| With American money acting as a crutch for British production it can be argued that some British films were compromised by pandering to the US market. Hacker and Price, in their book Take 10, say, 'in an attempt to win [American] finance British producers are frightened of anything which might alienate these investors, and are attracted to subject matter which might result, for instance, in Anglo-American content or likely to cast American actors who could not really be justified on anything other than financial grounds'. There were many examples of this in 80's British cinema; A Fish Called Wanda(1988), Scandal(1988) and High Spirits(1988). Because of poor public support for British product, usually for a film to be a success it has to sell internationally as well. This creates a crisis of cultural identity, can a British film retain its identity, its essential Britishness, and still appeal to an international market. The films that sell well abroad have proved to be those which present a romanticised view of Britain, a 'heritage' Britain that never really existed. This appeals particularly to America, a relatively young nation compared to most other countries, who look to Britain for a heritage they can pretend to be their own. This results in a very stylised re-representation of Britain's past in the name of international commercial appeal, A Passage to India(1984) and A Room With a View(1986) for example. |
The Renaissance of the 1980s
Author:Matt Pearson 
Us and Them