Tony Whitehead
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719072369
- eISBN:
- 9781781703298
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719072369.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Mike Leigh may well be Britain's greatest living film director; his worldview has permeated our national consciousness. This book gives detailed readings of the nine feature films he has made for the ...
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Mike Leigh may well be Britain's greatest living film director; his worldview has permeated our national consciousness. This book gives detailed readings of the nine feature films he has made for the cinema, as well as an overview of his work for television. Written with the co-operation of Leigh himself, it challenges the critical privileging of realism in histories of British cinema, placing the emphasis instead on the importance of comedy and humour: of jokes and their functions; of laughter as a survival mechanism; and of characterisations and situations that disrupt our preconceptions of ‘realism’. Striving for the all-important quality of truth in everything he does, Leigh has consistently shown how ordinary lives are too complex to fit snugly into the conventions of narrative art. From the bittersweet observation of Life is Sweet or Secrets and Lies, to the blistering satire of Naked and the manifest compassion of Vera Drake, he has demonstrated a matchless ability to perceive life's funny side as well as its tragedies.Less
Mike Leigh may well be Britain's greatest living film director; his worldview has permeated our national consciousness. This book gives detailed readings of the nine feature films he has made for the cinema, as well as an overview of his work for television. Written with the co-operation of Leigh himself, it challenges the critical privileging of realism in histories of British cinema, placing the emphasis instead on the importance of comedy and humour: of jokes and their functions; of laughter as a survival mechanism; and of characterisations and situations that disrupt our preconceptions of ‘realism’. Striving for the all-important quality of truth in everything he does, Leigh has consistently shown how ordinary lives are too complex to fit snugly into the conventions of narrative art. From the bittersweet observation of Life is Sweet or Secrets and Lies, to the blistering satire of Naked and the manifest compassion of Vera Drake, he has demonstrated a matchless ability to perceive life's funny side as well as its tragedies.
Andrew Glazzard
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474431293
- eISBN:
- 9781474453769
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474431293.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
The Case of Sherlock Holmes uncovers what is untold, partly told, wrongly told or deliberately concealed in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes saga. This engaging study uses a scholarly approach, ...
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The Case of Sherlock Holmes uncovers what is untold, partly told, wrongly told or deliberately concealed in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes saga. This engaging study uses a scholarly approach, combining close reading with historicism, to read the stories afresh, sceptically probing Dr Watson’s narratives and Holmes’s often barely credible solutions. Drawing on Victorian and Edwardian history, Conan Doyle’s life and works, and Doyle’s literary sources, the book offers new insights into the Holmes stories and reveals what they say about money, class, family, sex, race, war and secrecy.Less
The Case of Sherlock Holmes uncovers what is untold, partly told, wrongly told or deliberately concealed in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes saga. This engaging study uses a scholarly approach, combining close reading with historicism, to read the stories afresh, sceptically probing Dr Watson’s narratives and Holmes’s often barely credible solutions. Drawing on Victorian and Edwardian history, Conan Doyle’s life and works, and Doyle’s literary sources, the book offers new insights into the Holmes stories and reveals what they say about money, class, family, sex, race, war and secrecy.
Andrew Gleeson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320398
- eISBN:
- 9780199869534
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320398.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, General
In Mike Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets and Lies a black woman seeking her birth mother enters a white family, and shatters its walls of illusion. The family, and the audience, confront the questions of ...
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In Mike Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets and Lies a black woman seeking her birth mother enters a white family, and shatters its walls of illusion. The family, and the audience, confront the questions of what distinguishes true from false marital and familial love. The film exhibits these distinctions in a thoughtful way, rather than preaching or arguing about them. It creates an object of enlightening contemplation rather than fuelling a sugar rush of feeling by violent sensory stimulation. This is what distinguishes art from propaganda or advertising. But film’s sheer sensory power makes it uniquely susceptible, among the arts, for perversion in the latter ways. So ironically, artistically serious film must exercise an almost anti-filmic restraint. The temptation to overwhelm the critical faculties of its audience, to pander to its prejudices or desire to be ‘thrilled’, must be resisted.Less
In Mike Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets and Lies a black woman seeking her birth mother enters a white family, and shatters its walls of illusion. The family, and the audience, confront the questions of what distinguishes true from false marital and familial love. The film exhibits these distinctions in a thoughtful way, rather than preaching or arguing about them. It creates an object of enlightening contemplation rather than fuelling a sugar rush of feeling by violent sensory stimulation. This is what distinguishes art from propaganda or advertising. But film’s sheer sensory power makes it uniquely susceptible, among the arts, for perversion in the latter ways. So ironically, artistically serious film must exercise an almost anti-filmic restraint. The temptation to overwhelm the critical faculties of its audience, to pander to its prejudices or desire to be ‘thrilled’, must be resisted.
