British Film Research Articles

Media Convergence and Game-Based Learning: Developing a Hypothesis of Film Education for the Post-Media Age

The purpose of this paper is to develop a hypothesis of film education built on a theoretical speculation concerning media convergence between cinema and video games, game-based learning and participatory culture, in the interest of schools willing to introduce the subject in their curricula and try out new educational approaches, embracing the inclusive definition of ‘film’ adopted by British Film Institute (2015).

A Comparative Study of the Chinese Translations of English Film Titles from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

The title of a film is an important factor in attracting audiences and markets. The same film in English is often released in different Chinese translations in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. According to the skopos theory, the purpose of translation determines the whole process and result of translation; the specific purpose of translation of a film title determines the uniqueness of its translation. Starting from skopos theory perspective, the paper compares and analyses the differences and the reasons behind the translations of specific film titles from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It is found that mainland China tends to translate English titles in a more direct and conservative manner, while Hong Kong and Taiwan tend to translate them in a more paraphrased manner and with local language characteristics. The possible reasons for these differences lie in the different attitudes towards film, social mechanisms and linguistic and cultural differences between the three places.

A Skopos Approach to the Factors Influencing English Film Title Translation and Current Situation

With the increasing development and progress of society, the communication between China and foreign countries has become closer and closer, among which film translation is a concrete manifestation of the cultural exchange between China and foreign countries. In movies, movie titles play a decisive role in increasing box office, attracting audiences and promoting movies. In recent years, people have been paying more and more attention to the translation of movie titles. This paper summarizes the characteristics of movie titles and analyzes the factors influencing the translation of movie titles and the current situation in China according to Skopos theory with the utilization of case study and comparison. From research, it is found that translators are affected by some factors to form a particular goal which influences the translation result. Therefore, translators are supposed to strike a balance between these factors that may serve as a guide during the translating process and the original meaning of the film title. This paper focuses on how English film title translation is influenced and enlightens translators in this field in some way. In the meantime, this paper lacks relevant evidence to back up some claims. To improve the objectivity of related research findings, systematic surveys on this subject should be used in future studies.

Stanley Kubrick, the 1974 Finance Act, and the crisis of the British film industry: a case study of access, power and privilege in British media and politics

Between 1975 and 1977, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick secretly campaigned to overturn the new tax provisions of the Labour government’s 1974 Finance Act. His aim was to develop a crisis narrative in which the legislation that affected the amount of earnings foreign residents would pay tax on in the UK was deemed directly responsible for the imminent and absolute collapse of the British film industry. Drawing on archival sources from the Stanley Kubrick Archive, the Harold Wilson papers, and The National Archives, the article reconstructs Kubrick’s actions during this period to reveal how he planted stories in the press, lobbied MPs, ministers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the prime minister, manipulated trade union officials, and secretly wrote press releases and campaign letters under the name of the general secretary of the ACTT, Alan Sapper. The archival case study widens understanding of the narrative of crisis pertaining to the British film industry in the 1970s and how this was exacerbated and exploited by powerful and wealthy individuals like Kubrick for personal gain. The article also contributes to the broader topics of access, power, and privilege in British society and how the rich subvert and undermine democracy, thereby aggravating structural inequalities, inequalities that have only deepened since Kubrick’s political interventions and machinations.

Preserving the Imperial Project: Documenting Film Censorship Practices in the Gold Coast (Ghana)

The British colonialists employed cinema from two key viewpoints; the first was the use of cinema in consolidating and promoting the economic and political agendas of the imperial project. Secondly, cinema became a critical medium through which the moral and social welfare of the natives in the British colonies were promoted. The considerably scattering of scholarly works on African cinema have explored colonial film censorship in some parts of Africa, however, the specific case of the Gold Coast (Ghana) has been an under-studied subject. The article engages a critical dialogue on how early film censorship was practised and further seeks to interrogate the nexus between the imperial project and the British colonial film censorship activities in the Gold Coast. While this paper does not claim an exhaustive treatment of the field of film censorship practices in Ghana, it endeavors to lay out an initial inroad, generate interests and critical debates in this neglected field.

Campbeltown Speaks: Small-Town Cinema and the Coming of Sound

The popularity of cinema from its earliest days in small-town settings emphasises the importance of local circumstances in explaining the medium’s success. This article employs surviving business records relating to the Picture House in the Scottish burgh of Campbeltown to explore aspects of cinema-going peculiar to that corner of rural Argyllshire, including a propensity, hitherto unidentified among Scottish audiences, to support the productions of the British film industry. Beyond this, the Picture House has a broader significance. As a monopoly provider of commercial entertainment to an enclosed market, it offers telling insights into a key point of transition for cinema, that from silent to sound film. Placed in the context of national trends, documented by data relating to the taxation of entertainments, Campbeltown provides compelling evidence that the advent of the talkies marked a fundamental discontinuity in the history of the medium at all levels, from the local to the national.

