Film culture: its development in New Zealand, 1929-1972

Abstract

This study provides a history and analysis of the development of 'film culture' in New Zealand, from the late 1920s to the early 1970s. In particular, it explores how international theories and discourses about 'film as art' were received in New Zealand, and helped to shape new forms of reviewing and teaching, and new institutions such as film societies, art-house cinemas, and film festivals. Certain features of the New Zealand situation (relative isolation, a small population, social homogeneity, commercial pressures, the small amount of film production, etc.) created obstacles. Limits on the availability of films (particularly those that were neither British nor American) had a direct impact on the development of ideas about 'film as art'. This thesis shows that the campaign to get the film medium taken seriously was very difficult. Those with a traditional approach to the arts, those with a commitment to leftwing politics, and those campaigning for stricter forms of censorship all tended (particularly in the 1930s) to regard the medium of film with suspicion. For many of those involved in the building of film culture, the campaign took on the character of a crusade. The pressures of the local situation and the work of particular individuals ensured that New Zealand film culture took on some distinctive properties (such as a particularly strong interest in the documentary genre). Also striking was the interaction between public and private initiatives, government policy and commercial enterprise. As a Cultural Studies project, this thesis seeks to understand the development of an important subculture in New Zealand. As Film History, it explores the development of specialised forms of distribution, exhibition and reception. As Film Theory, it traces the evolution of aesthetic thinking over a period of 50 years. As Social and Intellectual History, it provides a case study in the development of the arts in a small, post-colonial country. The approach used is wide-ranging, a form of 'thick description' that seeks to avoid single factor explanations for cultural phenomena. It combines the study of texts (both written and filmic) with fieldwork (interviews with participants) and research into social and political contexts (including unpublished government records).