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Political Film

Political Film

Mike Wayne

(2001)

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Book Details

Abstract

Third Cinema is a cinema committed to social and cultural emancipation. In this book, Mike Wayne argues that Third Cinema is absolutely central to key debates concerning contemporary film practices and cultures.

As a body of films, Third Cinema expands our horizons of the medium and its possibilities. Wayne develops Third Cinema theory by exploring its dialectical relations with First Cinema (dominant,commercial) and Second Cinema (arthouse, auteur). Discussing an eclectic range of films, from Evita to Dollar Mambo, The Big Lebowski to The Journey, Amistad to Camp de Thiaroye, Political Film explores the affinities and crucial political differences between First and Third Cinema.

Third Cinema’s relationship with Second Cinema is explored via the cinematic figure of the bandit (Bandit Queen, The General, Eskiya). The continuities and differences with European precursors such as Eisenstein, Vertov, Lukacs, Brecht and Walter Benjamin are also assessed. The book is a polemical call for a film criticism that is politically engaged with the life of the masses.
'One of those rare events in the publishing world which will enrich and possibly change our approach to film criticism'
Film Waves

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Contents v
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Third Cinema as Critical Practice: A Case Study of The Battle of Algiers 5
ONCE AGAIN, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS 8
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS: THE CRITICAL RECEPTION 9
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS: FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD CINEMA 14
2 Precursors 25
CRISIS AND REVOLT 25
MODERNISM, EISENSTEIN AND VERTOV 27
LUKÁCS 33
BRECHT AND BENJAMIN 41
3 Dialectics of First and Third Cinema 47
RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION 47
COLLECTIVE PRODUCTION IN THE UK 48
BOORMAN AND THE EMERALD FOREST 52
JORGE SANJINÉS AND THE UKAMAU GROUP 55
GUERRILLA CINEMA 56
HISTORICITY 59
HISTORY, HEGEL AND MARX 63
A MARXIST DEFINITION OF TRAGEDY 67
POLITICISATION AND COMMITMENT 68
REVOLUTION AND THIRD CINEMA 71
CULTURAL SPECIFICITY AND POPULAR MEMORY 75
DISTRIBUTION AND EXHIBITION: CAPITAL AND THE STATE 78
4 Dialectics of Second Cinema: The Bandit 82
HISTORICAL BANDITS AND CELLULOID BANDITS 82
THE BANDIT AND THE GANGSTER 83
THE BANDIT AND FIRST CINEMA 85
THE BANDIT AND SECOND CINEMA 86
BANDIT QUEEN 93
5 Dialectics of Third Cinema 108
A PHILOSOPHY OF MEMORY 109
CULTURAL IMPERIALISM 112
POSTCOLONIAL THEORY: MEANS AND ENDS 114
CONTEXTUALISING ‘TOWARDS A THIRD CINEMA’ 118
ON THE ROLE OF THE INTELLECTUAL 119
THE NATIONAL QUESTION 121
FICTION AND DOCUMENTARY 124
THE DIALOGIC TEXT 126
ALLEGORY AND SATIRE 129
GENERIC TRANSFORMATIONS: THE MUSICAL 136
THE VIEWER’S DIALECTIC 145
CUBA AND THE ELEPHANT AND THE BICYCLE 151
Bibliography 157
Index 161
Akomfrah, John, 2 2
Alea, Tomàs Gutiérrez 4