Overview
Portuguese Film, 1930-1960: The Staging of the New State Regime provides groundbreaking analysis of Portuguese feature films produced in the first three decades of the New State (Estado Novo), a right-wing totalitarian regime that lasted between 1933 and 1974. These films, sponsored by the National Propaganda Institute (Secretariado Nacional de Propaganda), convey a conservative image of both mainland Portugal and the country's overseas African colonies (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and St. Thomas and Principe). The films about the mainland emphasize traditional values, the importance of obedience to authorities and a strict division of gender roles, whereby women are relegated to the domestic sphere. The Portuguese countryside, where age-old customs and a strong social hierarchy prevailed, is presented in these movies as a model for the rest of the country. The films about the colonies, in turn, underline the benefits of the Portuguese presence in Africa and portray the colonized as docile subjects to Portuguese rule. The book includes chapter summaries in the introduction, in-depth analyses of the most important Portuguese films produced between 1930 and 1960, a discussion of the main topics of Portuguese cinema from the New State, and a comprehensive bibliography that guides students who wish to read further on a specific topic. First published in Portuguese to wide acclaim, Portuguese Film, 1930-1960: The Staging of the New State Regime fills a gap in English-language scholarship on the history of the national cinema of the Iberian peninsula. Films covered include Fatima, Land of Faith (Terra de Fe), Spell of the Empire (Feitico do Imperio), and Chaimite.
Full Product Details
Author: Dr. Patricia Vieira
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.533kg
ISBN: 9781623568634
ISBN 10: 1623568633
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 10 October 2013
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
This book is a major achievement, but it is difficult. Most readers will be intimidated: they will not know the films; the films are not very good ('too heavily invested in disseminating the values of the regime'); and few readers have the history of Portugal at their fingertips. Vieira (Georgetown) puts Salazar in the Mussolini/Hitler category. Hideous aspects of cruel tyranny mark every regime-approved film. Salazar, the ruler of Portugal's so-called New State, wanted to combat lies, error, slander, and ignorance. See the film A Revolu o de Maio, or The May Revolution (1937). He believed that good rural life, agriculture, is humanity's call (A Can o de Terra, or The Song from the Earth, 1938). Virtuous women (i.e., women obedient to men) are the foundation of society. The Portuguese are spiritual (F tima Terra de F , Fatima, Land of Faith, 1943). What about colonies?They are necessary, democratic, and Christian (Feiti o do Imp rio, Spell of Empire, 1940). Colonizing is spiritual, protective, civilizing (Chaimite, 1953). The best supplement to this intensity study is not a history of Portuguese movies, but a consideration of propaganda, like Toby Clark's Art and Propaganda in the Twentieth Century: The Political Image in the Age of Mass Culture (1997). -- P.H. Stacy CHOICE
This book is a major achievement, but it is difficult. Most readers will be intimidated: they will not know the films; the films are not very good ('too heavily invested in disseminating the values of the regime'); and few readers have the history of Portugal at their fingertips. Vieira (Georgetown) puts Salazar in the Mussolini/Hitler category. Hideous aspects of cruel tyranny mark every regime-approved film. Salazar, the ruler of Portugal's so-called New State, wanted to combat lies, error, slander, and ignorance. See the film A Revolu o de Maio, or The May Revolution (1937). He believed that good rural life, agriculture, is humanity's call (A Can o de Terra, or The Song from the Earth, 1938). Virtuous women (i.e., women obedient to men) are the foundation of society. The Portuguese are spiritual (F tima Terra de F , Fatima, Land of Faith, 1943). What about colonies?They are necessary, democratic, and Christian (Feiti o do Imp rio, Spell of Empire, 1940). Colonizing is spiritual, protective, civilizing (Chaimite, 1953). The best supplement to this intensity study is not a history of Portuguese movies, but a consideration of propaganda, like Toby Clark's Art and Propaganda in the Twentieth Century: The Political Image in the Age of Mass Culture (1997). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.-- -- P.H. Stacy CHOICE
Author Information
Patricia Vieira is Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, in the Comparative Literature Program, and in the Film and Media Studies Program of Georgetown University, Washington, USA.
