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Articles by Neil Archer
‘Totally present’: swimming subjectivities and cinematic representations
Abstract During the last two decades, the growth in popularity of so-called ‘wild’ or open-water swimming has coincided with, and been promoted via, the parallel emergence of user-generated content platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. Parallel developments in accessible and more portable digital filmmaking technologies have both enabled this emergence and encouraged new aesthetic possibilities for representing these activities.
Going bananas in Rye!
Bananas are fascinating plants. They grow on every continent except for Antarctica. They are the largest flowering herbaceous plant and almost all of them will grow happily outside in the British summer and can be seen in many gardens and stately homes throughout the UK. Almost every variety can be grown from seed, although interestingly not the most common edible variety Musa Dwarf Cavendish – this has to be grown by division as it produces no seeds.
Precious treasures on the Level
Since I was a small boy holidaying in Devon and Cornwall I have been fascinated with seashells. My parents used to encourage me to spend my pocket money on crab-lines, sticks of rock and ice-cream. I had other ideas, holding onto my money in case we stumbled upon a shop selling shells. Occasionally I would hit the jack-pot in Brixham, Torquay, Penzance and Lands End.
Euro 2020: England isn't an underdog anymore – it's time for new stories
You only need to watch a few sports movies to see how England’s filmmakers view their sporting nation. Whether in improbable fairy-tale victory (Wimbledon, Fast Girls), gloriously eccentric failure (Eddie the Eagle) or a triumph of the English spirit over unscrupulous invaders (Aardman’s Early Man or Escape to Victory). And let’s not forget that, for years, the theme from The Great Escape has been the song of choice for travelling English fans. What does this tell us?
A World Beyond Space and Time
While ‘the road’ has long been recognised as an important motif in American culture, from the Beats to the Hollywood road movie, those places along or between the highways – the gas stations, roadside diners and motels – have not always had the critical attention they deserve. This is the argument at the heart of Elsa Court’s engaging and illuminating study.
two experts debate
Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Ken Loach have all recently expressed scorn at the growing dominance of superhero movies in the commercial cinema, with Scorsese saying that the Marvel film universe is “not cinema”. We asked two academics: an expert in cinema and an expert in comics to debate the question. Julian Lawrence: senior lecturer in comics and graphic novels, Teesside University Marvel movies aren’t cinema. So what are they?
The Fate of Dinard, a Very British Film Festival on the Coast of France, Post Brexit
The French seaside town of Dinard, which sits on the Brittany coast in north-western France, is known as the “most British” of French resorts. Over the years it has attracted the likes of Winston Churchill, who holidayed there several times, as well as Oscar Wilde, who wrote of the town in De Profundis, his prison lament. Lawrence of Arabia lived there as a child. But, for the past 30 years, the town has also hosted an annual film festival devoted exclusively to British movies.
Dinard: a very British film festival on the coast of France - so what happens after Brexit?
The French seaside town of Dinard, which sits on the Brittany coast in north-western France, is known as the “most British” of French resorts. Over the years it has attracted the likes of Winston Churchill, who liked to paint there, as well as Oscar Wilde, who wrote of the town in De Profundis, his prison lament. Lawrence of Arabia lived there as a child. But, for the past 30 years, the town has also hosted an annual film festival devoted exclusively to British movies.
The Kid Who Would Be King: why King Arthur films are the perfect antidote to epic Brexit posturing
King Arthur probably never existed, but from a cinematic point of view, he may as well have done. Few figures, mythical or historical, have reappeared as frequently on the big screen. This winter, less than two years after Guy Ritchie’s 2017 King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword, comes a new take on the tales: The Kid Who Would Be King. But what is the appeal of this particular tale? And above all, why now? The Kid Who Would Be King, like Ritchie’s film, is another take on a familiar trope.
Why Hollywood has its eyes on the BAFTAs - and the British industry is looking back
I have to confess that until recently, I’d never really got the BAFTAs. The coverage of the British Academy Award nominations in the US trade press, though, alongside other pre-Oscar awards like the recent Golden Globes, indicates that they matter to Hollywood as much as to the British film industry. The fact that many of the films’ stars and directors turn up for the big night, held in the Royal Albert Hall, underlines this point too.
Why Hollywood needs more films like Star Wars
Try to imagine a world without Star Wars. It’s 40 years since George Lucas unveiled the first in his sci-fi franchise and, with The Last Jedi now upon us, it’s a question worth asking. A recent Vanity Fair article came to the conclusion that it’s almost impossible – unless, that is, we can imagine the past four decades without Space Invaders, Pixar, or even Photoshop. In short, Star Wars is unavoidable.
Brexit, comedy and 'Britishness' - what to do when parody becomes real
If as it is said is tragedy plus the benefit of time, sometimes time allows things to come full circle. When in 1999 Edward and Tubbs, characters from the BBC’s The League of Gentlemen, declared their village store “a local shop for local people” I laughed because their narrow-minded localist zeal seemed so grotesquely out of step with the UK’s global and multicultural attitudes.
Brexit, comedy and 'Britishness'
If as it is said comedy is tragedy plus the benefit of time, sometimes time allows things to come full circle. When in 1999 Edward and Tubbs, characters from the BBC’s The League of Gentlemen, declared their Royston Vasey village store “a local shop for local people” I laughed because their narrow-minded localist zeal seemed so grotesquely out of step with the UK’s global and multicultural attitudes.
Supporting the Post-16 Study of French: A Collection on La Haine
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