The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century were an important period for popular shows involving the moving and projected image, yet there have been few sustained studies that have mapped optical entertainments systematically outside London or that have analysed the influence of such shows on early film exhibition. This thesis has profiled the popular and visual culture of five contrasting South West locations during this period, tracing the development and distribution of magic lantern shows and dioramas as well as identifying the local and touring companies who hosted film on its arrival in the region. Using the local press, the trade press, contemporary publications and ephemera, this thesis has reconstructed an account of local shows and culture which not only deepens our understanding of popular visual entertainments in regional contexts, but which also serves to stand as a comparison to other established urban and metropolitan paradigms and thus to contribute to a wider and more complex national picture. It advances the argument for a broader classification of such shows in response to local findings and for a more nuanced and detailed appraisal and understanding of their provenance and profiles, and the role film played within them. In addition, this thesis interrogates early film exhibition in these resorts following the move to fixed-venue cinemas in the late 1900s and investigates the arrival of cinema and its emergence as a fledgling industry in the region. It offers an overview of investment into the business locally and evidences the varied set of partnerships and individuals responsible for financing the first cinemas here. Responses to the new technologies and local modifications to business models for cinemas and film exhibition are analysed and their diversity examined. Managerial relationships with communities are evidenced as an important contributory factor to the success of many local cinemas, permitting adaptations to the needs of patrons which boosted audiences and increased revenue. The variety of local interpretations of cinema discovered here reflects the social and cultural diversity of these selected sites, and is a key finding of this thesis.

La thèse ci-après présente une étude de films amateurs, fournis par le Centre National d'Audiovisuel au Luxembourg, dit CNA. Elle examine certaines notions de sens et d’interprétation en l’absence de métadonnées et du contexte d'origine. Plutôt que de prendre le film amateur comme genre ou pratique à part, cette étude porte sur le seul langage cinématographique. La première partie de ce travail identifie ainsi des modes filmiques hautement différenciés et interprétés à partir des images. Sans contexte original, ces films perdent leur principale source de signification, à savoir les commentaires fournis par les membres de la famille. En effet, la projection du film dans le cercle familial interpelle les souvenirs et donne lieu à l’explication des évènements reproduits. La présente thèse examine ces images comme vestiges d'une narration visuelle plutôt qu'en termes de récit de souvenirs. Elle adopte le point de départ très simple que ce qui est filmé était important pour les cinéastes. De plus, elle examine comment le langage filmique peut servir comme illustration des intentions et motivations, à la fois volontaires et involontaires. Y suit l’examen des différents styles employés dans les films amateurs. J’attire l’attention sur la codification culturelle sous-jacente à la pratique de représentation dans le privé, qui prend la langue filmique comme moyen d'auto-narration. La deuxième partie aborde les films amateurs comme moyen d’expression primitif d’une tentative de signification qui implique le chercheur et sa propre expérience. La projection des films est constitutive de ce processus d'entrée en signification / The following thesis presents an examination of privately produced amateur films taken from the Amateur Film Archive in the Centre National d’Audiovisuel in Luxembourg. It analyzes how amateur films present a filmic world and examines specific notions of meaning generation without meta-data and original context. Rather than take amateur film as a homogenous genre or practice, this study concentrates on film language. The first part of the following two-fold engagement with these filmic worlds thus identifies the highly differentiated filmic modes that can be read from theimages. A filmic mode is related to as a concomitance of style and choice in subjectmatter. Without original context, these films lose their most important means ofmeaning generation, namely the recollective narratives that are constructed by theintended audience in the viewing situation. This work takes these images as remnantsof a visual narration rather than in terms of recollective narratives. It operates from the very simple basis that how the camera was used can serve as illustration of underlying intentions and motivations—both intended and inadvertent. The first partof this study then focuses on the diversification within the images and reads concomitant cultural codifications that structure representational productions in the private and also analyzes film language as means of self-narration. The second part of this two-fold engagement explores filmic language in terms of a visualization of primordial signifying expression coming-into-being. This engagement extends to include the researcher and his/her own background as co-constitutive part of this process of primordial meaning

This thesis is a reflection upon three aspects of my practice as a performer: it explores the ways in which the seaside pierrot troupe, the fairground sideshow and the peepshow contribute to a deeper understanding of the showman’s role. This practice is combined with published materials in the form of broadcasts and publicly accessible media, which contextualize my research. I shall demonstrate how a showman may use historical performance forms to present subversive, social and political comment, in contemporary public space.

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