The Social Architecture of French Cinema: 1929-1939 (Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures LUP)

From the fleetingly captured street scenes of the city symphony, to the meticulously reconstructed studio city of musical comedies; from the propagandistic Popular Front documentaries about construction workers, to poetic realism's bittersweet portraits of populist neighborhoods: The Social Architecture of French Cinema explores the construction, representation and experience of spaces and places in documentary and realist films of the French 1930s. In this book, Margaret C. Flinn tracks the relation between the emergent techniques of French sound cinema and its thematic, social and political preoccupations through analysis of discourse in contemporary press, theoretical texts and through readings of films themselves. New light is shed on works of canonical directors such as Renoir, Clair, Vigo and Duvivier by their consideration in relationship to little known documentary films of the era. Flinn argues that film has a readable architecture - a configuration of narrative and representations that informs, explains, and creates social identities, while reflecting upon the position of individuals within their societies. "From the fleetingly captured street scenes of the city symphony, to the meticulously reconstructed studio city of musical comedies; from the propagandistic Popular Front documentaries about construction workers, to poetic realism's bittersweet portraits of populist neighbourhoods: 'Social Architecture' explores the construction, representation, and experience of spaces and places in French documentary and realist films of the 1930s. In this book, Margaret C. Flinn tracks the relation between the emergent techniques of French sound cinema and its thematic, social, and political preoccupations through analysis of discourse in contemporary press and theoretical texts, and through readings of the films themselves. New light is shed on works of canonical directors such as Renoir, Clair, Vigo, and Duvivier by considering them in relation to little known documentary films of the era. Flinn argues that film has a readable architecture - a configuration of narrative and representations that informs, explains, and creates social identities, while reflecting upon the position of individuals within their societies". -- Publisher's description From the fleetingly captured street scenes of the city symphony, to the meticulously reconstructed studio city of musical comedies; from the propagandistic Popular Front documentaries about construction workers, to poetic realism's bittersweet portraits of populist neighborhoods: Social Architecture explores the construction, representation, and experience of spaces and places in French documentary and realist films of the 1930s. In this book, Margaret C. Flinn tracks the relation between the emergent techniques of French sound cinema and its thematic, social, and political preoccupations through analysis of discourse in contemporary press and theoretical texts, and through readings of films themselves. New light is shed on works of canonical directors such as Renoir, Clair, Vigo, and Duvivier by considering them in relation to little known documentary films of the era. Flinn argues that film has a readable architecture-a configuration of narrative and representations that informs, explains, and creates social identities, while reflecting upon the position of individuals within their societies. Book jacket This Volume Provides A Vital New Reading Of Documentary And Realist Fiction Film Of The French 1930s That Focuses On How These Genres Interlock Their Representations Of Urban Spaces And Places. Introduction: An Architecture Of Social Being -- The Spatial Constitution Of 1930s Documentary -- René Clair's City Views: Realism And Studio Paris -- Intertext And Political Margins In Jean Renoir's Boudu Sauvé Des Eaux -- Traversing Built History In Architectural Documentaries -- Flâneuses And The Unmaking Of Place -- The Crowd As New Monumentality During The Popular Front -- Epilogue: Poetic Realism As Spatial Fable. Margaret C. Flinn. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [217]-227), Filmography (p. [228]-230) And Index. This book provides a vital new reading of documentary and realist fiction film of the French 1930s that focuses on how these genres interlock their representations of urban spaces and places.