City Limits: Filming Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in Troubled Times

Author:   Dr Stephanie Schwerter (Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, France)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:  

9781501380457


Pages:   312
Publication Date:   13 January 2022
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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City Limits: Filming Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in Troubled Times


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Overview

Belfast, Beirut and Berlin are notorious for their internal boundaries and borders. As symbols for political disunion, the three cities have inspired scriptwriters and directors from diverse cultural backgrounds. Despite their different histories, they share a wide range of features central to divided cities. In each city, particular territories take on specific symbolic and psychological meanings. Following a comparative approach, this book concentrates on the cinematographic representations of Belfast, Beirut and Berlin. Filmmakers are in constant search of new ways in order to engage with urban division. Making use of a variety of genres reaching from thriller to comedy, they explore the three cities’ internal and external borders, as well as the psychological boundaries existing between citizens belonging to different communities. Among the characters featuring in films set in Belfast, Berlin and Beirut, we may count dangerous gunmen, prisoners’ wives, soldiers and snipers, but also comic Stasi-members, punk aficionados and fake nuns. The various characters contribute to the creation of a multifaceted image of city limits in troubled times.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Stephanie Schwerter (Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, France)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic USA
Weight:   0.590kg
ISBN:  

9781501380457


ISBN 10:   1501380451
Pages:   312
Publication Date:   13 January 2022
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

1. Historical and Cultural Background 2. Urban Space and Territoriality 3. Tropes of Violence 4. Representing Division through Humor 5. Between Present, Past and Future Conclusion Bibliography Index

Reviews

This book is an insightful and ambitious examination of the representation and imagination of 'divided' cities Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in cinema. Schwerter investigates aspects highly relevant to film and conflict studies as well as to the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies, centered on comparative film analyses of altogether 35 films. * Angela Vaupel, Senior Lecturer in International Studies, St Mary's University College, Ireland * City Limits: Filming Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in Troubled Times provides a fascinating overview and profound analysis of the cinematographic representation of these here troubled cities. The author establishes significant links between Belfast, Beirut and Berlin and analyses the extent to which filmmakers have reflected the characteristics of the three cities in diverse filmic productions. The book examines the historical and cultural background of these territories, investigating the earliest film representation of all three cities, before studying features of the cityscape. While Belfast, Beirut and Berlin share a history of sectarian and political violence, the author also reflects the numerous examples of humorous films produced in or about the cities. This is a fascinating study which sheds light on a shamefully neglected area of cultural studies, providing a concise and coherent analysis which is backed up by careful use of a highly-relevant use of updated bibliographical sources. * David M. Clark, Director of The 'Amergin' University Institute of Research in Irish Studies, University of Coruna, Spain * City Limits is a fascinating study of how cinema responds to political conflict. Schwerter combines fine-grained attention to the history of the German, Lebanese and Northern Irish contexts with lucid, comparatively oriented accounts of the films. In this encompassing study, she not only casts new light on high-profile box office hits, but also provides welcome insight on less familiar productions that evidently deserve more attention. Throughout, the overarching motif of the divided city provides a fruitful prism, revealing both important continuities and interesting divergences in cinematic approaches. Although no one in their right mind would want to return to the past state of the divided cities of Belfast, Beirut and Berlin scrutinised in this study, Schwerter makes a powerful case for why we should return to these compelling, intriguing films. * Charles I. Armstrong, Professor of English Literature, University of Agder, Norway *


This book is an insightful and ambitious examination of the representation and imagination of 'divided' cities Belfast, Beirut and Berlin in cinema. Schwerter investigates aspects highly relevant to film and conflict studies as well as to the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies, centered on comparative film analyses of altogether 35 films. * Angela Vaupel, Senior Lecturer in International Studies, St Mary's University College, Ireland *


Author Information

Stephanie Schwerter is Professor of Anglophone Literature at the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, France. She spent six years in Northern Ireland, working at the University of Ulster and at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research interest is in the literary and cinematographic representation of divided cities.

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