~Enter the dream-house~ : evaluating the role of English cinemas in public emotion, spatial appropriation, and notions of modernity, c.1930-1960
This thesis asserts the importance of cinemas as influential sites of public emotion within mid-twentieth-century England. It argues that, as institutions, they offered much more than a recreational experience, allowing the formation of emotional communities within an environment which, on an affective level, differed from many other forms of public leisure activity. It combines approaches from the history of emotions and the history of space to introduce a novel methodological approach which allows a reassessment of the role of cinemas in twentieth-century life. The intersection between space and emotion is strengthened by using the records of Mass Observation, an archive imbued with powerful emotional narratives. In conjunction with two case studies of cinemas in Brighton and Bolton, which offer vivid local perspectives on historical cinema-going, the thesis argues that cinemas allowed cinema-goers to enhance, suspend, or even invert, their emotional comportment. This was permitted within a physical environment which fostered a hazy emotionality attractive to many people wishing to escape the dominant social codes of the age, such as the much-debated ~stiff-upper-lip~. The thesis suggests that whilst cinema-going
Jones, James
PN1993 Motion pictures
~Enter the dream-house~ : evaluating the role of English cinemas in public emotion, spatial appropriation, and notions of modernity, c.1930-1960. This thesis asserts the importance of cinemas as influential sites of public emotion within mid-twentieth-century England. It argues that, as institutions, they offered much more than a recreational experience, allowing the formation of emotional communities within an environment which, on an affective level, differed from many other forms of public leisure activity. It combines approaches from the history of emotions and the history of space to introduce a novel methodological approach which allows a reassessment of the role of cinemas in twentieth-century life. The intersection between space and emotion is strengthened by using the records of Mass Observation, an archive imbued with powerful emotional narratives. In conjunction with two case studies of cinemas in Brighton and Bolton, which offer vivid local perspectives on historical cinema-going, the thesis argues that cinemas allowed cinema-goers to enhance, suspend, or even invert, their emotional comportment. This was permitted within a physical environment which fostered a hazy emotionality attractive to many people wishing to escape the dominant social codes of the age, such as the much-debated ~stiff-upper-lip~. The thesis suggests that whilst cinema-going
enter dream house evaluating role english public emotion spatial appropriation notion modernity asserts importance influential site public emotion within mid twentieth_century england argues institution offer much recreational experience allow formation emotional community within environment affective level differ many form public leisure_activity combine approach history emotion history space introduce novel methodological allows reassessment role cinema twentieth_century life intersection space emotion strengthen use record mass_observation archive imbue powerful emotional narrative conjunction two_case study brighton offer local perspective historical cinema going argue cinema allow cinema enhance suspend even invert emotional comportment permit within physical_environment foster attractive many_people wish escape dominant social code age much upper lip suggests whilst cinema going