The Paradoxical Glamour of the Phoney War: Examining the Design of Picturegoer

Abstract

By March 1940, British film magazine Picturegoer was the UK’s longest running and most popular film magazine with an estimated readership of around 500,000 people for each issue (Glancy, 2011, 453-478). This chapter examines an issue edition of the magazine from 1940, considering the ways in which assumptions are made about gendering in the reading experience, and focusing on how advertisements work in conjunction with features and articles. Furthermore, the chapter investigates the ways in which gender and nationality are represented in articles, reviews, letters and advertisements, whilst also examining how anxiety about war and the wider political situation seeps into the discourse about film and stardom. In this issue of the magazine, which is focused almost exclusively on Hollywood films and stars, there is a particular emphasis on the British stars working in the US industry and their responsibilities in a time of war. The periodical’s use of images and its dominant voice express attitudes about gender, nationality and class that are often revealing and sometimes contradictory. The expression of concern about Hollywood and its output reveals the importance of American film to British audiences, particularly in this wartime context.