Escapism and European Cinema

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Geoffrey Nowell-Smith's statement that "only too often European directors and producers seem to have deserted the discontents of modern existence to seek refuge in the more comfortable world of the past" with reference to one German, one French and one Italian film. It looks at how his statement is based on three underlying assumptions: that European film makers, in general, avoid dealing with actuality, that the past is, indeed, more comfortable than the present and, finally, that dealing the past has no other purpose but to avoid dealing with the present.

From the Paper:

"Concerning criteria of 'past', 'modern', 'actual' or "contemporary", primary historical sources are, in general, inaccessible to the public for a period of 50 years, the required distance for an objective relation to the issue. Events that took place during the last 50 years preceding the research are, generally, considered contemporary. Applying the same criterion to History of Cinema means that films created between 1945 and 1965 and dealing with any period after (respectively) 1895 and 1915 are not "deserting" the "discontents of modern existence" but dealing with contemporary issues. Moreover, given that both periods of 50 years (1895-1945 and 1915-1965) include 2 world wars, a devastating world economic crisis and the Spanish civil war, films dealing with either of these periods could hardly be considered as "seek[ing] refuge in the more comfortable world of the past"."

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