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<p> This dissertation examines the rhetoric of popular and academic film criticism across moments of major technological change, focusing on the coming of sound, television broadcasts of movies, home video, and digital projection. Specifically, I investigate the appearance of four seemingly binary oppositions (change/continuity; specificity/convergence; scarcity/plenitude; and hope/disillusionment) constructed and deployed by film critics to ascertain the scope and value of these changes. In doing so, I uncover common responses to otherwise new and distinct cinematic technologies. </p><p> Although material and cultural differences distinguish these moments and their respective critical receptions, I argue that the persistence of these tropes belies claims frequently made by film critics that such changes represent &ldquo;radical breaks.&rdquo; My analysis of film criticism thus reminds us that both the use and interpretation of new technologies is contingent and relational, not determined by the technologies themselves. Technological determinism of this sort is stubbornly resilient among film critics, but viewed in the alternative perspective I propose, cinema and film criticism become interdependent mirrors of one another. Forged by humans and therefore lacking an immutable essence, cinema and film criticism are subject to being transformed, redefined, and reevaluated. Each must be understood as liberated from any medium-specific destiny; indeed, they are always the products of our invention, not objects of archaeological discovery. As I demonstrate, film critics meet such epistemological uncertainty ambivalently, evoking sensations of exhilaration and melancholy. </p><p> In tandem with my study of technological change, my study of cinephilia looks at the <i>styles of thought</i> and <i>structures of feeling</i> characteristic of <i>serious film culture</i> since the silent era. Whereas most studies of film criticism and technological change assess new styles or articulate new theories, I also contemplate technological change&rsquo;s emotional resonances. In other words, I am interested not only in problems of filmmaking practice and modern technology, but also in probing the affective bonds connecting film critics to the medium. <i>The Awkward Ages</i> shows us, then, that film culture&rsquo;s current crisis&mdash;the impact of digital technologies&mdash;is just the most recent instance of a larger pattern, whereby moments of major technological change simultaneously unsettle the myth of medium specificity, and provide an occasion for affirming the myth.</p>

The Crown Film Unit (CFU) was the British Government’s principal in-house film production facility during the years 1940 to 1952. Over this period it produced around 225 films of different types and lengths ranging from short five minute Public Information Films to feature length cinema exhibited pictures. A very few of the latter, such as Target for Tonight (1941) or Fires Were Started (1943) have become iconic representations of both the bomber offensive and the Blitz during the Second World War. Although these films only represented a very small percentage of the CFU’s entire catalogue they have, in the main, dominated academic discourse about the Unit. This research has sought to explore the full production canon of the CFU and, in particular, to examine its importance and legacy. In doing so it has also engaged with the debates about the role of film propaganda especially as it impacted upon the self-image and morale of the British people during and after the War. It also examines the role and position of the Unit in the development and history of the Documentary Movement. To achieve these research aims the Crown Film Unit is first situated in its historical context and the influences of its predecessors over the previous forty or so years are examined. Subsequently a new classification paradigm is developed which allows the films themselves to be reviewed according to theme. Locating each of the films in a particular dynamic framework enables them to be evaluated from the appropriate social, economic, political or military perspectives. The films are also considered in the context of their reception which, in the case of the CFU was not just cinematic exhibition but also a substantial non-theatrical audience watching, not only in the UK, but across the world. The penultimate chapter examines the legacy of the CFU demonstrating that it had an important impact upon British and overseas feature film making in the 1950s, but it also made a currently undervalued contribution to the subsequent development of both Public Information, training, advertising and instructional films. The research concludes that although perhaps still best described as a Documentary Film Unit the role of the CFU was far more nuanced.

This thesis contextualises and historicises the contribution of DreamWorks Animation to the dominant aesthetic of contemporary American feature animation from the early 2000s to the present day. Specifically, it aims to justify the claim that mainstream feature animation has shifted away from hyperrealism and towards a form of ‘narrative-cartoonalism’ predicated on non-visual departures from realism. The thesis introduces this term to counteract the focus on the visual in conceptions of animated realism, and aims to identify the extent to which the DreamWorks studio played a key role in this shift, particularly through its use of intertextuality. Tracing the history of intertextuality in animation from the 1920s to the present day, the thesis looks to establish DreamWorks’ position within this lineage by closely examining the studio’s use of star performances, contemporary music, generic pastiche and allusive comedic gags in its features, and discussing the various diegetic contradictions that result. Ultimately, I intend for this thesis to contribute a crucial approach to understanding one of the key studios working during a hugely significant period of western feature animation, not only illuminating the output of Dreamworks but of this period as a whole. Culturally important yet critically neglected, research into the aesthetics of this modern era is essential to the progression of animation studies.

