Queen Elizabeth I in Selected Movies: A Barthesian- Historicist Approach to Modern British Myth
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi-Ouzou
Abstract
The present research paper is entitled Queen Elizabeth I in Selected Movies: a Barthesian-Historicist Approach to Modern British Myth. It highlights the way Queen Elizabeth I’s biography has been adapted and updated by filmmakers since the end of World War II. To look at the representation of this Tudor Monarch, I throw light on selected snapshots taken from four selected biographical films: The Virgin Queen (1955), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: the Golden Age (2007) with the use of Roland Barthes theoretical framework developed in Mythologies (1972), Image- Music-Text (1977) and Elements of Semiology (1986).The analysis of selected snapshots in the films shows that this Tudor Queen is depicted as a heterogeneous character. She is associated with very different political social and cultural values. The different representations are drawn to adapt her image to the circumstances of the film’s production
and release. Finally, her image is used to help the nation readjust itself to face the different the challenges of post-Empire Britain.
Description
131p.; 30cm; +(CD-ROM)
Keywords
Queen Elizabeth, Selected Movies, British Myth
Citation
Cultural Studies