Mr Peter Kirkpatrick
Contact
- Email: k1023686@kingston.ac.uk
- Location: Penrhyn Road
- Faculty: Kingston School of Art
- School: School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Department: Department of Critical and Historical Studies
Research project: Based on a True Story: Framing the Present through Depictions of the Past in Post-2010 Biopics and Historical Films
Abstract
The 2010s saw a threefold increase in the number of biopics and historical films produced globally – genres which, as James Chapman argues in his 2005 book Past and Present: National Identity and the British Historical Film, "will often have as much to say about the present in which [they are] made as about the past in which [they are] set" (p. 1). This corresponded with a number of social and political issues with common themes of equality and awareness becoming increasingly prominent during the decade's course, including debates about race relations in the United States, discussions around gender dynamics in the wake of #MeToo, the Refugee Crisis, and increased discussions concerning mental health. This enormous increase in the genres' production and period of social and political turmoil offers an opportunity to revisit these genres and examine them anew, particularly as all of those issues were represented in the British and American outputs of biopics and historical films, through the recreation of a variety of significant figures and events from the past.
In examining how and why filmmakers did so, this thesis shall map the shifts in cinematic representations against the changes in the societal debates, and consider the extent to which they demonstrated shortcomings and limitations for the genres. This shall be achieved through a two-step process of extensive research into both the prominent issues of the 2010s and the genres' form and history, followed by application of that research to the chosen case studies through textual analysis. In doing so, this thesis shall not only present an argument for how the era saw parallels between shifts in filmic representations and changes in societal debates, some of which demonstrated the genres' hindrances and deficiencies, but also that there were new cycles in the types of true stories that were recreated – particularly those concerning women and ethnic minorities, who have historically been marginalised within biopics and historical films. This PhD provides the first detailed analysis of the thematic cycles within these long-standing and significant genres during the 2010s, that demonstrates the extent to which factors such as genre conventions, production contexts and filmmakers' backgrounds can inform how specific issues and demographics are represented. In so doing, this thesis provides an original contribution to knowledge that fills a gap in the discourse on both the genres and cinema of the 2010s.
- Research degree: PhD
- Title of project: Based on a True Story: Framing the Present through Depictions of the Past in Post-2010 Biopics and Historical Films
- Research supervisor: Dr Simon Brown
- Other research supervisors:
Biography
My academic background is in Film Studies, and my main areas of research interest are film history and cinema's engagement with politics and society. It was whilst studying for my BA at the University of Portsmouth that my interest in the social and political relevance of cinema really began to flourish. I wrote on this subject area in relation to a variety of topics, including Mexican cinema, 1950s' science-fiction and contemporary fantasy cinema. During my MA at Kingston University, this subject area became especially prevalent in my work, and I wrote on it in relation to a plethora of topics, including Italian Neorealism, British cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, contemporary science-fiction, and some of the Best Picture nominees at the 89th Academy Awards. Since beginning my PhD, I have also presented multiple conference papers on the representations of social and political issues in contemporary British and American cinema.
Areas of research interest
- Social and political engagement in cinema
- Contemporary British and American cinema
- Biopics and historical films
- Film history
- Film marketing in the digital age
- The Academy Awards
Qualifications
- MA Film Studies, Kingston University
- BA (Hons) Film Studies, University of Portsmouth
Conference papers
'Production Contexts, Narrative Formulas and Degrees of Complexity: A Multi-Genre Analysis of the Portrayals of Mental Illness in Contemporary British Cinema', Northumbria University, Re-thinking Histories of Popular British Film and Television, June 27th 2023.
'Loss and Trauma: A Multi-Genre Exploration of the Depiction of Mental Health in Contemporary Cinema.' Kingston University, CCI Research Seminar Series, November 2nd 2022.
'Challenging Bigotry and Pushing for Equality in the United States: Race Relations and Political Concerns in the Post-2013 Biopic.' Kingston University, Festival of Research, June 27th 2022.
'Institutionalized Prejudice and the Ongoing Fight for Equality in the United States: Race Relations and Presidency Concerns in the Modern Biopic.' Kingston University, CCI Research Seminar Series, January 19th 2022.