Tony Whitehead
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719072369
- eISBN:
- 9781781703298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719072369.003.0034
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter draws attention to Mike Leigh's feature film, Secrets and Lies that proved to be his most popular film, winning the Palme d'Or and the International Critics' Prize at Cannes and ...
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This chapter draws attention to Mike Leigh's feature film, Secrets and Lies that proved to be his most popular film, winning the Palme d'Or and the International Critics' Prize at Cannes and receiving five Oscar nominations. This chapter draws attention to the fact that this film received a wider UK release than any of his previous work and made huge profit at the box office. The film had also marked a turning point in that it moved Thin Man Films into the European co-production market, funding from the French company CiBY 2000 affording Leigh around twice the budget he had had for his earlier films. Secrets and Lies deals with big issues—among them are love, death, marriage, race, adoption, estrangement and the inability to conceive children.Less
This chapter draws attention to Mike Leigh's feature film, Secrets and Lies that proved to be his most popular film, winning the Palme d'Or and the International Critics' Prize at Cannes and receiving five Oscar nominations. This chapter draws attention to the fact that this film received a wider UK release than any of his previous work and made huge profit at the box office. The film had also marked a turning point in that it moved Thin Man Films into the European co-production market, funding from the French company CiBY 2000 affording Leigh around twice the budget he had had for his earlier films. Secrets and Lies deals with big issues—among them are love, death, marriage, race, adoption, estrangement and the inability to conceive children.
Tony Whitehead
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719072369
- eISBN:
- 9781781703298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719072369.003.0011
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter opens with a general discussion on Mike Leigh, who is considered to be Britain's greatest film director and who has carved a unique niche in the film making industry. Among his recent ...
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This chapter opens with a general discussion on Mike Leigh, who is considered to be Britain's greatest film director and who has carved a unique niche in the film making industry. Among his recent films, Vera Drake was released thirty-four years since his debut feature. Since his return to the cinema, he has consistently written and directed a film every two or three years, with occasional returns to the theatre, the medium in which he began his career. He was not, therefore, an obscure talent who has been waiting to be discovered. Even now more awards have come his way from abroad than at home and much of the critical response to his work in the UK has been ambivalent. The ‘breakthrough’ of Vera Drake was certainly preceded by a turning point in his reputation—and his success at the box office—with the release of Secrets and Lies in 1996, but even that came a quarter of century after Bleak Moments. He worked painstakingly with his actors to create fully rounded characters whose lives and personalities are too complex to be shoehorned into the tidy conventions of realistic drama derived from the theatrical concepts of the well-made play.Less
This chapter opens with a general discussion on Mike Leigh, who is considered to be Britain's greatest film director and who has carved a unique niche in the film making industry. Among his recent films, Vera Drake was released thirty-four years since his debut feature. Since his return to the cinema, he has consistently written and directed a film every two or three years, with occasional returns to the theatre, the medium in which he began his career. He was not, therefore, an obscure talent who has been waiting to be discovered. Even now more awards have come his way from abroad than at home and much of the critical response to his work in the UK has been ambivalent. The ‘breakthrough’ of Vera Drake was certainly preceded by a turning point in his reputation—and his success at the box office—with the release of Secrets and Lies in 1996, but even that came a quarter of century after Bleak Moments. He worked painstakingly with his actors to create fully rounded characters whose lives and personalities are too complex to be shoehorned into the tidy conventions of realistic drama derived from the theatrical concepts of the well-made play.
Christopher Gill and T.P. Wiseman (eds)
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780859893817
- eISBN:
- 9781781385180
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780859893817.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This volume of specially written essays explores the understanding of the boundaries between fact and fiction, truth and falsehood in ancient Greek and Roman culture, and the relationship between ...
