Papers by Russell Campbell
Photography/Politics: One, Sep 1, 1979
A review of the motorcycle movie directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Robert Redford and Michael... more A review of the motorcycle movie directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard.
Studies in Documentary Film, 2016
Lars Weckbecker's contention is that documentary film by the New Zealand National Film Unit (NFU)... more Lars Weckbecker's contention is that documentary film by the New Zealand National Film Unit (NFU) 'set out to render the interpretative and visionary aspects of an embodied and subjective vision disposable and hence governable in order to produce a harmonious, cooperative, efficient, self-disciplining and docile population' (ix). Within a broad framework derived from Michel Foucault's notion of governmentality, Weckbecker relates how John Grierson's concept of documentary as fulfilling a civic education role in liberal democracy came to be applied in the New Zealand context. Concentrating on the two decades of the NFU's existence following its establishment in 1941, Governing Visions of the Real looks in turn at the wartime years, the postwar period with a continuing Labour Government, and the 1950s, mostly under a National administration. Over this time span, whose ending is marked by the coming of television in 1960, Weckbecker discerns in the films 'an increasing abstraction and de-limitation from the specificity of the events depicted' (122). Avowedly not a representative survey of NFU productions nor a detailed history of the Unit, the book (which originates from the author's University of Auckland Ph.D. thesis) aims to trace how the films shaped perceptions of the real, while it does not make any empirical claims about the effects they had on their audience. In doing so it explores territory little covered in published work to date, though it overlaps to a certain extent unpublished theses by Margot Fry (1995) ('A Servant of Many Masters: A History of the National Film Unit 1941 to 1976') and David Hoskins (2007) ('John Grierson, the NZNFU and the Art of Propaganda'). Since the NFU's role from the start was seen as purveying government propaganda, Weckbecker's central thesis is scarcely contentious. He embodies it in a cogent narrative, drawing particularly on internal memos discovered by assiduous fossicking in the archives, and buttressed by selective analysis of the films. The argument is particularly strong in demonstrating that while NFU documentaries in the period under discussion were adept at showing, as Grierson had demanded, 'the face of a New Zealander,' they seldom granted him or her a voice. Weckbecker also accurately points outas many observers before him had donethat the films portrayed a prettified version of New Zealand and allowed no space for debate or dissension. (He coins the term 'monumentary' to refer to the way in which the typical NFU product, so he contends, was designed to predetermine its interpretation, precluding any critical response from the spectator.) The book reveals that though the NFU was heavily influenced by Grierson's conception of public service documentary, it enjoyed considerably less autonomy than organizations which he personally headed, including the UK's GPO Film Unit and Canada's National Film Board. Under Labour, the Prime Minister's Department exercised direct control over the political content of NFU productions. After the 1949 election of the National Government, all NFU films had to be approved in advance by a Cabinet SubCommittee on Publicity, and monitored at every stage of production by a departmental publicity committee. Within a highly conformist society, this control complemented the state monopoly on radio broadcasting. In such circumstances, the absence in the films of any controversial content, noted by Weckbecker, is hardly surprising.
The Journal of New Zealand Studies, 2013
The Journal of New Zealand Studies, 2009
Punk anarchism, a defiant youth subculture that had emerged in reaction to hard times in New Zeal... more Punk anarchism, a defiant youth subculture that had emerged in reaction to hard times in New Zealand resorted to organized anarchist political activity. As an expression of the punk…
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2016
Art Journal, 1983
... There are ob-vious overlaps in many cases; Schatz's book, for example, falls into the fi... more ... There are ob-vious overlaps in many cases; Schatz's book, for example, falls into the first cate-gory, but involves aesthetic issues as well. ... It would have been particularly helpful to see stills from Mirra Bank's Yudi, the only film that gets a full in-depth treatment. ...
Russian Review, 1996
... of the Tarkov-sky Museum; members of the board of the Tarkovsky Society: Neya Zorkaya for inv... more ... of the Tarkov-sky Museum; members of the board of the Tarkovsky Society: Neya Zorkaya for inviting us to the Tarkovsky conference; Alia Gerber and Paula Volkova for making it possible for us to return to carry out our interviews; Irina Kobakhidze, Natasha Derevyanko, and ...
The Slavic and East European Journal, 1998
Acknowledgments Introduction by Daniel J. Goulding One. Tarkovsky: Vida T. Johnson and Graham Pet... more Acknowledgments Introduction by Daniel J. Goulding One. Tarkovsky: Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie Two. Forman: Peter Hames Three. Polanski: Herbert Eagle Four. Szabo: David Paul Five. Makavejev: Daniel J. Goulding Selected Bibliography Fimography Contributors Index
Quarterly Review of Film Studies, 1978
... the lead role of Tom Joad (Zanuck had proposed Fox contract players Don Ameche or Tyrone Powe... more ... the lead role of Tom Joad (Zanuck had proposed Fox contract players Don Ameche or Tyrone Power); in re-turn he was forced to accept studio regular Jane Darwell as Ma, though he would have preferred Beulah Bondi. ... Just make the picture for me." So we started from scratch. ...
The Journal of Popular Culture, 2007
Russell Campbell's book analyzes the portrayal of prostitutes and prostitute-like characters in w... more Russell Campbell's book analyzes the portrayal of prostitutes and prostitute-like characters in world cinema. He states that the prostitute ''has attained a potent symbolic value for creative artists, haunting the imagination of filmmakers throughout the twentieth century and beyond'' (4). The opening chapters, ''The Sex Trade and the Cinema,'' and ''Depicting Prostitution Under Patriarchy'' are the book's most important contributions. In these chapters, Campbell, who teaches in the film program at Victoria University of Wellington, painstakingly works through the psychological drive behind the creation of these prostitute characters and their meaning in world society. His understanding of psychological theory, feminist theory, and his broad-ranging knowledge of post-World War II world film (European and North American, with some use of Asian, Latin American, and African works) are all quickly apparent to the reader. Respectable women, Campbell points out, are protected by men, while disrespectable women do not garner such protection. She who offers her body to the public remains stigmatized by her culture. Unraveling society's vision of her reveals much about patriarchal societies around the world, which have, at their heart, many aspects in common. The prostitute's mass media image tells the viewer much about attitudes toward sex. Campbell must explain several issues that potentially damage his underlying argument. First, as he readily admits, he has not chosen films systematically, but rather utilized films due only to his interest
History of Education Quarterly, 2000
... and 'Documentalism' 92 6 From Realism to Realpolitik 108 7 The Not So Strange Death... more ... and 'Documentalism' 92 6 From Realism to Realpolitik 108 7 The Not So Strange Death of ... medium began with my previous work, The Best Weapon of Propaganda, the Bolsheviks and Film ... during which occurred both the 'turning point' and the 'death' of Soviet documentary. ...
A study of the work of the director Cecil Holmes at New Zealand's National Film Unit in the p... more A study of the work of the director Cecil Holmes at New Zealand's National Film Unit in the period 1946-49. Holmes, a Communist Party member who was fired from the Unit, was responsible for some innovative and at times political risky productions.
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Papers by Russell Campbell