The alternative within the mainstream: a critical analysis of some recent Irish films

Abstract

Central to this thesis is the argument, espoused by a number o f our contemporary critics, that the success o f Angel (Neil Jordan, 1982) and My Left Foot (Jim Sheridan, 1989) resulted in a climate in which Irish filmmakers attempted to appeal to a more global market by adopting mainstream Hollywood formats at the expense o f the more experimental and socially critical cinema which had existed prior to 1987. While primarily concerned with Irish cinema since the re-establishment o f the Film Board in 1993, the thesis sets out to investigate a number o f different strategies which Irish filmmakers have adopted in an attempt to infiltrate a market which has become totally dominated by mainstream American studio films. Its main concern is the extent to which they may be said to have successfully achieved a balance o f American style and Irish substance, in such a way that these films can be read as less definably “American” and more specifically “Irish”. Each o f the films proposed for examination is alternative, not in the classic sense o f "alternative’ or ‘counter-cinema’, but in the sense that they deviate from the more standardised approach o f much Irish cinema. The thesis is divided into two main sections.