Here is an overview of my latest journal article for those interested in:
- home movies
- representations of the family
- leisure
- postwar social history
- national identity
ABSTRACT
This article examines the construction of the postwar British family in amateur film with reference to
the Sidney Lane and Cecil Scrutton collection held at the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA), particularly the films covering 1948 – 1961.
the Sidney Lane and Cecil Scrutton collection held at the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA), particularly the films covering 1948 – 1961.
Heather Norris Nicholson argues that home movies contribute to ‘an understanding of leisure and visual- related practices of consumption as well as the social processes by which people came
to give themselves, and others, identities’ in the mid-twentieth century (Nicholson, H. N. [2004]. At Home and Abroad with Cine Enthusiasts: Regional Amateur Filmmaking and Visualizing the Mediterranean, ca. 1928 – 1962’. Geojournal,
49, 323–333).
to give themselves, and others, identities’ in the mid-twentieth century (Nicholson, H. N. [2004]. At Home and Abroad with Cine Enthusiasts: Regional Amateur Filmmaking and Visualizing the Mediterranean, ca. 1928 – 1962’. Geojournal,
49, 323–333).
By considering the social and historical contexts in which these home movies were produced, and using accompanying notes by one of the filmmaker’s sons, the leisure time films of
Lane and Scrutton can be analysed in order to understand how the amateur cine hobby ideologically constructed family, community and national identity in postwar Britain.
Lane and Scrutton can be analysed in order to understand how the amateur cine hobby ideologically constructed family, community and national identity in postwar Britain.
The images of Christmas parties, daytrips and holidays in these films reveal much about this particular family, and are therefore very illuminating to the social historian and film scholar of
today.
today.
My journal article is based on some research I carried out at the East Anglian Film Archive a couple of years ago. Whilst there I viewed the birthday parties, day trips and holidays that the Lanes and Scruttons had filmed in Norfolk and other parts of Britain. I also got to know the family’s history in the 1950s, due to the collection’s reminiscences recorded in a document by one of the filmmakers’ sons.
Family collections such as this provide a fascinating insight into social history, and also how people
represented their leisure activities in amateur film: The cine hobby itself being a leisure pastime – popular with families who could afford it – in the postwar period.
represented their leisure activities in amateur film: The cine hobby itself being a leisure pastime – popular with families who could afford it – in the postwar period.
