This book presents extensive research into the cinematic representation of the British-identifying Protestant, unionist and loyalist community in Northern Ireland and is the first time such comprehensive analysis has been produced. Gallagher’s research traces the history of the community’s representation in cinema from the emergence of depictions of both nationalist and unionist communities in social-realist dramas in 1980s British and Irish cinema to today, through periods such as those focused on violent paramilitaries in the 1990s and irreverent comedy after the Northern Ireland peace process. The book addresses the perception that the Irish nationalist community has been depicted more frequently and favourably than unionism in films about the period of conflict known as “The Troubles”. Often argued to be the result of an Irish nationalist bias within Hollywood, Gallagher argues that there are other inherent and systemic reasons for this cinematic deficit.
Author(s): Richard Gallagher
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 198
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1: Introduction
References
Chapter 2: An Emergence of Unionist Representation in British Cinema
The Hunger Strikes
Maeve (1981)
Angel (1982)
Ascendancy (1983)
Cal (1984)
No Surrender (1985)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: The Rural and the Repressed: Unionists in December Bride (1991) and This Is the Sea (1997)
The Unionists Disappear
Ulster Says No
December Bride (1991)
This Is the Sea (1997)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4: Paramilitaries Begin to Dominate Representations of Unionists
The Road to Peace
Nothing Personal (1995)
Resurrection Man (1998)
Other Depictions of Loyalist Paramilitaries at This Time
Presence and Absence in the ‘Martin Cahill Films’: The General (1998) and Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: The ‘Troubles Comedy’ and Unionism
Divorcing Jack (1998)
The Most Fertile Man in Ireland (2000)
An Everlasting Piece (2001)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Unionist Screws: Prison Officers in H3 (2001), Silent Grace (2004) and Hunger (2008)
A New World?
H3 (2001) and Silent Grace (2004)
Hunger (2008)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: The Kids Are Alright: Adolescent Unionism
Previous Depictions of Adolescents
Intermittent Violence and Flag Disputes
The Republican Dominance Continues?
Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)
Good Vibrations (2013)
‘71 (2014)
Shooting for Socrates (2015)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: The End of ‘Troubles Cinema’?
The Union Under Threat
The Journey (2016)
T2: Trainspotting (2017)
Maze (2017)
Belfast (2022)
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Conclusion
Reference
Index
