Ireland and Cinema

About this book

The volume offers a broad range of academic approaches to contemporary and historical Irish filmmaking and representations of nationality, national identity, and theoretical questions around the construction of Ireland and Irishness on the screen. The first part explores notions of home, space and place as they have been mobilized politically through representations of Irishness. Regional specificities are brought to the fore in explorations of disturbing and dystopian notions of home, the generic use of Dublin city, and the employment of Irish accents in cinema. The second part considers the intricacies of identity representations in cinema. In four chapters it brings together the theme of national identity with questions of gender, sexuality, and stardom. The third part concentrates on films based in, representing or challenging the political and historical situation of Northern Ireland. The final part focuses on Ireland's relationship with international aesthetics and considerations of cinema, from mainstream generic to the perspectives of Irish cinema by overseas audiences. The material explored - the films chosen and the analytical writing invoked - is diverse and innovatively read through a miscellany of methodological approaches.