This thesis aims to be a critical investigation into the representation of bullfighting in the history of Spanish cinema, through the framework of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony (Gramsci [1929-1935] 2007), including the concept of ‘orientalism’ (Said 1978), and the study of identity in film genre and national cinema. I explore how some dominant cultural elements, such as male virility, ultra-conservative Catholicism and political nationalism, exerted their influence on films about bullfighting throughout history. With a close textual analysis of an extended filmic corpus of cine taurino, which includes fictions and documentaries, popular films and cinéma d’essai, and comparative studies with other national cinemas, I investigate which predominant meanings have been conveyed through visual representations of bulls, bullfighters and bullrings, and how these meanings can find their roots in bullfighting culture itself and in cultural movements of 20th Century Spain. As a brand-new study in the field of Spanish Film Studies, with little literature available, the investigation explores all the three major eras of Spanish film history, which correspond to specific political situations in the Spanish state: - The pre-Franco era (1896-1939), focused on the genesis of the cinematic genre and subgenre and on the controversies about the macro-genre of the filmic españolada in silent films (Navarrete Cardero 2009); - The Francoist dictatorship (1939-1975), focused on the political evolution of bullfighting representation in national cinema as a metaphor for class struggle; - Post-Franco cinema (1975 - 2012), focused on the new wave of filmmakers who portrayed gender reversal in virility, bravery and strength (now conferred to the literal or symbolic matadora), using formal elements of the stereotypical representation of Spanishness.

<p> This paper critically examines films created with smart phones and similar devices in order to discuss how these films are understood within modern society, and how they can potentially be used as a potent source of empathy or a destructive tool of manipulation. Since the tools of cinematic creation have become more widely available, thanks to the development of inexpensive cameras and smartphones, making films and viewing films made by other amateur filmmakers has become a part of many people&rsquo;s everyday life, so much so that these films are rarely considered to be &lsquo;films&rsquo; at all. In this thesis, I take six films shot on what I call &ldquo;pocket cameras&rdquo; and focus a critical eye on them, examining them as though they were &lsquo;traditional&rsquo; films. It is the goal of this thesis to show that &lsquo;pocket films&rsquo; have the depth and complexity of &lsquo;traditional&rsquo; films, but because viewers do not consider them to be &lsquo;films&rsquo;, viewers thus having fewer protective &lsquo;barriers&rsquo; between themselves and the pocket film&rsquo;s messages, these pocket films&rsquo; methods of ideological dissemination are more effective than those of a &lsquo;traditional&rsquo; film.</p><p>

This thesis examines the complex and dynamic relationship between the streaming platform Netflix and the world’s most renowned and prestigious film festivals. Film festivals like Cannes and Sundance have often positioned themselves as a counterpoint to the dominance of the Hollywood film and television industry and a showcase for groundbreaking, independent art cinema (and, increasingly, prestige television); Netflix has similarly presented itself as a revolutionary alternative to legacy film and television creators and distributors by providing instant, unprecedented access to media content to millions of subscribers worldwide. Using an industry studies framework, I argue that Netflix’s presence within the film festival network exposes the industrial factors that complicate both idealistic discourses. Beneath the existential controversies that have enveloped Netflix at these festivals are questions of labor, “independence,” and the tension between international showcases like Cannes and the local industries that subsidize them. Netflix and many of the top festivals like Sundance, Venice or Cannes purport to be an alternative to the more mainstream entertainment industry, but they are not wholly discrete from the industrial practices and strategies that they claim to subvert.

This thesis explores different aspects of touch and the role of the body in three works by Robert Bresson: Un condamné à mort s'est échappé (1956), Pickpocket (1959) and Une Femme Douce (1969). It intends to show how affective qualities can complement our understanding of the director’s meanings. Drawing from recent phenomenological scholarship it focuses on the experiential elements of Bresson’s works and the thematic threads linked to them. By exploring touch, the unusual treatment of bodies and other material elements that Bresson incorporates in different kinds of visual, audible and haptic juxtapositions, it exhibits the director’s imaginative meanings grounded in physicality and materiality.

Editing is an important aspect of film. This thesis tests the effects of specific edits and how they influence the opinion of the audience.

This thesis analyses the representations of girls as active agents in fictional films about African colonial and postcolonial conflicts. Representations of these girls are located within local and global contexts, and viewed through an intersectional lens that sees girls as trebly marginalised as "female," "child soldiers" and "African." A cultural approach that combines textual and contextual analyses is used to draw links between the case study films and the societies within which they are produced and consumed. The thesis notes the shift that occurs between the representations of girls in anti-colonial struggles and postcolonial wars as a demonstration of ideological underpinnings that link these representations to their socio-political contexts. For films about African anti-colonial conflicts, the author looks at Sarafina! (Darrell Roodt, 1992) and Flame (Ingrid Sinclair, 1996). Representations in the optimistic Sarafina! are used to mark a trajectory that leads to the representations in Flame, which is characterised by postcolonial disillusionment. On the other hand, Heart of Fire/Feuerherz (Luigi Falorni, 2008) and War Witch/Rebelle (Kim Nguyen, 2012), which are produced within the context of postcolonial wars, demonstrate the influences of global politics on the representations of the African girl and the wars she is caught up in. The thesis finds that films about anti-colonial wars are largely presented from an African perspective, although that perspective is at times male and more symbolic than an exploration of girls' multiple voices and subject positions. In these films, girls who participate in the conflicts are often represented as brave and heroic, a powerful indication of the moral strength of the African nationalists' cause. On the contrary, films about African postcolonial wars largely represent girls as innocent and sometimes helpless victims of these "unjust wars." The representations in the four case study films are significant in bringing to the fore some of the experiences of girls in African political conflicts. However, they also indicate that sometimes representations of girls become signifiers of ideas relating to local and global socio-political, economic, and other interests rather than a means for expressing the voices of the girls that these films purport to represent.