The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (new expanded edition), Peter Graham and Ginette Vincendeau, eds. (2022)

Review of: The French New Wave: Critical Landmarks (new expanded edition), Peter Graham and Ginette Vincendeau, eds. (2022) New York: Bloomsbury Academic on behalf of the British Film Institute, 306pp., ISBN: 9781839022302 (hbk), $95.00

An Analysis of Case Grammar in English Film Dialogue: A New Perspective of Linguistic Modern

Abstract. Fillmore is modern linguistic figure who pioneered the emergence of case grammar theory. He stated that case grammar is a new version of the theory modified from the old theory, namely generative transformation grammar. He developed case grammar after seeing a problem with the grammar of generative transformations. Thus, he declared that case grammar consists of two basic components: modality and proposition. In a line with this background, the purposes of this study are: (1) to reveal the modality in the film “Enola Holmes” based on the perspective of Charles J. Fillmore; (2) to reveal the preposition in the film “Enola Holmes” based on the perspective of Charles J. Fillmore. The type of this study is qualitative descriptive study. Data is in the form of conversation in the film. Thus, the data were taken through watching, listening, and note-taking techniques. The data was analyzed by using three steps. They are data reduction: researchers classified data based on elements of case grammar theory including modalities and propositions, data presentation: researchers displayed data in the form of the table in accordance of modalities and propositions, and interpreted data based on case grammar theory, and conclusion: researchers conducted data induction from interpretation results and ensured that the interpretation results fulfilled the elements of case grammar theory. The results show that the modality in the film “Enola Holmes” based on the perspective of Charles J. Fillmore consists of three modalities. They are tense modality, adverb modality, and negation modality. At the same time, the proposition consists of ten types. They are agentive case (A), experiential case (E), instrument case (I), objective case (O), source case (S), goal case (G), locative case (L), time case (T), companion case (CMP), and benefactive case (B). The results of this study strengthen Fillmore’s theory which states that as a part of sentence structures, modalities and propositions have types and forms and in the context of English film dialogue, the emergence of modalities and propositions is influenced by sentence structure used by the speaker in conveying his meaning.Keywords: Case Grammar, Film, Modality, Proposition

An Analysis of Subtitle Translation of Mulan: Skopos Theory-Inspired Perspective

English films, TV series, and audiovisual materials are widespread in the Middle East, and they require subtitle translation to convey the intended meaning and engage the viewer. Subtitle translation can be very challenging, and this is especially the case with cultural-specific items. This study will analyze the Arabic subtitle translation of the film Mulan 2020. The study aims to contribute to the literature evaluating subtitle translation in the Arab world. Therefore, the analysis will identify translation violations in light of the Skopos theory at different linguistic levels. To address the issues underpinning the violations in the subtitle translation, the strategies used in translation will also be analyzed. Moreover, using a questionnaire, the study will investigate the audience’s perception of the quality of the subtitle translation. The analysis of the data employed a mixed-method design. The findings show that the rules of Skopos theory were sometimes dismissed at the word and phrase levels in the subtitle translation. At the discourse level, the skopos rule was violated. The findings also reveal that the most used strategy was providing a literal translation. As for the audience perception, the findings reveal that the audience rated the Arabic subtitle translation of Mulan 2020 as fairly good. Overall, the findings suggest that the Skopos theory can be used as a tool to evaluate subtitle translation and help improve the overall translation quality while meeting the audience’s expectations.

The Effect of English Language Film Showing On Listening Ability in Class X Students SMK N 42 Jakarta

The aim of the study was to find out whether there was an effect of showing English films on listening skills in class X students of SMK Negeri 42 Jakarta. The research method used in analyzing this research is to use quantitative methods. From the results of the homogeneity test, it is known that all data is homogeneous. With the following data: Fcount = 560.96/160.78 = 3.721. So that the data obtained is 3.721 < 4.130 with this then Ho is accepted and it means that the data is homogeneous. The results of the Hypothesis Test are 3.631 > 2.030. Thus, there is an effect of showing English films on listening skills in class X students of SMK Negeri 42 Jakarta. The percentage of success in the final stage reached 76% so that overall the results of this study were that there was an influence of Listening ability on class X students of SMK Negeri 42 Jakarta.

