La représentation des classes sociales dans les films des pays

UNIVERSITé RENNES 2
colloque international organisé par ACE,
Anglophonie : communautés, écritures (EA1796)
La représentation
des classes sociales
dans les films des
pays anglophones
Representing social
classes in films in English
speaking countries
10 / 11 octobre 2013
Université Rennes 2
Campus Villejean
Institut franco-américain
classesinfilms.sciencesconf.org
Representing social classes
in films in English-speaking
countries
On becoming Prime Minister in 1990, John Major promised to build a “genuinely classless
society”. This aspiration sounds all the more daunting and surprising since the British have
always appeared so obsessed with class. The notion of social class is now defined not only
by someone’s occupation and the expression of their social status in language for instance,
but also by their lifestyle, their social connections and their habits of cultural consumption
(Bourdieu’s notion of habitus). The recent advent of David Cameron and Nick Clegg at the
head of the government has been described as the “return of the toffs”, as both leaders hail
from upper class families and have attended prestigious public schools and universities.
Conversely, journalists and sociologists have documented the emergence of a new social
category called the “chavs”, loud, aggressive working class youth. Unsurprisingly, both
television and cinema films bear witness to this enduring fascination for class distinctions:
from the lasting popular success of television series such as Upstairs, Downstairs (LWT,
1971-1975, updated in 2010 by the BBC) or the multi-award-winning Downton Abbey (ITV,
2010) to the character of Vicky Pollard in Little Britain (BBC, 2003-06), from the nostalgic
indulgence of heritage films to the scathing criticisms of films following Ken Loach’s social
realism, films have shaped and challenged stereotypes that articulate the ideological
discourse on class.
The history of the United States has been geared towards a classless society that is in
stark contrast to the British class system. The American dream holds the promise of an
open society where people have the same opportunity to climb the social ladder. As a
tremendous dream machine that has also permitted spectacular social achievements,
Hollywood nourishes and sustains the myth of an open society while eschewing any
realistic representation of working class living conditions for example. Images of the
middle class have prevailed along with racial and political discourses that contribute to
marginalizing other classes – be they the ruling dynasties or the underclass. Indeed, cinema
and television dramas more often than not mirror the mainstream ideology by extolling the
virtues of the middle class, their social aspirations and their conservative values. However,
archetypal figures of success have also been parodied or subverted in films produced in
times of economic crises or by minority filmmakers.
The aim of the conference is to explore representations of social classes in fiction and nonfiction cinema and television films made in English-speaking countries. Our purpose is to
study how films document a social reality that in return seeps into their narrative, how they
contribute to building a collective and stereotypical representation of social groups, or how
they question and undermine these representations.
Representing social classes in films in English-speaking countries
Thursday October 10
9:00 > Registration (Building L, main entrance)
9:15 > opening of the conference by Raymonde Séchet, deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Françoise
Dubosquet, Head of the Faculty of Languages, and Renée Dickason, Head of the Research Unit aCe
Workshop A (L141)
Class relationships in American films
Chair: Richard Butsch
Workshop B (amphi L3)
The British working class on screen
Chair: Jonathan Bignell
9:30 > CLOAREC Nicole (Rennes 1)
in praise of the working poor: archeology of
class struggle through the arts of representation
in Comrades (Bill douglas, 1987) and The Fool
10:00 > MAGUIRE Lori (Paris 12)
From The Goldbergs to All in the Family: Social class (Christine edzard, 1990)
in american sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1970s 10:00 > ZALMANOVICH Tal (Rutgers Univ, US)
“the Great Unwashed! that’s what we are, Mate:”
10:30 > DELAPORTE Chloé (Paris 3)
Class and Social Mobility in Postwar Sitcoms
Les rapports de classe comme marqueurs
9:30 > LETORT Delphine (Maine – Le Mans)
Race and Class in Land of Opportunity (Luisa
dantas, 2010-2011)
génériques dans les fictions états-uniennes
10:30 > LEWIS Carys (Caen)
“Giz a job! i can do that!”: the Unmaking of the
British Working Class in alan Bleasdale’s Boys from
the Blackstuff (1982)
11:00 > Coffee break
11:15 > Keynote speech / Chairs: Nicole Cloarec & David Haigron (L3)
EVERETT Wendy (Bath): “Ken Loach and the geographies of class”
12:30 > Lunch at Le Métronome
Workshop A (L141)
Workshop B (amphi L3)
Chair: Stephen Pimpare
Chair: Isabelle Le Corff
Class & Gender in American films
14:00 > BARON Ava (Rider Univ, US)
Vanishing act in television dramas: How the
Sexualization of Work Made Class disappear
14:30 > STARFIELD Penny (Caen)
Striking women: Salt of the Earth, Norma Rae and
Bread and Roses
15:00 > KENNEDY Ann (Univ of MaineFarmington, US)
U.S. Feminism and the Class Politics of Social
Realism in The Wire
Class and ethnic minorities in British films
14:00 > HILLEN Sabine (antwerp)
Working class in the 7UP documentaries
14:30 > BILLI Manuel (Paris 3)
L’espace socioculturel de l’autre : Minorités
ethniques et classes sociales dans le cinéma
anglais des années 1990 et 2000.
