Empire films and the dissemination of Americanism in colonial India

Abstract

In the 1930s, as literature and films representing the British empire were disseminated in Britain, the United States and colonial India, the narratives were transformed through reception and adaptation. The genre of pro-imperial or ‘empire films’ produced by British studios celebrated the continued international relevance of the British empire at a time of contestation by nationalist movements. American film adaptations of imperial narratives from the same period promoted an image of the United States as a global economic power even as Hollywood was confronted internationally with accusations of cultural imperialism and restrictive quotas to limit the number of American film imports. In colonial India, the empire films became a lightning rod for criticism about the misrepresentation of South Asia and a force against which filmmakers, journalists and industry representatives sought to articulate the values of a burgeoning national industry. Studying imperial narratives as they were created and circulated illuminates the transnational construction of cultural identity in the age of early sound cinema, whose technologies heightened awareness of linguistic and national divisions.