The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People

by Leigh, Jacob

• ISBN13: 9781903364314
• ISBN10: 1903364310
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

The Cinema of Ken Loach: Art in the Service of the People examines the linking of art and politics that distinguishes the work of this leading British film director. His films manifest recurrent themes over a long period of working with various collaborators, yet his handling of those themes changes throughout his career. This book examines those changes as a way of reaching an understanding of his style and meaning. It evaluates how Loach incorporates his political beliefs and those of his writers into his work. The book augments the thematic interpretation with contextual information gleaned from original archive research and new interviews.

Author Biography

Jacob Leigh is Lecturer in Film Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction	p. 1
Clear Notes in the Concert	p. 5
Carla's Song: the rhetoric of the unplanned shot	p. 5
What to do with a Camera	p. 23
Up the Junction: addressing the audience	p. 26
Cathy Come Home: fictional journalism	p. 39
Poor Cow: the limitations of digression	p. 47
Sympathetic Observation	p. 59
Kes: implying shared experiences	p. 61
The Experience of History	p. 91
The Big Flame: a heady fantasy of revolution	p. 92
The Rank and File: fusing the individual and the collective	p. 99
Days of Hope: a tendency towards personalisation	p. 101
Significance and Objectivity	p. 115
The Gamekeeper: the documentary look	p. 120
Looks and Smiles: hanging about for people to bare their souls	p. 130
Talking about work: a response to the 1980s	p. 133
Cutting to the Core of What's Happening	p. 141
Raining Stones: embedding characters in contexts	p. 142
Ladybird Ladybird: a melodrama of protest	p. 150
Land and Freedom: seeing with your own eyes	p. 161
Conclusion	p. 171
Notes
Filmography
Bibliography
Index
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