Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946-1959
(livre en anglais)
de Jon Cowans
Moyenne des votes :
0 | vote | ![]() |
0 | vote | ![]() |
0 | vote | ![]() |
0 | vote | ![]() |
Votre vote : -
Description de l'ouvrage :
The first transnational history of cinema's role in decolonization.
Using popular cinema from the United States, Britain, and France, Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946-1959, examines postwar Western attitudes toward colonialism and race relations. Historians have written much about the high politics of decolonization but little about what ordinary citizens thought about losing their empires. Popular cinema provided the main source of images of the colonies, and, according to Jon Cowans in this far-reaching book, films depicting the excesses of empire helped Westerners come to terms with decolonization and even promoted the dismantling of colonialism around the globe.
Examining more than one hundred British, French, and American films from the post-World War II era, Cowans concentrates on movies that depict interactions between white colonizers and nonwhite colonial subjects, including sexual and romantic relations. Although certain conservative films eagerly supported colonialism, Cowans argues that the more numerous "liberal colonialist" productions undermined support for key aspects of colonial rule, while a few more provocative films openly favored anticolonial movements and urged "internal decolonization" for people of color in Britain, France, and the United States.
Combining new archival research on the films' production with sharp analysis of their imagery and political messages, the book also assesses their reception through box-office figures and newspaper reviews. It examines both high-profile and lesser-known films on overseas colonialism, including The King and I, Bhowani Junction, and Island in the Sun, and tackles treatments of miscegenation and "internal colonialism" that appeared in Westerns and American films like Pinky and Giant. The first truly transnational history of cinema's role in decolonization, this powerful book weaves a unified historical narrative out of the experiences of three colonial powers in diverse geographic settings.
À propos de l'auteur :
Jon Cowans is an associate professor of history at Rutgers University-Newark.
Revue de Presse :
This is a terrific book. Empire Films and the Crisis of Colonialism, 1946–1959, displays a mastery of its subject and is written with verve, subtlety, and accessibility. Jon Cowans has a gift for concise and lucid summation; his cinematic analysis is consistently illuminating, engaging, and plausible.
— Stephen J. Whitfield, Brandeis University
Voir le site internet de l'éditeur Johns Hopkins University Press
> Du même auteur :
> Sur un thème proche :
Theorizing Colonial Cinema (2022)
Reframing Production, Circulation, and Consumption of Film in Asia
Dir. Nayoung Aimee Kwon, Takushi Odagiri et Moonim Baek
Cine-Mobility (2022)
Twentieth-Century Transformations in Korea's Film and Transportation
de Han Sang Kim
Popular Visual Shows 1800–1914 (2025)
Picturegoing from Peep Shows to Film
de Joe Kember et John Plunkett
Sujet : Histoire du cinéma
The Enchanting Kinora (2025)
Domesticating Moving Images in Edwardian Britain
de Elizabeth Evans et Llewella Chapman
Sujet : Histoire du cinéma
Rethinking the Cinematic Cold War (2025)
The Struggle for Hearts and Minds Goes Global
Dir. Stefano Pisu, Francesco Pitassio et Maurizio Zinni
Sujet : Histoire du cinéma
The Soundies (2023)
A History and Catalog of Jukebox Film Shorts of the 1940s
de Mark Cantor
Sujet : Histoire du cinéma
The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures (2023)
A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies
de Paul Fischer
Sujet : Histoire du cinéma