Conference Presentations by Andrew Higson
Books by Andrew Higson
This book offers comparative studies of the production, content, distribution and reception of fi... more This book offers comparative studies of the production, content, distribution and reception of film and television drama in Europe. The collection brings together scholars from the humanities and social sciences to focus on how new developments are shaped by national and European policies and practices, and on the role of film and television in our everyday lives. The chapters explore main trends in transnational European film and television fiction, addressing issues of co-production and collaboration, and of how cultural products circulate across national borders. The chapters investigate how watching film and television from neighbouring countries can be regarded as a special kind of cultural encounter with the possibility of facilitating reflections on national differences within Europe and negotiations of what characterises a national or a European identity respectively.
Papers by Andrew Higson
To live in Europe in the 2010s is to live through challenging times. On the one hand, the idea of... more To live in Europe in the 2010s is to live through challenging times. On the one hand, the idea of Europe as a collective entity is at the time of writing as robust as it has ever been, and the coordinating function of the supranational European Union remains strong and far-reaching. On the other hand, the European project is threatened by financial crises, concerns about immigration, insular nationalist politics and Eurosceptic lack of interest at best and downright hostility at worst. As the great Norwegian actress and film director Liv Ullmann argued in 2014, European film and European cultural institutions ‘are more important than ever’ in this context: through cross-European collaboration and cooperation, it is possible to ‘develop understanding and knowledge of each other’s countries, art, culture and human dignity’ and protect ‘our common democratic culture’ (2014: 11).
European Cinema and Television, 2015
European Film and Media Studies is a series dedicated to historical and contemporary studies of f... more European Film and Media Studies is a series dedicated to historical and contemporary studies of film and media in a European context and to the study of the role of film and media in European societies and cultures. Books in the series deal with media content and media genres, with national and transnational aspects of film and media policy, with the sociology of media as institutions and with the impact of film and media on everyday life, culture and society. In an era of increased European integration and globalization there is a need to move away from the single nation study focus and the single discipline study of Europe. The series accordingly takes a comparative, European perspective based in interdisciplinary research that moves beyond a traditional nation state perspective.
Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université Paris Descartes, 1999
HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific re... more HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.
Comunicacion Y Sociedad, 2018
While more than a thousand films are made in Europe each year, only around 20 actually circulate ... more While more than a thousand films are made in Europe each year, only around 20 actually circulate in any meaningful way outside their own national market but within Europe. Despite the processes of globalisation and digitisation, we are clearly still some way from a film industry that knows no borders. This paper analyses the sorts of European productions that do travel successfully within Europe, and why. It draws on research undertaken for the MeCETES project (Mediating Cultural Encounters Through European Screens, 2013-2016), and especially the extensive database of films released in Europe between 2005 and 2015 put together by Huw D. Jones. The key factors affecting the ability of European films to travel successfully in nonnational European markets include the size of the budget, whether one of the major American studios was involved as producer or distributor, whether the lead producing nation was one of the Western European big five, the language in which the film was shot, critical acclaim, and the way in which the film tells its story. Five categories of European films, their production circumstances and their market performance, emerge from this analysis. First there are large-scale, big-budget blockbusters, many of them inward investment films backed by the Hollywood majors, which tend to travel well within Europe and enjoy equivalent success online. Secondly, there are small-scale, director-led, art-house films that command significant critical attention and travel to cosmopolitan audiences across Europe. Thirdly, there are feel-good, middlebrow films that occupy the middle-ground between these two extremes: modestly budgeted films that occasionally achieve crossover success and travel well within Europe. The other two categories describe films that travel very little, if at all, outside their domestic market. The fourth category is modest to low budget films with a strong national appeal, which may be successful in their own domestic market but rarely travel well beyond that market, whether theatrically or online. Fifthly, there are a great many European productions that fail to secure significant national admissions, let alone admissions in non-national markets. In many cases, this is indeed about failure. The dominance of the European film market by a small number of powerful American, British and French companies, and to a lesser extent, German, Spanish and Italian companies, indicates a lack of diversity within the films that circulate. And while some European films do circulate successfully outside their main producing nation, the vast majority do not. National film cultures within Europe are also surprisingly resilient in this era of globalised, digital storytelling and a surprising amount of national film-making is still enjoyed by national audiences. The challenge to policy-makers thus remains to find more effective ways of enabling a greater degree of cultural exchange, openness and inclusivity, within and beyond Europe.