The Paradox of Steve Coogan: Performing Class in British Film Acting

The Paradox of Steve Coogan: Performing Class in British Film Acting

Chinese Subtitling of Participants in an English Film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: A Narrative-Informed Visual-Verbal Reference

Against the backdrop of increased attention to semiotic relations in audiovisual translation, this qualitative study examines the subtitling of characters and objects from verbal reference to visual information in the presenting and presuming systems in film. By comparatively analyzing the visual-verbal endophora, exophora, and homophora in the DVD and the YYeTs fansubbed Chinese subtitles of an English film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, it is found that there is a stronger visual-verbal link in the DVD subtitle, in which the visual information functions to generalize unfamiliar world knowledge pertaining to uniquely presumed characters to meet target audiences half way, omit redundant verbal information concerning explicitly presumed characters, and explicitate indefinite lexical items relating to explicitly and implicitly presumed objects. A narrative-friendly subtitle is therefore produced featuring conciseness, high readability, and good comprehensibility. However, the visual-verbal link in the fansubbed subtitle is comparatively weak due to the predominantly employed literal translation in subtitling presented/presumed characters/objects, in which the visual information is detached from the verbal content, leaving viewers with redundant or unspecific verbal messages. Extra processing effort is therefore required for constructing film narratives. These findings elucidate the significance of visual-verbal reference in subtitling presented/presumed participants for the sake of film narratives.

Strategies and tactics of the British parental discourse: historical perspective

This article studies verbal and non-verbal means of implementing parental discourse strategies and tactics used by representatives of the British linguistic and cultural community of the 18th and 21st centuries and establishes the changes they underwent in the speech of the father’s and the mother’s discursive personality. The research is substantiated by linguists’ growing interest in the ways communicative behaviour is formed, including its diachronic aspects. The research is aimed at establishing characteristic features of British parents and children’s communication basing on British fiction films, whose main characters are typical representatives of the Georgian era (the series “Aristocrats” and “Pride and Prejudice”) and the present (“Broadchurch”). The object of study is the strategies and tactics of the British parental discourse of the corresponding centuries, and the subject is verbal and/or non-verbal variants of their actualization. The study is based on the methods of discursive and contextual analysis, which allowed us to reveal the specifics of typical communicative strategies and tactics functioning in the British parental discourse, and comparative analysis, which contributed to identification of changes of strategies and tactics configuration in the speech of the father’s and the mother’s discursive personality of the 21st century compared to the speech of the father’s and the mother’s discursive personality of the 18th century. We claim that the speech of both the father’s and the mother’s discursive personality in both historical periods is dominated by cooperative strategies with a tendency to a moderate increase in the frequency of use, with the leading strategy for both historical periods being that of cooperation; the leading tactics vary – providing advice and instructions in the 18th century and discussion in the 21st century. Confrontation strategies do not significantly vary in terms of gender and chronological factors either: for both centuries under study, the conflict strategy is the leading one; the dominant tactics for the father’s discursive personality is order, for the mother’s discursive personality it is condemnation/reproach.

Feminist histories of costuming film: Gordon Conway, 1930s British cinema and the collaborative world of Mayfair sewing

Feminist histories of costuming film: Gordon Conway, 1930s British cinema and the collaborative world of Mayfair sewing

We Will Set You Free: Representations of the ‘Antislavery Argument’ in British and Italian Missionary Films (1925–1939)

ABSTRACT By comparing two missionary films, the British Livingstone (1925) and the Italian Abuna Messias (1939), this study identifies a striking similarity and some differences between the British and the Italian colonial agendas. These two visual narratives are distant in time and belong to two different imperial histories and imaginations; however, one scene in the earlier British film is reproduced almost identically in the later Italian one. This study argues that the shared content underlines not only the Italian fascist government’s political aim to explain colonialism and warfare with the justification of fighting human trafficking, but also the intent to create an image of anti-slavery struggle on the British model. This work sheds new light on how Abuna Messias furthered the role of the Catholic Church and the missionary agenda in Italian fascist colonialism.

Projecting Creative Processes: Art Films and Art Education in Post-war Britain

The relationship between film and art education has received little scholarly attention. This paper describes and discusses one instance in the long and multifaceted history of this relationship: the educational uses of nonfiction films about art and artists in post-Second World War Britain, known then invariably either as ‘films on art’ or ‘art films.’ As a new international genre (backed by UNESCO’s educational distribution schemes), it gained particular momentum in the UK with the Arts Council of Great Britain, a public body, set up after the war with a mission ‘to increase the accessibility of the fine arts.’ And one of the ways it did was via 16mm projection. Alongside building a substantial film library, in 1950 the Council, in collaboration with the British Film Institute (BFI), started a new mobile cinema scheme, the Art Film Tour, to directly engage with the nontheatrical cinema sector, especially its educational venues. By drawing on my research in the Arts Council Archive, I propose to adopt a ‘historical pragmatics’ perspective and to study the Art Film Tour’s media configuration as a dispositif (Kessler, 2018). In the 1950s, with an increasing number of art films dedicated to artists at work, art students encountered cinematic renderings of the creative process by renowned modern artists, such as Picasso, Henry Moore and Jackson Pollock. And therefore, I make a case for an inductive analysis of ‘showing making’ on screen and its implications within historicised art education contexts.

