The New Scottish Cinema

Murray, Jonathan

doi:10.5040/9780755697281

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…While films about Scotland have a long history in the cinema, early critical inquiry into Scottish cinema argued that their impact was negative: the Hollywood and British film industries relying upon a familiar set of tropes in their depiction of Scotland (McArthur 1982). There is not scope to discuss this representative history in detail here, and thorough examinations of the literature can be found in Petrie (2000), Martin-Jones (2009a) and Murray (2015;. However, in discussing Scottish cinema in the time of indyref I build upon the aforementioned authors' arguments that there emerged a 'devolved' or 'new' Scottish cinema from the late 1990s onwards, which featured a variety of confident, self-aware and imaginative films, frequently transnational in both their production contexts and thematic concerns.…”

Section: Scottish Cinema In the Time Of Indyrefmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are two reasons for focusing the scope of this article to this period. Firstly, it offers a look at films released after the notable burst in academic inquiry into Scottish cinema begun by Petrie (2000) and most recently evidenced by publications from Nowland and Finch (2014), Meir (2015) and Murray (2015). Secondly, this article investigates the links between filmmaking in Scotland and the wider socio-political contexts of this era, which has been marked by the agreement between the Scottish and UK governments for a referendum on 3 independence in October 2012, the vote itself in 2014, and the Brexit referendum in 2016 which saw Britain vote to leave the European Union.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performing the National? Scottish Cinema in the Time of Indyref

Munro¹

2020

Journal of British Cinema and Television

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This article examines Scottish cinema during the period 2012–17, assessing the ways in which the nation's constitutional debate, Scottish–English relations and discourses of national identity were engaged with thematically by films produced in this period. It argues that Scottish cinema in this period ‘performs the national’, in that a number of films flag their national status and engage with discourses of national identity at a distance, unburdened by any serious demand for national representativeness, as might be the case with a ‘national cinema’. From a corpus of texts in the period which offer the possibility of being read through discourses of the nation, two genre films, White Settlers and Sunshine on Leith, are analysed in detail for their differing narrative takes on Scottish–English relations in the contemporary moment. The article concludes by surmising that while film criticism in Scottish cinema has historically been overly determined by an ideologically driven pursuit of national representativeness, perhaps the welcome emphasis which has been placed in contemporary criticism on broadening the scope of Scottish cinema studies beyond the national has implied a false dichotomy between the two, whereas it is more likely that we can locate Scottish cinema somewhere in between.

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Section: Scottish Cinema In the Time Of Indyrefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performing the National? Scottish Cinema in the Time of Indyref

Munro¹

2020

Journal of British Cinema and Television

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“…With important individual exceptions (see, for example, Petrie 2004; Cook 2008), academic study of post-World War Two Scottish culture has mostly overlooked the significance or impact of television drama (Murray 2018). Unlike cinema, which has been consistently explored since the early 1980s (McArthur 1982) and the subject of seven monograph-length studies this century alone (Petrie 2000;Petrie 2004;Martin-Jones 2009;Murray 2011;Meir 2015;Murray 2015;Nowlan and Finch 2015), television drama remains a 'critically neglected' (Petrie 2004: 208) tradition of modern Scottish cultural production and consumption. Material difficulties, such as the fact that much early Scottish television drama is either missing or difficult to access, have contributed to this neglect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scotch Missed: Play for Today and Scotland

Murray¹

2022

Journal of British Cinema and Television

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This article explores Scotland's relationship with and contribution to the Play for Today series. In order to quantify these, it proposes a working definition of ‘Scottishness’ based on representational content. This generates a body of 21 Scottish Plays for Today, which the article further breaks down into two sub-sets: seven plays produced outside Scotland and fourteen within. Noting that the externally produced plays are far better remembered and much more easily accessible than their locally produced peers, the article asks: do the external plays alone offer a reliable synecdoche for the terms of Scotland's contribution to Play for Today and the images and understandings of Scotland that Play for Today created and/or confirmed? Through extended comparative textual analysis of two externally produced plays – Just Another Saturday and The Elephants’ Graveyard – and two locally produced ones – Degree of Uncertainty and The Good Time Girls – the article demonstrates that the answer to this question is in the negative. The analyses presented here highlight the extent to which the 1970s work of writer Peter McDougall is far more formally and tonally complex than its contemporary popular and critical reputations might suggest. They also highlight the existence of an extended engagement with feminist gender politics and identities within Scottish screen fiction from an earlier date than conventionally identified within the established scholarly consensus. In these ways, the article addresses multiple aspects of Scottish screen and cultural studies’ long-term neglect of television's position and significance within modern Scottish culture and cultural history.

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“…Such a Scottish national cinema is defined either through Scottish artists/teams creating animation, or through those working in collaboration with both national and international professionals in Scotland. This distinction is noted by Jonathan Murray (2015) in The New Scottish Cinema which, in its review of Scottish filmmaking, describes how such developments of a ‘national’ industry can ultimately be extended across national borders. It is important to note, nevertheless that, at the time of writing, Creative Scotland has not released its latest strategy for animation following the publication of its 2016 document (Creative Scotland, 2016b).…”

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confidence: 99%

Scotland’s History of Animation: An Exploratory Account of the Key Figures and Influential Events

2021

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Scotland’s history of animation is a forgotten past accomplishment in the animation/VFX sector, with key influential animation professionals having had an impact both at home and abroad. Yet, to date, this history has not been meaningfully documented and such documentation can help inform policy initiatives to help nurture and develop the industry. These developments could help ensure that the importance and accomplishments of its achievements will not be forgotten or remain undeveloped. Indeed, it is argued here that Scotland suffers from historical amnesia with regard to the country’s past accomplishments and missed opportunities, but that public funding and further investment in talent development and retention can help establish the industry as a key player in society and economy. This article presents the results from an investigative literature collection and consultation with central figures in the Scottish animation industry, providing for the first time a clearer picture of the importance of animation in Scotland both for the country and for the industry worldwide. Discussing the initiatives and funding models of other European countries such as France, the article concludes by suggesting ways in which future policy initiatives could help assist Scotland’s animation industry grow and establish itself both for the future development of animation in Scotland and worldwide.

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The New Scottish Cinema

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Performing the National? Scottish Cinema in the Time of Indyref

Performing the National? Scottish Cinema in the Time of Indyref

Scotch Missed: Play for Today and Scotland

Scotland’s History of Animation: An Exploratory Account of the Key Figures and Influential Events

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