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This volume of specially written essays explores the understanding of the boundaries between fact and fiction, truth and falsehood in ancient Greek and Roman culture, and the relationship between ancient and modern thinking on this topic. Essays consider the extent to which the concept of fiction was explicitly defined in ancient critical, rhetorical and philosophical writing or was implicitly recognised even if was not explicitly theorised. A wide range of genres of ancient writing are discussed, ranging from Homeric epic, Hesiod, and archaic Greek poetry to Greek and Roman historiography, philosophy (especially Plato), and the Greek and Roman novels or prose fictions. In ancient historiography, stress is laid on the combination of an explicit aspiration to factuality with a strong implicit element of creativity or inventive elaboration, extending in some cases to sheer lying. Essays discuss also especially the kind of ‘make believe’ or fictive belief invited by the ancient novels and the interplay between the ‘story world’ of the novels and the real world shared by its readers and author. Another area treated is the ethical value (or disvalue) of fiction and the question whether fiction is valued in the same way in antiquity as in the modern world. Although antiquity differs from the modern world in not defining fiction as such or in producing a literary theory of the novel, it is suggested by some essays that ancient and modern attitudes to fiction and its value are not as dissimilar as this difference might lead one to expect.Less
This volume of specially written essays explores the understanding of the boundaries between fact and fiction, truth and falsehood in ancient Greek and Roman culture, and the relationship between ancient and modern thinking on this topic. Essays consider the extent to which the concept of fiction was explicitly defined in ancient critical, rhetorical and philosophical writing or was implicitly recognised even if was not explicitly theorised. A wide range of genres of ancient writing are discussed, ranging from Homeric epic, Hesiod, and archaic Greek poetry to Greek and Roman historiography, philosophy (especially Plato), and the Greek and Roman novels or prose fictions. In ancient historiography, stress is laid on the combination of an explicit aspiration to factuality with a strong implicit element of creativity or inventive elaboration, extending in some cases to sheer lying. Essays discuss also especially the kind of ‘make believe’ or fictive belief invited by the ancient novels and the interplay between the ‘story world’ of the novels and the real world shared by its readers and author. Another area treated is the ethical value (or disvalue) of fiction and the question whether fiction is valued in the same way in antiquity as in the modern world. Although antiquity differs from the modern world in not defining fiction as such or in producing a literary theory of the novel, it is suggested by some essays that ancient and modern attitudes to fiction and its value are not as dissimilar as this difference might lead one to expect.
E.L. Bowie
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780859893817
- eISBN:
- 9781781385180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780859893817.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter challenges the idea that the invocation of the Muses in early Greek Poetry means that poets saw themselves as reporting historical facts. Referring to Homeric epic, Hesiod, and archaic ...
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This chapter challenges the idea that the invocation of the Muses in early Greek Poetry means that poets saw themselves as reporting historical facts. Referring to Homeric epic, Hesiod, and archaic lyric poetry, it points to a variety of indicators that the authors were aware of their own invention of new material and expected their audiences also to be aware of this invention. Key examples include Hesiod's reported meeting with the Muses, Stesichorus’ two prologues on Helen and epodes by Archilochus referring to invented episodes. The overall implication is that there is a wide awareness of the possibility of what we call ‘fiction’ even if there is no genre which is explicitly presented as fictional and no term corresponding to the idea of fiction.Less
This chapter challenges the idea that the invocation of the Muses in early Greek Poetry means that poets saw themselves as reporting historical facts. Referring to Homeric epic, Hesiod, and archaic lyric poetry, it points to a variety of indicators that the authors were aware of their own invention of new material and expected their audiences also to be aware of this invention. Key examples include Hesiod's reported meeting with the Muses, Stesichorus’ two prologues on Helen and epodes by Archilochus referring to invented episodes. The overall implication is that there is a wide awareness of the possibility of what we call ‘fiction’ even if there is no genre which is explicitly presented as fictional and no term corresponding to the idea of fiction.
Aaron Baker
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252036057
- eISBN:
- 9780252093012
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252036057.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines the films of Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh's twenty feature films present a diverse range of subject matter and formal styles. They range from his 1989 breakthrough hit Sex, ...
