Postmodern Blackpool
Abstract
The author discusses representation of Blackpool in film as a special case amongst British postmodern cinematic cities. Its postmodernism not only follows the changes which affected the ’real’ city in the last decades and the postmodern style of the 1980s and 1990s cinema, but to a large extent results from the fact that it was always, in a sense, postmodern. Many of the features associated with postmodernism existed in the city, and were identified by historians before the term ’postmodernism’ started to be widely used. After presenting a brief history of Blackpool as the most cosmopolitan British holiday resort, patronised mostly by the working classes, the essay explores the shifts in portrayal of Blackpool that took place between 1927 and the premiere of a silent box-office hit Hindle Wakes, directed by Maurice Elvey to Bhaji on the Beach (1993), directed by Gurinder Chadha and Funny Bones (1994) by Peter Chelsom, through Sing As We Go (1934), directed by Basil Dean and Taste of Honey (1961) by Tony Richardson, using as the main methodological perspective Jonathan Raban’s concept of a ’soft city’.
- The text is a translation of the chapter from the book From Moscow to Madrid: Postmodern Cities, European Cinema by Ewa Mazierska and Laura Rascaroli, I. B. Tauris, London – New York 2003. © 2003 by I. B. Tauris.
Keywords:
Blackpool, cinema, postmodernism, representationReferences
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Authors
Ewa Mazierskakwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
University of Central Lancashire United Kingdom
Filmoznawca, krytyk filmowy, wykłada zagadnienia kina współczesnego na wydziale Historii Sztuki na University of Central Lancashire w Preston (Wielka Brytania). Autorka wielu artykułów w języku polskim i angielskim oraz książek, m.in. Dreams and Diaries: The Cinema of Nanni Moretti (2004, współautorka Laura Rascaroli), From Moscow to Madrid: Postmodern Cities, European Cinema (2003, współautorka Laura Rascaroli), Uwięzieni w teraźniejszości i inne postmodernistyczne stany. Twórczość Wong Kar-waia (1999), Człowiek wobec kultury – James Ivory i jego filmy. Współredaktorka Relocating Britishness (2004). Przygotowuje książkę Women in Polish Cinema (2006, współautorka Elżbieta Ostrowska).
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Copyright (c) 2005 Ewa MazierskaThe author grants the publisher a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Kwartalnik Filmowy, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Kwartalnik Filmowy should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). The journal is published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. By submitting an article, the author agrees to make it available under this licence.
In issues from 105-106 (2019) to 119 (2022) all articles were published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in „Kwartalnik Filmowy”, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.
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