Visions of Empire and Other Imaginings: Cinema, Ireland and India 1910-1962This book was shortlisted for the ESSE Junior Scholars book award for Cultural Studies in English, 2012 Since its inception cinema has served as a powerful medium that both articulates and intervenes in visions of identity. The experiences of British colonialism in Ireland and India are marked by many commonalities, not least in terms of colonial and indigenous imaginings of the relationships between colony or former colony and imperial metropolis. Cinematic representations of Ireland and India display several parallels in their expressions and contestations of visions of Empire and national identity. This book offers a critical approach to the study of Ireland's colonial and postcolonial heritage through a comparative exploration of such filmic visions, yielding insights into the operations of colonial, nationalist and postcolonial discourse. Drawing on postcolonial and cultural theory and employing Bakhtin's concept of dialogism, the author engages in close readings of a broad range of metropolitan and indigenous films spanning an approximately fifty-year period, exploring the complex relationships between cinema, colonialism, nationalism and postcolonialism and examining their role in the (re)construction of Irish and Indian identities. |
Contents
Imperial Imaginings | 29 |
Nationalism and PreIndependence Cinema | 83 |
Cinema and NationBuilding | 121 |
The Nation and its Supplements | 169 |
Conclusion | 197 |
Filmography | 211 |
Common terms and phrases
anti-colonial Aran articulated authentic Bigha Zamin Birju Bridie British Empire Carruthers Celtic Chowdhry Cinema and Ireland cinematic production cinematic representations civilisation colonial discourse constructions contemporary context critical dominant elements emphasised empire films epic melodrama Fearless Nadia figure film's filmic gender genre Ghatak's Ghul Khan Gibbons Gunga Gunga Din highlights Hindi Hindu hybridity Ibid ideology imagination independence Indian and Irish Indian cinema indigenous Ireland and India Irish and Indian Irish cinema ISBN Jagte Raho Kalem Company Knocknagow language London Meghe Dhaka Tara Mise Éire modern mother mythological Nadia narrative national cinema national identity nationalist nationalist discourse nationalist movement Orientalism Orientalist particular political portrayal portrayed post-independence postcolonial realism relation representations of Ireland represented Ritwik Ghatak Rockett role Routledge seen serve Shohat and Stam Sidney Olcott Sixty Glorious social society status Third Cinema tion Tokot tradition trope University Press utilisation Victoria violence vision woman