Revolutionary Romanticism and Cinema : Country, Land, People

This book stages an encounter between romanticism in post-war and contemporary cinema and trends in historical materialism associated with revolutionary romantic historiography. Focused primarily on British cinema and examples of Hollywood cinema with significant relationships to British and English culture and history, it is loosely configured around three key emblematic motifs - __country__, __land__, __people__ – that are simultaneously core values and rallying cries of distinctive varieties of conservative, restitutionist and revolutionary romanticism. The book seeks to establish the continuing relevance of the revolutionary romantic critique of capitalist modernity to contemporary political concerns such as the fate of the proletariat, populism, Brexit post-nationalism, ecocide and the Anthropocene. This book stages an encounter between conflicting varieties of cinematic romanticism and different forms of history writing. Focused primarily on British cinema and examples of mainstream Hollywood cinema that have significant historical relationships to British and English culture and history, it is configured, loosely, around three key emblematic motifs - country, land, people - that are simultaneously core values and rallying cries of distinctive varieties of conservative, restitutionist and revolutionary romanticism. Ultimately, the book seeks to establish the continuing relevance of the revolutionary romantic critique of capitalist modernity, as it surfaces in film, to pressing contemporary political concerns such as the fate of the proletariat, populism, Brexit post-nationalism, ecocide and the Anthropocene. Paul Dave has taught at the University of East London, UK, and latterly at Teesside University, UK, where he was Reader in Film and Cultural Theory. His research focuses on the representation of class and capitalism and he has published widely on British cinema and literature Acknowledgements 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 8 1 Introduction 9 Political Marxism and Historical Agency 12 An English Cultural Revolution 15 A British End of History? 19 Giving up on the English Past? 25 Eerie Agency 30 References 32 2 Conservative Romanticism and the Country: Powell and Pressburger 34 The Pimpernel Effect 35 The Plain Wrong 47 References 53 3 Restitutionist Romanticism: Searching for Lost Lands 55 Middle Earth and the Ruling Class 57 Global Capital and the Anthropocene 64 References 76 4 Romantic Revolutionary Historiography: The People and the Commons 78 The Commons and the Anthropocene 79 The Commons, the Country and Class Perspectives 87 The Historian as Revolutionary Romantic Storyteller 90 Pirates 102 The Critical Something: A Weather Eye on the Horizon 113 References 125 Index 127 Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction (Paul Dave)....Pages 1-25 Conservative Romanticism and the Country: Powell and Pressburger (Paul Dave)....Pages 27-47 Restitutionist Romanticism: Searching for Lost Lands (Paul Dave)....Pages 49-71 Romantic Revolutionary Historiography: The People and the Commons (Paul Dave)....Pages 73-121 Back Matter ....Pages 123-128