Bibliographic details and abstracts are available to all. Downloads of full-text dissertations are restricted to University of Portsmouth members who must login. MPhils may be accessed by all.

Abstract

The 1960s was a turbulent cinematic period with a range of innovative films being produced for ‘modern’ British cinemagoers. This dissertation deploys an array of resources including contemporary trailers, posters, and articles to determine how British and American movies were promoted for and received by British audiences. Academics have held extensive debates over whether this was a period of cinematic stagnation or transformation, and while this study determines that both views carry merit, it concludes that fears of stagnation during this period encouraged a cinematic transformation – emerging in the British New Wave of the early 1960s, whilst correspondingly influencing British commercial cinema and American New Hollywood movies with its innovative style. 

The dissertation will also show that similar ground-breaking themes can be witnessed throughout filmic promotional material, including posters and trailers, which motivated audiences into cinemas across the country. Alongside evaluating this promotional material, the dissertation will also draw on a wide array of critical examinations made within contemporary newspapers and magazines, which has been largely underexamined by academics – its scarcity makes it a unique, contemporary source that can potentially provide a fresh perspective. This dissertation will also incorporate a unique study undertaken by the University College London that will similarly facilitate the examination of the reception of 1960s cinema by British audiences. 

Utilising promotional and receptive material, this dissertation reveals how the central themes of realism and escapism led this new style, thus adding to historiographical debates by providing a unique conclusion: a 1960s cultural cinematic transformation, stimulated by social fears of stagnation, encouraged the emergence of a new style – embodied through the themes of realism and escapism – which were promoted utilising similar methods and were ultimately positively received by a British audience that was as diverse as the cinematic techniques utilised by its filmmakers.

Course: History - BA (Hons) - C1087

Date Deposited: 2021-07-27

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13704.html