ENTFÄLLT KRANKHEITSBEDINGT! Guest Lecture: Elfi Bettinger (Berlin), "Against All Odds. Charting the Provocative Aesthetics and Politics of Ken Loach‘s Films"

Dr. Elfi Bettinger ist Anglistin und lebt als unabhängige Kulturwissenschaftlerin in Berlin. Ihre Forschungsinteressen liegen in der Literatur und Kultur der Frühen Neuzeit sowie der klassischen Moderne und den British Cultural Studies. Nach ihrem Studium in Freiburg und an der FU Berlin verbrachte sie Lehr- und Forschungsaufenthalte in Norwich, Cardiff und dem Jesus College in Cambridge, Großbritannien. Als Vertretungsprofessorin lehrte sie an mehreren deutschen Universitäten (Hannover, Braunschweig, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, LMU München, JMU Würzburg). Gegenwärtig arbeitet sie zum transkulturellen Genre des Neo-Westerns.

For the past fifty-odd years, British director Ken Loach has been of undisputed significance for a progressive cinema. A sharp observer of British class politics, working class struggles and precarious regional identities, his huge oeuvre has continuously investigated what are in effect central tenets of British Cultural Studies as an academic field: How the political, historical and material conditions – and their transformation in the past decades – impinge on what Raymond Williams calls "the structure of feeling". Employing a variety of styles, Loach’s films are still firmly situated in a social realist, often quasi-documentary tradition. These aesthetical and political objectives are sometimes seen against the grain for a postmodern culture. This lecture wants to explore how this might be a source of their impact – against all odds.

This event is free and open to the public. Please contact culturalstudies@uni-wuerzburg.de for further information.

JMU Cultural Studies

Poster