The naval war film : genre, history, national cinema / Jonathan Rayner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rayner, Jonathan (Jonathan R.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War films--History and criticism.

War films.

Naval art and science.

Physical Description:

275 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press, 2007.

Summary:

The naval war film: genre, history, national cinema undertakes a unique, coherent and comprehensive consideration of the depiction of naval warfare, ranging from examples from the interwar period, the Second World War, the Cold War and contemporary representations. The films under discussion encompass all areas of naval operations in war, and highlight varying institutional and aesthetic responses to navies and the sea in popular culture. The examination of these films centres on their similarities to and differences from the conventions of the war genre, seeking to determine whether the distinctive characteristics of naval film narratives justify their categorisation as a separate genre or sub-genre in popular cinema.

The explicit factual bases and drama-documentary style of many key naval films, such as In Which We Serve, They Were Expendable and Das Boot, also requires the consideration of these films as texts for popular historical transmission. Their frequent reinforcement of establishment views of the past, which derives from their conservative ideological position towards national and naval culture, makes them key texts for the consideration of national cinemas as purveyors of contemporary history, as popularly conceived by filmmakers and received by audiences.

Contents:

1 British naval films and the documentary feature 32

2 Post-war British naval films and the service comedy 54

3 Hollywood and the one-ocean war 80

4 The submarine war and the submarine film 103

5 American films of the Cold War 120

6 'Damn the photon torpedoes!' Star Trek and the transfiguration of naval history 153

7 Popularising the navy, rewriting the past: contemporary naval films 173

Appendix I Comparison of narrative elements in naval war films 227

Appendix II Warships in feature films 231.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780719070983

0719070988

OCLC:

71238964