Chinese Sources for AfterWards: From Premodern Poetry, Paintings, and Medical Texts to Modern Novels, Film, and Documentaries

This paper focuses on Chinese sources suggested for a narrative medicine (NM) program, called AfterWards. Dr Lauren Small established AfterWards in 2014 and has been coordinating it since out of the Pediatrics Department at Johns Hopkins Medicine. In early 2019, she started giving a series of lectures and workshops about AfterWards to Chinese medical educators and clinicians in Beijing and Shanghai. She created an AfterWardsFacilitator’s Guidebased on Western-language sources for workshop participants. She also started to organize with Jiang Yuhong (Peking Union Medical College) a workshop for Chinese colleagues to be held at Johns Hopkins Medicine in October 2019. They invited the author to participate. The idea was hatched then to develop Chinese source materials following the AfterWards structure for an updatedFacilitator’s Guidethat Dr Small had initially written. A typical one-hour AfterWards session consists of a specific five-part structure: a literary text or artwork, an associated theme, discussion topics, a writing exercise, and shared reflection. While the content of the program always changes from session to session, the basic structure remains the same. This paper summarizes the types of Chinese sources and their related narrative-medicine themes that were originally selected for inclusion in the updated AfterWardsFacilitator’s Guideintended for Chinese colleagues. These sources about coping with sick family members, aging, and illness ranged from the textual (classical Chinese poems on aging and diagnostic forms for training students) and visual (premodern Chinese paintings and murals of medical encounters) to the fictive (novels) and performative (contemporary Asian-American film in English and Chinese-language film and documentaries).

James Woodburn

Anthropology TodayVolume 39, Issue 3 p. 28-28 Letter James Woodburn Jonathan Benthall, Corresponding Author Jonathan Benthall [email protected] RAI Director, 1974-2000Search for more papers by this author Jonathan Benthall, Corresponding Author Jonathan Benthall [email protected] RAI Director, 1974-2000Search for more papers by this author First published: 31 May 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12822Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. References Henley, P. 1985. British ethnographic film: Recent developments. Anthropology Today 1(1): 5– 17. Henley, P. 2020. Beyond observation: A history of authorship in ethnographic film. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Singer, A. 1982. Film and anthropology in Britain. RAIN 50: 4– 5. Van Brabant, K. 1985. Film and cross-cultural communication: The film festival in retrospect. Anthropology Today 1(6): 22– 25. Volume39, Issue3June 2023Pages 28-28 ReferencesRelatedInformation

‘View’ and ‘Process’: Early British Industrial Films and Visual Culture

Scholarship on the ‘industrial film’ has tended to focus on the kinds of films produced within and for industrial organisations, from the 1910s onwards, and their many uses in education, advertising, and government. This article looks to the commercial antecedents of this tradition in Britain, namely the Edwardian industrial film ‘genre’, produced in vast quantities as theatrical entertainments for the popular market. It assesses both the aesthetics of these films and the discourses surrounding them, and explores how early filmmakers understood the uses and purposes of industrial films. The article argues that, although Edwardian industrial films were marketed as educational products, they lacked the temporal and thematic coherence required to meet filmmakers’ educational aspirations. Here the argument departs from several analyses that have foregrounded the way these films utilised ‘processual representation’. The article then sketches out the trajectories of industrial filmmaking during and after the First World War, when industrial films transitioned into new forms. The article concludes by considering the significance of that shift for the changing meaning of spectatorship across the early twentieth century.

Translating Cultural Features in Arabic Subtitles of English Literary Film Adaptations between Domestication and Foreignization

The fundamental dilemma that always faces Arabic subtitlers of English films is whether to maintain the Western cultural features or find cultural equivalents to make the content more accessible to the Arab viewer. Building upon Venuti’s (1995; 1998) distinction between domestication and foreignization methods of translation, this article aims to explore the effect of different types of subtitling strategies used in translating English literary film adaptations on Arab audiences. The article, thus, fills a gap in the literature on audiovisual studies in the Arab world and provides an applied framework for analysing the effect of subtitling strategies on the target audience. The main question raised is whether domesticating or foreignizing the original English cultural features leads to a closer equivalent effect among Arab audiences. To answer this question, the researcher explored the methods used in Arabic subtitles of cultural features in two film adaptations of Jane Eyre. The researcher initially collected 38 samples of cultural references from the opening minutes of the two film adaptations, classifying them equally based on whether they were translated using domestication or foreignization strategies. Classification of subtitling strategies was derived from Gottlieb’s (1992) and Díaz-Cintas and Remael’s (2021) models. Quantitative data analysis indicated that domestication leads to higher rates of equivalent effect, a result validated by the responses of Arab audience to a questionnaire, which revealed that 51.28% of the 39 participants considered domesticating strategies more successful in achieving the equivalent effect in the subtitles, in comparison to only 12.82% who agreed with applying foreignization strategies.