Realist Nights and Heritage Mornings

<p>Cinema was perhaps the most significant art form to emerge during the 20th Century and whilst initially seen as pure entertainment it developed and spoke to a post-imperial and increasingly post-industrial Britain now unsure of itself its identity and its place in the world. </p><p>Originating from the author’s PHD thesis this book compares and contrasts two distinct schools of British Cinema: Social Realism from 1956 to 1963 and the Heritage films of the 1980s. As each genre is explored the book makes the proposition that British national identity was largely a historic construct created and promoted to further imperial ambition.  </p>