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This chapter examines the films of Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh's twenty feature films present a diverse range of subject matter and formal styles. They range from his 1989 breakthrough hit Sex, Lies, and Videotape, about the sex lives of four twenty-somethings, to social-problem films such as Erin Brockovich and The Informant! (2009). Even the cost of making his films has shown great variety, ranging from the six-figure budget for Schizopolis (1996) to the star-studded Ocean's series blockbusters (2001, 2004, 2007) that averaged nearly one hundred million dollars to produce. The eclecticism in Soderbergh's movies would appear to invalidate a claim to the distinctive style typical of film authorship. However, the chapter argues that the variety of his work and the commercial viability of some of his films are prominent aspects of his individual style.Less
This chapter examines the films of Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh's twenty feature films present a diverse range of subject matter and formal styles. They range from his 1989 breakthrough hit Sex, Lies, and Videotape, about the sex lives of four twenty-somethings, to social-problem films such as Erin Brockovich and The Informant! (2009). Even the cost of making his films has shown great variety, ranging from the six-figure budget for Schizopolis (1996) to the star-studded Ocean's series blockbusters (2001, 2004, 2007) that averaged nearly one hundred million dollars to produce. The eclecticism in Soderbergh's movies would appear to invalidate a claim to the distinctive style typical of film authorship. However, the chapter argues that the variety of his work and the commercial viability of some of his films are prominent aspects of his individual style.
James Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231169776
- eISBN:
- 9780231850629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231169776.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter examines James Cameron's True Lies (1994). True Lies depicts how digital and information technology can be abused. A significant part of the drama in the film is derived from the ease ...
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This chapter examines James Cameron's True Lies (1994). True Lies depicts how digital and information technology can be abused. A significant part of the drama in the film is derived from the ease with which a camera can so readily satisfy peoples' voyeuristic impulses, and is crucial to the development of the plot and the film's presentation of a recurrent motif that is centred on the ‘screening’ and ‘filtering’ of reality through a captured image. The film critiques American imperialism, and how surveillance has become increasingly embedded in the material culture of so many peoples' daily lives. It also served as a catalyst for Cameron's conception not only as a ‘storyteller’, but also as a resource-intensive filmmaker.Less
This chapter examines James Cameron's True Lies (1994). True Lies depicts how digital and information technology can be abused. A significant part of the drama in the film is derived from the ease with which a camera can so readily satisfy peoples' voyeuristic impulses, and is crucial to the development of the plot and the film's presentation of a recurrent motif that is centred on the ‘screening’ and ‘filtering’ of reality through a captured image. The film critiques American imperialism, and how surveillance has become increasingly embedded in the material culture of so many peoples' daily lives. It also served as a catalyst for Cameron's conception not only as a ‘storyteller’, but also as a resource-intensive filmmaker.
Laurence A. Rickels
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816666652
- eISBN:
- 9781452946566
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816666652.003.0023
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines science fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s novel The Penultimate Truth and Lies, Inc. (formerly known as The Unteleported Man), which form a kind of portal for working through the ...
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This chapter examines science fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s novel The Penultimate Truth and Lies, Inc. (formerly known as The Unteleported Man), which form a kind of portal for working through the one history without parallel or alternative. In The Penultimate Truth, it’s all a fair, a show, in love of war: to cut losses on the human side, the Terran population was provided vast mine-like shelters while total nuclear war commenced on Mars. A new world order of Yance-men rule the Earth from their vast estates. Mankind below must watch the show of ongoing total war, films made in the meantime by Eisenbludt of Moscow. The premier filmmaker is Gottlieb Fischer of West Germany. The simulacrum of the world leader, Talbot Yancy, was also designed by Fischer and made in Germany. The polarization between West and East was maintained for the captive audience in the underworld.Less
This chapter examines science fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s novel The Penultimate Truth and Lies, Inc. (formerly known as The Unteleported Man), which form a kind of portal for working through the one history without parallel or alternative. In The Penultimate Truth, it’s all a fair, a show, in love of war: to cut losses on the human side, the Terran population was provided vast mine-like shelters while total nuclear war commenced on Mars. A new world order of Yance-men rule the Earth from their vast estates. Mankind below must watch the show of ongoing total war, films made in the meantime by Eisenbludt of Moscow. The premier filmmaker is Gottlieb Fischer of West Germany. The simulacrum of the world leader, Talbot Yancy, was also designed by Fischer and made in Germany. The polarization between West and East was maintained for the captive audience in the underworld.
