British Cinema and Thatcherism: Fires Were Started

The research, analysis and arguments in this book deliver a collection of essays by some of the most important writers in the field of film studies. "British Cinema and Thatcherism" is an informed and provocative analysis of the connections between British film in the 1980s and the policies and political ideology of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. It offers a detailed book on the British cinema during the last decade. Films during the Thatcher era bear little resemblance to the adaptations so often associated with British film-making, and show a varying degree of reaction to the dominant Thatcherite political and economic ideology. "British Cinema and Thatcherism" demonstrates how film-makers can offer viable alternatives to officially sanctioned versions of the "truth", while at the same time creating bold and serious works that reach far beyond the confines of geography and politics. Not only does the book discuss the obvious film-makers such as Peter Greenaway, Derek Jarman, Ken Russell, Nicolas Roeg, David Putnam and Stephen Frears, it also explores some lesser-known but equally important territory: the work of Black British film-makers, the Leeds Animation Workshop. It aims to be of interest to all students of film and media studies, together with those concerned with cultural production in a wider sense. Lester Friedman is the author of the award-winning "The Image of the Jew in American Film" and editor of "Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American Cinema". This book is intended for students of film and cultural studies.