British Film Culture in the 1970s

Sue Harper is Emeritus Professor of Film History at the University of Portsmouth. She is a cultural historian who has written widely on British cinema, and made numerous appearances on radio and television. She was the Principal Investigator on the 1970s AHRC-funded project, '1970s British Cinema, Film and Video: Mainstream and Counter-Culture' (2006-2009). Justin Smith is Reader in British Film Culture at the University of Portsmouth where he is also Post-Graduate Tutor in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media. He is the author of Withnail and Us: Cult Films and Film Cults in British Cinema (I. B. Tauris, 2010) and, with Sue Harper, British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure (Edinburgh University Press, 2011). He was a Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded project 1970s British Cinema, Film and Video: Mainstream and Counter-Culture (2006-2009), www.1970sproject.co.uk ; he is currently Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded project ‘Channel 4 Television and British Film Culture’ (2010-2014), www.c4film.co.uk . A cultural historian with a special interest in British cinema, his research interests embrace production, reception and exhibition practices, film fandom, and issues of cultural identity and popular memory.

• Introduction; Part I: 'Contexts'; 1. Film Policy; 2. Censorship; 3. Artists' film and video and avant-garde practice ; 4. Art Direction in British Cinema; 5. Film in Education; 6. Black Britain in film and TV; 7. Television; 8. Popular music film and youth culture; Part II; 9. Key players; 10. Boundaries and taboos; 11. Technical Innovation and visual style; 12. Audiences and reception; 13. Social Space; 14. Media crossovers; Conclusion: innovation, film culture and cultural memory.

British Film Culture in the 1970s is an invigorating read, bold in its scope and imaginative in its organisation and methodology... This is a study of great richness and depth, intellectually risk-taking and provocative. It not only redefines our understanding of the 1970s, but also the task of the film historian, moving decisively away from the study of a body of films to a broader engagement with the complexity of film culture whose boundaries are constantly shifting and being redefined. For both those reasons, it should become essential reading.