British Cinema Research

British Cinema

This article is by Laura Dunn and it was first published in Media Magazine on the 25, September 2008. The article is about a woman and whys he is a fan of British cinema.

I chose this article because British cinema has grown in popularity recently with films such as the very successful Harry potter series of films, the popular James Bond series and even art house films such as Shane Meadows’ “This is England.” Actors and directors have been praised and been acknowledged for their work by winning Oscars and BAFTAS for their work and roles.

The article covers many points including:

·      British actors

·      Rise and popularity of British cinema

·      Success in the 1990’s and into the 21^st century

The person who has written this article has a good understanding of British cinema past and present with a good prediction and future for other British films. 

The article quotes: “British film has been established since the birth of cinema. Its first heyday was in the 1930’s and 40’s an era some refer to the golden age of cinema.” There were a lot of films that were good around this era. The sixties saw another change to cinema as evolved again “New Wave or kitchen Sink Realism in the 1950’s and 1960’s, developing a genre of films about working-class values being produced. Examples of this include Saturday night and Sunday Morning (1960) and Kes (1969).  The sixties were great for British cinema and even created the “phenomenally successful James Bond series”.

The 1990’s was a huge success for British stars and British films. Many films had great success like 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral which was written by Richard Curtis.  Figures from the magazine show that the film “grossed $244 million worldwide, propelling Hugh grant and co-stars Kristin Scott Thomas and James Fleet to worldwide celebrity status.”

The 21^st century started off great with the success of Billy Elliot (2000) and the Harry Potter series (2001-2012) gaining critical acclaim among audience and journalists. Also films were also being made here and is still continuing to grow in popularity to make them over here in Britain.