People of Britain: An Exploration of National Identity in the British Documentary Film (original) (raw)

Abstract

In his essay "First Principles of Documentary" (1932), the British filmmaker and social critic John Grierson argues that the principles of documentary are that cinema's potential for observing life can be exploited in a new art form; that the ‘original’ actor and ‘original’ scene are better guides than their fictional counterparts to interpreting the modern world. In other words, the realist nature of the documentary film is able to depict the actuality of a nation’s identity and culture more explicitly than the false representations of the movies. This paper will examine how British national identity, or ‘Britishness’, has been depicted in the work of key twentieth-century British documentary filmmakers from the pre-war period to the early 1960s. With particular focus on the work of John Grierson, Humphrey Jennings and John Schlesinger, I will explore how filmmakers portrayed class, race and social crisis in Britain, particularly during Second World War and post-war period. In addition, I will consider Grierson's definition of documentary as "creative treatment of actuality", a belief which has gained general acceptance from film critics but presents philosophical questions about documentaries containing fictional elements, such as Schlesinger’s 1961 film Terminus.

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