Biography And History In Film

Description

The essays in this volume seek to analyze biographical films as representations of historical individuals and the times in which they lived. To do this, contributors examine the context in which certain biographical films were made, including the state of knowledge about their subjects at that moment, and what these films reveal about the values and purposes of those who created them. This is an original approach to biographical (as opposed to historical) films and one that has so far played little part in the growing literature on historical films. The films discussed here date from the 1920s to the 2010s, and deal with males and females in periods ranging from the Middle Ages to the end of the twentieth century. In the process, the book discusses how biographical films reflect changing attitudes towards issues such as race, gender and sexuality, and examines the influence of these films on popular perceptions of the past. The introduction analyses the nature of biographical films as a genre: it compares and contrasts the nature of biography on film with written biographies, and considers their relationship with the discipline of history. As the first collection of essays on this popular but understudied genre, this book will be of interest to historians as well as those in film and cultural studies. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi ‘Movies That Exist Merely to Tell Entertaining Lies’?: Biography on Film (Thomas S. Freeman, David L. Smith)....Pages 1-42 Filming a Legend: Anthony Mann’s El Cid (1961) (Thomas S. Freeman)....Pages 43-75 Joan of Arc Through Medieval Eyes and Modern Lenses: Dreyer 1928 and Bresson 1962 (Elisabeth van Houts)....Pages 77-97 Blood, Lust, and the Virgin Queen: Helen Mirren’s Elizabeth I (William B. Robison)....Pages 99-122 Shakespeare in Love and Anonymous: Two Films More or Less About Shakespeare (David Bevington)....Pages 123-147 That Hamilton Woman (1941) (Samantha A. Cavell)....Pages 149-169 Twelve Years a Slave and the ‘Unthinkability’ of Enslaved Autobiography (Sean M. Kelley)....Pages 171-189 Lincoln Biography and National Reconciliation in the Films Birth of a Nation and Lincoln (Kate Masur)....Pages 191-213 The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) (David L. Smith)....Pages 215-236 Infectious Enthusiasm: The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) (Bart K. Holland)....Pages 237-256 Filming and Formatting the Explorer Hero: Captain Scott and Ealing Studios’ Scott of the Antarctic (1948) (Klaus Dodds)....Pages 257-275 Inside JFK’s White House: The Myth of John F. Kennedy and Thirteen Days (2000) (Andrew Priest)....Pages 277-294 Power and Its Loss in The Iron Lady (Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, Jon Lawrence)....Pages 295-317 Back Matter ....Pages 319-336