KEEPING IT REAL

This collection of essays considers the nature and direction of Irish film and television, and also explores the contributions of other media including radio and the internet to contemporary Irish culture. It includes topics such as the first Irish-language soap opera, the new Irish gangsters, Irish identity post-9/11, images of Belfast in recent Irish film, female punishment in Irish history and culture, and print and radio coverage of the ‘Roy Keane affair' as a proving ground for new Irish masculinity. Keeping it Real: Irish Film and Television reflects a desire to hear new voices on new topics, as well as a current popular and academic desire to extend the notion of Irishness to include not just the inhabitants of the State but also the wider diaspora – particularly of Great Britain and North America, questioning issues of national identity and ethnicity – and is therefore required reading for those interested in Irish film, media and cultural studies. Films discussed include The Crying Game, Veronica Guerin, Gangs of New York, Disco Pigs, Odd Man Out, The Boxer, Nothing Personal, I Went Down and Resurrection Man. Also featured is an exclusive interview with actor Stephen Rea.

January 2004
224 pages

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Ruth Barton is O’Kane Senior Research Fellow at the O’Kane Centre for Film Studies, University College Dublin. She is the author of Jim Sheridan: Framing the Nation (2002) and Irish National Cinema (2004) as well as numerous articles on Irish cinema. She is currently researching a study of Irish emigrant actors, entitled Travelling Players: Irish Actors and Hollywood.

Harvey O’Brien is the author of The Real Ireland: The Evolution of Ireland in Documentary Film (2004). He has written for publications including Cineaste, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Éire-Ireland, Film Ireland, Film and Film Culture and Irish Studies Review, and lectures at the O’Kane Centre for Film Studies, University College Dublin.

‘The editors of Keeping it Real have produced an outstanding collection of writing about cinema and Ireland (and television too, to some degree). Their avowed intention has been to avoid the reiteration of existing arguments about Ireland and film, and bring a fresh sense of perspective to the subject. Overall, they succeed admirably. Some of the chapters provide wholly new subject matter while others take a new approach to some old chestnuts ... A very attractive package.’
– K. J. Donnelly