How did New Labour ideology affect British filmmaking during the ‘90s and naughties?

(Curtis, 2003)


On the 2nd of May 1997, Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was elected as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and spearheaded the New Labour political agenda. After years of the Conservative party in power under the reign of Margret Thatcher and John Major, Blair’s election signified a period of change for the country and a change in the Labour philosophy to sustain its future (Collins, 2005, pp. 41). These systemic changes had a major impact upon the UK film industry as they now began to adopt the policy of ‘The Third Way’. One prime example of a filmmaker utilising this new ideology is Richard Curtis, writer of films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill, yet it was in 2003 in which he made, arguably, one of the most prolific British films in recent memory; Love Actually.

(Curtis, 2003)

The main priority for films of the Third Way was to appeal to a wider audience, especially to international markets. In 1998, Chris Smith, the First Minister for Culture, Media and Sport announced that under the new Labour leadership, British Cinema would be re-vitalised to ensure that foreign markets can distinguish the culture represented in the films as an idealisation of the United Kingdom and its citizens (Higson, 2011, pp. 48). There were even alterations in regards to the distribution networks as new studios were either formed or came to the forefront in the hope of widely releasing home-grown British films. It was the formation of the Film Council (formerly the National Lottery and the British Film Institute Production Board) that signified a large change for the industry as it meant films could now apply for funding from the government (McFarlane, 2016, pp. 445) via a lottery system. As Brian McFarlane explains, the initial recipients of this lottery were three major industry studio companies; “DNA Films, Pathé Pictures and Film Consortium” (Ibid), all of which would go on for years, pioneering the British Film Industry.



(Curtis, 2003)

Richard Curtis had a number of writing credits to his name but it was his 2003 critical and commercial success in Love Actually, which served as his directorial debut. A signifier that it was a movie set around the Labour ideology was from the presentation of the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant). Considering that both Curtis and Blair had previously collaborated alongside Bob Geldof and Bono (Boulton, 2013), Curtis appeared to have an admiration for Blair so seems to have based Grant’s depiction upon the politician himself. As can be seen in the clip above, Grant’s mannerisms are fairly similar to that of Blair during his speeches. Curtis also applied another Third Way tactic within Love Actually as he promotes the country of Britain to tourists and foreign markets. He usually achieves this by including cut-away shots of famous London landmarks such as Nelson’s Column or a lavish ice rink dwarfed by a giant Christmas tree. He even included hefty amounts of pop culture references to appeal to a wide audience “particularly music” (Leggott, 2012). However, in a scene between Alan Rickman and Rowan Atkinson, the lush décor of London is visualised as well as the dedicated customer service, albeit for comedic effect.


(Curtis, 2003)

In answer to the titular question, I believe the most significant effect the New Labour ideology had upon the British film industry was its ambition to expand these films abroad and advertise Britain as a destination of class and culture in the hope of increasing tourism and international links.




Bibliography
Boulton, A., (2013), Tony’s Ten Years: Memories of the Blair Administration, New York: Simon & Schuster

Curtis, R., (Director), (2003), Love Actually, [Motion Picture], United Kingdom: DNA Films

Collins, T. M., (2005), Tony Blair, Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company

Higson, A., (2011), Film England: Culturally English Filmmaking Since The 1990s, New York: I.B. Tauris

Leggott, J., (2012), Travels In Curtisland: Richard Curtis and British comedy cinema, In I. Q. Hunter & L. Porter (Eds.), British Comedy Cinema


McFarlane, B., (2016), The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press

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