New Approaches

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Article
    Audio History of Film: Introduction
    Pauleit, Winfried; Greiner, Rasmus; Frey, Mattias (2018)
  • Article
  • Article
    On the Wrong Side of History: Towards a New Approach to Ostalgie Cinema
    Astafeva, Tatiana (2021)
    The articel argues that an interdisciplinary phenomenological approach based on the understanding of nostalgic historical experience by Frank Ankersmit can be helpful in the critical analysis of emotionally and aesthetically charged cinematic phenomena like ostalgie. On the exemaple of the Film KUNDSCHAFTER DES FRIEDENS / OLD AGENT MEN (Robert Thalheim, 2017) the essay discusses how the analysis of the specifity of ostalgie film can contribute further to a more complex understanding of German films about the GDR past.
  • Article
    Presentist Anachronism and Ironic Humour in Period Screen Drama
    Shanks, John (2022)
    Several historical period dramas recently shown on television and cinema screens depart from conventional codes of production by the systematic introduction of presentist anachronisms to selected aspects of the production. Some include ironic humour in the presentation. This article proposes that the genre of “ironic period screen drama” demonstrates an apparently successful approach to resolving the tension between past and present in a historical narrative. The examples considered here are two TV drama series Bridgerton (Netflix 2020) and The Great (Hulu 2020) and two movies MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS (Josie Rourke UK/USA 2018) and THE FAVOURITE (Yorgos Lanthimos UK/USA/IR 2018). These four period screen dramas exhibit in different combinations a range of key features including use of ironic humour, narrative with a feminist angle, exploration of non-conforming gender and sexual identities, female “gaze” of the camera and strategic anachronisms in selected elements of the production, such as soundtrack music against a period-appropriate background of historically authentic sets and locations. Potential advantages of applying the concept of “ironic period screen drama” as an analytical tool include the ability to offer alternative possible versions of the past, particularly in relation to traditionally marginalised groups such as women, people of colour, and LGBTQIA+ individuals, and to engage a younger audience. The success of ironic period drama supports the view of those historians who contend that some types of presentist anachronism are not only inevitable but useful in a historical narrative.
  • Article
    Sonic Histospheres: Sound Design and History
    Greiner, Rasmus (2018)
    This article explores the role played by film sound in the audio-visual construction of historical dimensions of experience. This exploration does not treat the auditory level in isolation but considers how it interacts with moving images, montages, aesthetic and narrative concepts within the audio-visual histosphere.
  • Article