Reluctant imperialism: Depicting empire in 1960s Anglo-American film

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

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" Reluctant imperialism: Depicting empire in 1960s Anglo-American film "
Debra Lou Vanden Dungen

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	55369
Doc. No	:	TL25323
Call number	:	‭MR46911‬
Main Entry	:	Debra Lou Vanden Dungen
Title & Author	:	Reluctant imperialism: Depicting empire in 1960s Anglo-American film\ Debra Lou Vanden Dungen
College	:	Simon Fraser University (Canada)
Date	:	2008
Degree	:	M.A.
student score	:	2008
Page No	:	88
Abstract	:	This thesis explores the myriad ways films can contribute to our understanding of historical events and cultural phenomenon. More specifically, it examines how the global political climate of the 1960s is reflected in filmic depictions of historical events in the Middle East. I argue that it is not coincidental that the three films that I chose for this project-- Lawrence of Arabia, Khartoum and Exodus --all depict a certain reluctance toward imperialism. Rather than romanticize British control over this region, the films clearly portray the British imperial machine negatively, with the protagonists as the central characters who continually subvert this colonial authority. I argue that this phenomenon of "reluctant imperialism" is a clear reflection of the changing political climate of the 1960s, when the direct colonialism of the British Empire was being replaced by the softer indirect imperialism of the United States. That these popular films all play to this sentiment indicates that the Western viewing public approved this change. On a more fundamental level, this thesis also explores the usage of film as an interlocutor of historical debate and analysis. I contend that films are not only useful tools for the modern historian, but they are salient reflections of how societies view their world.
Subject	:	Communication and the arts; Social sciences; Lean, David; Dearden, Basil; Elisofon, Eliot; Preminger, Otto; Middle Eastern history; Film studies; 0900:Film studies; 0333:Middle Eastern history
Added Entry	:	Simon Fraser University (Canada)