15:00 > CHICK-MACLEOD Kristine (toulouse)
exploring social boundaries in British Cinema
2001-2012
Representing social classes in films in English-speaking countries
Thursday October 10
15:45 > Journey to the French-American Institute (7, Quai Châteaubriand m République)
16:30 > Coffee & tea
17:00 > Keynote speeches at the Institute / Chairs: Liliane Kerjan & Delphine Letort
BUTSCH Richard (Rider Univ, US):
“the persistent contrast of working class to middle class males through 60 years of television situation
comedies with a comparison of tV representations to those of radio”
MARTIN Michael T. (indiana Univ, US):
“Locating Class in the african american Cinematographic archive”
20:00 > Conference dinner at La Taverne de la Marine (2, place de Bretagne)
Representing social classes in films in English-speaking countries
Friday October 11
Workshop A (L141)
Class and Crime
Chair: Michael T. Martin
9:30 > CAVITCH Max (Univ Pennsylvania, US)
Class and the Long Kill in Gus Van Sant’s Gerry
10:00 > MASSONNAT François (Villanova Univ,
US)
Class, Crime and the Long take in Prime Suspect
10:30 > PIMPARE Stephen (Columbia/ City
University of new York)
evils of the City: images of the american Ghetto
on Film
Workshop B (amphi L3)
British state-of-the-nation through
social classes
Chair: Gaïd Girard
9:30 > MARIN-LAMELLET Anne-Lise (Université
Jean Monnet – Saint etienne)
La grève à l’écran : La représentation des conflits
sociaux dans le cinéma britannique de 1956 à nos
jours
10:00 > TREMBLAY Gabrielle (Paris 3)
Un reflet critique de l’angleterre populaire du
début des années 1980: This is England (2006) de
Shane Meadows
10:30 > DUCRAY Amandine (Paris ouest nanterre
La défense)
Whatever happened to the working class sitcom?
Représentations sociales, mutations et transferts
d’un genre télévisuel dans le nouveau millénaire
11:00 > Coffee break
11:15 > Keynote speech / Chairs: Penny Starfield & David Haigron (L3)
BIGNELL Jonathan (Univ Reading, UK): “authenticity and performance of class in British factual tV
series”
12:30 > Lunch at Le Métronome
Workshop A (L141)
Kitsch and social classes
Workshop B (amphi L3)
Social contrasts in British films
Chair: Renée Dickason
Chair: Wendy Everett
14:00 > SOUQUET Lionel (UBo)
Kitsch, classes sociales et multiculturalité dans My
Beautiful Laundrette (1985) de Stephen Frears
14:00 > WACOGNE Emilie (Lyon) – presentation of
her Phd research
14:30 > LE CORFF Isabelle (UBo)
Classes sociales et esthétique du Kitsch dans les
comédies irlandaises des années 1990 et 2000
14:15 > FLINT-NICOL Katerina (Univ Kent)
Horrising the Hoodie :Underclass and urban terror
in the British Hoodie Horror
14:45 > GIRARD Gaïd (UBo)
15:00 > EGERT Charles (LaSCo Paris descartes/ Les contre-starlettes d’andrea arnold : Wasp
(2003) et Fishtank (2009)
Mines-telecom)
Class, illusion and kitsch in American Beauty
15:15 > MILLOT Agnès (Reims)
domination et soumission dans le monde secret
15:30 > ROBLIN Isabelle (ULCo)
des Public Schools
From the marble palaces of I, Claudius (1976) to
the mean streets of Rome (2005): the rise of the
15:45 > LEMONNIER-TEXIER Delphine (Rennes 2)
common man in the historical drama television
esthétique de la verticalité et mise en perspective
series
de l’identité sociale féminine dans Upstairs
Downstairs (1971 et 2010)
16:30 > end of the conference
L
Contacts :
Renée Dickason
[email protected]
David Haigron
[email protected]
Nicole Cloarec
[email protected]
Delphine Letort
[email protected]
organisation :
renseignements :
Université Rennes 2
Campus Villejean (Rennes)
Place du recteur Henri Le Moal
CS 24307
35043 Rennes cedex
Tel : +33 (0)2 99 14 10 00
métro : Métro Villejean-Université
ConCePtion : SeRViCe CoMMUniCation UniVeRSité RenneS 2
iMPReSSion : iMPRiMeRie de L’UniVeRSité RenneS 2
classesinfilms.sciencesconf.org
aCe (anglophonie : communautés, écritures) ea 1796 and 3L.aM ea 4335
Responsable Scientifique
Renée Dickason
[email protected]
partenaires
aCe / 3LaM / LidiLe / HCti / eRiBia / eSo,
SeRCia / institut des amériques /
institut franco-américain
www.univ-rennes2.fr