Aν και ςυχνϊ ο όροσ «eθνικόσ κινηματογρϊφοσ» χρηςιμοποιeύται απλώσ για να πeριγρϊψeι τισ ταινύeσ ... more Aν και ςυχνϊ ο όροσ «eθνικόσ κινηματογρϊφοσ» χρηςιμοποιeύται απλώσ για να πeριγρϊψeι τισ ταινύeσ που παρϊγονται μϋςα ςe ϋνα ςυγκeκριμϋνο eθνικό κρϊτοσ, αυτόσ ούτe ο μοναδικόσ τρόποσ eύναι μe τον οπούο ο όροσ ϋχeι χρηςιμοποιηθeύ, ούτe, όπωσ θϋλω να υποςτηρύξω, και ο πιο κατϊλληλοσ τρόποσ χρόςησ του. Tο παρόν ϊρθρο όμωσ δeν ςτοχeύeι ςτη μeλϋτη eνόσ ιςτορικϊ δοςμϋνου eθνικού κινηματογρϊφου. Aντ' αυτού αποςκοπeύ ςτη διeρeύνηςη μeρικών eκ των ςημαςιών τησ χρόςησ του όρου «eθνικόσ» ςτο λόγο πeρύ κινηματογρϊφου (τησ κινηματογραφικόσ βιομηχανύασ, τησ κινηματογραφικόσ κουλτούρα σ), για να οδηγηθeύ ςτο eπιχeύρημα ότι οι παρϊμeτροι eνόσ eθνικού κινηματογρϊφου θα πρϋπeι να αντλούνται τόςο από το πeδύο τησ κατανϊλωςησ όςο και από το πeδύο τησ παραγωγόσ ταινιών. Ένα eπιχeύρημα, μe ϊλλα λόγια, που eςτιϊζeι ςτη δραςτηριότητα του eθνικού κοινού και ςτισ ςυνθόκeσ υπό τισ οπούeσ νοηματοδοτeύ και χρηςιμοποιeύ τισ ταινύeσ που βλϋπeι. Στο βαθμό που γύνeται αναφoρϊ ςe ςυγκeκριμϋνουσ eθνικούσ κινηματογ...
Introduction 1. "Temporary American citizens" - cultural anxieties and industrial strat... more Introduction 1. "Temporary American citizens" - cultural anxieties and industrial strategies in the Americanization of European cinema, Richard Maltby and Ruth Vasey 2. The rise and fall of film Europe, Kristin Thompson 3. The cinema and the League of Nations, Richard Maltby 4. Film Europe - cultural policy and industrial practice, Andrew Higson 5. Options for American foreign distribution - United Artists in Europe, 1919-1930, Mike Walsh 6. Germany and film Europe, Thomas J. Saunders 7. Hollywood's "foreign war" - the effect of national commercial policy on the emergence of the American film hegemony in France 1920-1929, Jean Ulff-Moller 8. Hollywood Babel -the coming of sound and the multiple language version, Ginette Vincendeau 9. Hollywood's hegemonic strategies - overcoming French nationalism with the advent of sound, Martine Danan 10. Made in Germany - multi-lingual versions and the early German sound cinema, Joseph Garncarz 11. Polyglot films for an international market - E.A. Dupont, the British film industry and the idea of a European cinema, 1926-1930, Andrew Higson 12. Negotiating exoticism -Hollywood, film Europe and the cultural reception of Anna May Wong, Tim Bergfelder
Lähikuva – audiovisuaalisen kulttuurin tieteellinen julkaisu
rArtikkeli perustuu yhteen valmisteilla olevan viit<iskirlani lukuun. Haluan kiittil Thomas Elsae... more rArtikkeli perustuu yhteen valmisteilla olevan viit<iskirlani lukuun. Haluan kiittil Thomas Elsaesserin tutkimuksia, iotka ovat auttaneet minua eriiiden tissi esitettyien argumenttien kehittimisessL [Higsonin viitdskiria on sittemmin julkaistu nimelli Woving theFlog C.onstruaingo Notionol Cinema in kiuin.
The dataset is an .owl file (readable in XML format). It represents the first version of the comp... more The dataset is an .owl file (readable in XML format). It represents the first version of the computational ontology developed for Work Package 1 of arts and humanities research council (AHRC) funded project 'Beyond the Multiplex: Audiences for specialised film in English regions'.
Transnational Screens
ABSTRACT This the second of two articles looking at the persistence of popular national cinemas i... more ABSTRACT This the second of two articles looking at the persistence of popular national cinemas in contemporary Europe. Drawing on research undertaken for the MeCETES project, the first article (Part One) examined admissions data for domestic productions in the period 2005–2015, demonstrating that most European countries enjoy a small number of considerable national successes each year. This second article (Part Two), provides further evidence that the national has not withered away in the era of globalisation, and revisits the concept of national cinema in this context. The majority of the national successes in European countries were small-scale films, with themes, characters or subject-matter that resonated in the country of production, and few of them travelled successfully across borders. Among strategies deployed to create attractive and repeatable consumer products, the most common was genre: most domestically successful national productions were comedies set in the present. Clearly, popular national cinema is still a meaningful presence across Europe, but it provides a different version of the nation to those presented under the auspices of nation-branding. These are two variants of national cinema in the era of the neo-liberal global economy.
Film Genre Reader IV, 2012
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Conference Presentations by Andrew Higson
Books by Andrew Higson
Papers by Andrew Higson