Author Description

This work reassesses Antonio Gramsci's politics in the light of contemporary Marxist critiques of mass culture. Unlike other studies of Gramsci that focus on either his political or cultural writings, it examines the relationship between politics, culture and history in his work. Looking especially at Gramsci's notions of common sense and folklore, and illustrating these through readings of various films, this book encompasses issues such as: the contemporary status of history; notions of education; the nature of intellectuals; the role of cultural production and media analysis. It consolidates questions of politics and culture through a close examination of Gramsci's writings, as well as recent Gramscian scholarship. In particular, it shows how Antonio Negri's writings accommodate, even extend, cultural concerns raised by Gramsci. The analysis of cinema - from British and Italian films to Hollywood science fiction - demonstrates how Gramscian notions of common sense and folklore act as correctives to the excesses of monolithic readings of culture, whether dystopian or celebratory. Specifically, it shows how folklore, however "natural" and ahistorical it may seem, is a human construction intimately related to historical conditions. Marcia Landy is the author of "Fascism in Film: The Italian Commercial Cinema 1921-1943", "Imitations of Life: A Reader on Film and Television Melodrama" and "British Genres: British Cinema and Society".