The North of England in British Fiction Feature Film, 1927 – 2000.

Abstract

This thesis is an historical investigation of the North of England in British fiction feature film released between 1927 and 2000. Taking an approach to the research that involved an examination of the entire corpus of texts available, rather than the more orthodox route of studying a smaller number of films deemed representative of the wider body of work, this thesis has quantitatively and qualitatively mapped the presence of the North of England in British film outputs. This methodological approach is, in itself, unique compared to the existing studies of how the different regions or ‘Home Nations’ are depicted in British film, and therefore provides a template that can be used in any future examination of regional or sub-national identities in British film. Making a further original contribution to knowledge, this thesis both provides a definitive inventory of Northern set films and identifies that, throughout the period under scrutiny, the North has been depicted on film as an environment dominated by the working classes. Whilst it is invaluable to scholars of cultural history and film studies to have each of these areas finally definitively mapped, the greater worth of the research - and the most profound of its original contributions to knowledge - lies in its identification that across the 1927 to 2000 period the representations of the North on film have been congruous with and totemic of the conceptual location ascribed to the English working class.