‘A world on wings’: young female workers and cinema in world war I

Abstract

This article argues that cinema was an important social space for young, female munitions workers in Britain during the First World War. Unlike the public house, the cinema erected no social barriers to a female presence. Additionally, the cinema trade was promoting films to a youthful audience which was attracted to movies that emphasised active female roles such as those in the serial queen melodramas. In munitions areas such as Gretna and Carlisle in the Borders young female workers flocked to the cinema while attendances declined in some non-munitions areas. State-run cinemas in the Gretna area also encouraged their presence, but incurred the anger of the film trade by attempting to divert workers away from commercial outlets, with limited success, however. The wartime public visibility of young female workers in social spaces such as the cinema increased pre-war concerns about the content of film, particularly when dealing with themes of social relationships and morality.