star Wars' and 'Avatar'. They consider both screen originals and adaptations of the work of major science fiction authors such as H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke. They range widely across the genre from pulp adventure and space opera to political allegory and speculative documentary- there is even a science fiction musical.
Chapman and Cull explore the contexts and document the production histories of each film to show how they made their way to the screen- and why they turned out the way they did. Informed throughout by extensive original research in US and British archives, Projecting Tomorrow will be essential reading for all students and fans of science fiction cinema.

The British at War

by James Chapman

Published 31 December 1998

This text presents a picture of popular concensus between the government and the film industry over the representation on the cinema screen of Britain and the British at war. It examines the role of the cinema as a vehicle of propaganda, set within its institutional, political and cultural contexts, revealing the complex relationship between the Ministry of Information and the different sectors of the film industry. It identifies the themes and ideologies presented to audiences through analysis of key wartime films, including "Forty-Ninth Parallel", "In Which We Serve", and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp". It also corrects previous misunderstandings of the role in official propaganda of short films and documentaries, demonstrating how these films were as successful as commercial feature films at carrying propaganda to the nations's cinemagoers.

Past and Present

by James Chapman

Published 23 September 2005

This ground-breaking book takes as its focal point director Ken Loach's view that 'The only reason to make films that are a reflection on history is to talk about the present.' In the first book to take on this major genre in all its complexity, James Chapman argues that historical films say as much about the times in which they are made as about the past they purport to portray. Through in-depth case studies of fourteen key films spanning the 1930s up to the turn of the twenty first century, from The Private Life of Henry VIII and Zulu to Chariots of Fire and Elizabeth, Chapman examines the place of historical films in British cinema history and film culture. Looking closely at the issues that they present, from gender, class and ethnicity to militarism and imperialism, he also discusses controversies over historical accuracy, and the ways in which devices such as voice overs, title captions, and visual references to photographs and paintings assert a sense of historical verisimilitude.
Exploring throughout the book the dialectical relationship between past and present, Chapman reveals how such films promote British achievements - but also sometimes question them - and how they project images of 'Britishness' to audiences both in the UK and internationally.