Elena: As the UK was, and to a lesser extent still is, a class ridden society, almost every film made has echoes, even unconscious ones, of this. You may want to break down your presentations into decades, with representative films or references. In the thirties the leading film actors were classically trained stage actors and spoke with upper class accents (eg: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Merle Oberon, Vivien Leigh) and the working class was represented usually by supporting "comic" characters. (compare with blacks in Hollywood movies of the time). Some of these performers with working class/ regional accents became very popular, usually in low budget films (eg: Gracie Fields, George Formby, Old Mother Riley, Will Hay with Graham Moffat and Moore Marriot, Flanagan and Allen). Things began to level off in the forties, due to World War Two (eg: In Which We Serve, The Way To The Stars, It Always Rains On Sunday, some of the Ealing Studio comedies in the fifties) though in the forties the Rank Organization's "Gainsborough Gothics" with actors such as Margaret Lockwood and James Mason were very popular, as were the Anna Neagle/Michael Wilding films such as Spring In Park Lane - all "upper class" works. In the fifties and into the sixties you had the "angry young man" movement, usually working class lads trying to protest or improve their lot (eg: Look Back In Anger, The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner, Room At The Top, A Kind Of Loving, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Billy Liar, The Entertainer). Some of these originated in the theatre, a kind of reversal to what happened in the thirties. In more recent times, consider the working class films of Mike Leigh (Life is Sweet, Secrets and Lies) and particularly Ken Loach (Raining Stones, Ladybird,Ladybird), as well as the suggestions from other members. If you need any more information, you can email me directly at [log in to unmask] ---------- > From: elena <[log in to unmask]> > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: CFH: British Studies > Date: Monday, September 20, 1999 7:12 AM > > Dear All, > I am trying to select titles for a program that will supplement our > (introductory) British Cultural Studies module (weekly screening of 1 > film throughout the term, i.e. 14 weeks/films; possibly more per week). > The students are M.A. (British Cultural Studies) students who have > ultra-traditional English Philology background (RRL = reading, 'riting > and linguistics). The selection I have compiled so far is limited by the > availability of the titles in our British Council Resource library, but > I could try and order tapes from the UK, possibly: > ""Educating Rita", "Howards End", "Letter to Brezhnev", "Quadrophenia", > "Breaking Glass", "Room At the Top", "The Loneliness of the Long > Distance Runner","The Krays", "The Piano", "Trainspotting", "My > Beautiful Laundrette", "The Crying Game", "Fever Pitch", "The Full > Monty", "Pride and Prejudice" (as marketing heritage) > > Any suggestions on- or off-list will be really very precious! > Thanks, > Elena > > ---- > To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L > in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask] ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu