Cinema as a Product of Its Time
New Historicism is a school of literary and cultural theory that emerged in the 1980s. When applied to film, it provides a powerful method for analysis that insists a film cannot be understood as a timeless, isolated work of art. Instead, a New Historicist reading argues that a film is deeply embedded in the complex web of social, political, scientific, and cultural discourses of the era in which it was made. The goal is to understand how a film is both a product of its historical context and an active participant in shaping that context.
Core Principles and Methodology
A New Historicist analysis rejects a simple, linear view of history where a film merely “reflects” the events of its time. Instead, it sees the relationship as a dynamic exchange. The methodology involves reading the film alongside a diverse array of non-cinematic “texts” from the same period:
- Newspaper articles and advertisements
- Political speeches and legal documents
- Popular songs and fashion trends
- Scientific papers and medical pamphlets
By placing the film in this dense network of cultural documents, the critic can reveal the underlying anxieties, ideologies, and power structures that the film engages with, often unconsciously.
A New Historicist Reading in Practice
A classic example is analyzing Don Siegel’s sci-fi horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). A New Historicist would move beyond a simple genre analysis and read the film in the context of the Cold War. They would examine texts on McCarthyism and the fear of communist infiltration, alongside articles expressing anxiety about social conformity in 1950s American suburbia. The film’s pod people, who look just like us but lack all individuality and emotion, are seen as a potent expression of these specific, overlapping historical fears. The film is not just an allegory for the Cold War; it is a cultural artifact of the Cold War, a piece of the historical puzzle itself.