representation of marriage in British cinema
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
"It was the 1920s that people started treating the film seriously in Britain" states Rachael Low in her book, 'The History of British Film', and since then British directors have certainly proven that the medium of film can be used to explore many issues within our society. It is difficult to study British cinema and these themes as a collective as Hill illuminates to us, "It is quite impossible to conceive of a national cinema, in the sense of one which works with or addresses nationally specific materials". However, it is my opinion that it is possible to see a trend in British cinema productions in the way that they tend to valorise the individual and look at people personally. For instance, the theme of marriage is often used in British cinema and is one that this essay will look further into with the help of the films, 'Brief Encounter', 'The Pumpkin Eater' and 'Don't Look Now'. As these films are many years apart it will be possible to see the changing attitudes and presentation of marriage.
Many British directors have chosen to take a close look into the purpose of marriage and what it functions to do. 'Brief Encounter' displays a very traditional marriage. This is probably the characters' first marriage and their courting process was more that likely as traditional as the marriage itself. The marriage is built on mutual love and reverence and has an emphasis on maintaining a family structure. Laura is in her early thirties and has two children who are around eight and six years old which would suggest that the eldest was born early on in the marriage and therefore suggests that family was a very important if not the reason for their marriage...