Film and the Nation Flashcards
What could a film’s national identity be determined by?
Financing, subject matter, personnel, audiences
What things are discussed when studying national cinema?
Community, language, politics, relationship with global, relationship with nation
What is the most popular practice in determining the national identity?
Financing
What are two issues that the study of national cinema can illuminate?
The means by which that nation imagines itself, the various means by which it resists Hollywood
Define nation
A collectivity based on a number of shared things, the most important of which are ancestry, language, and cultural heritage
Define state
An institutional structure charged with exercising authority within a definable and limited jurisdictional purview which is typically territorial in nature
Define nation-state
When the state matched up perfectly with the location, a single ethnic group, a single nation
What is an “imagined community” and who is responsible for coining the term?
Benedict Anderson; Anderson claims it is the state that produces a sense of coherence, and unity… the state depends on that sense of commonality, otherwise how could it convince people to pay taxes, fight, etc.
What industry dominates ticket sales, where, and by how much?
American films dominate foreign screens/ticket sales, American industry controls 60% of world market
Why is national cinema a term rarely applied to American cinema?
“Nation cinema” is part of how filmmakers carve out their own space in a non-Hollywood activity
What are the options that national cinema can take?
#1: compete with Hollywood by making genre films #2: opt out of the commercial sector altogether #3: create a commercial cinema that complements rather than competes with Hollywood
What option do Canadian filmmakers usually choose?
Option 2 & 3, however 1 has been taken before
