Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.
Emily Moore: My article explores the documentary-genre influence on Brief Encounter, with specific focus on Griersonian-influenced short films. In a way, the paper is split into two, first examining what constitutes a documentary, before then exploring how the film aligns with these principles through protagonist Laura’s narration and perspectives.
FM: What research and/or methodologies do you incorporate in your article?
EM: Overwhelmingly, my paper focuses a lot upon the evolution of the documentary form, and how this subsequently influences later narrative trends within film. This module was part of a History program, which is why it is so focused on situating Brief Encounter within its historical context!
FM: Describe the original context for/when writing this article while an undergraduate student.
EM: I initially wrote this article on my final year module, “British Cinema and the Second World War: Myth, Memory and Propaganda.” One of the films we watched on the course was Brief Encounter, which I absolutely loved, and I was encouraged to explore it amidst the context of earlier British documentary films.
FM: How have your personal experiences shaped and influenced your writing?
EM: The most important thing I consider when writing is making sure the text is accessible and fun! I firmly believe that education should be accessible to all, which is also probably why I’m so drawn to film studies — it’s an accessible media that can be enjoyed whilst introducing people to a huge range of theoretical, philosophical, and historical contexts, not to mention other languages! I also have pretty severe ADHD, which makes trawling through dense text even more difficult. As a result, I always try and experiment with my writing, so it’s more enjoyable for the reader!
FM: What aspects of the writing process were most challenging? Why?
EM: I was originally set this essay during March 2020, so you can imagine how that went! I actually ended up spending over a year writing it, because my deadlines all got pushed back to 2021. By this point, I’d moved to rural Spain, and was legally not allowed to leave my farming town due to lockdown restrictions, so I had no access to books either. That, combined with the aforementioned ADHD, made it an extremely chaotic writing process, but I got there in the end!
FM: What do you enjoy most about your article?
EM: Brief Encounter is now one of my favorite films, and I’ve seen it about twelve times. Eight of those times was probably for this article! I’m glad I got to write about it in depth, and will hopefully inspire other people to watch it as well!
FM: How has the Film Matters editorial and publication process impacted the development/evolution of your article?
EM: Getting an article published in a journal has been extremely exciting, especially one that’s international to me! It was also really helpful getting feedback on my writing away from university, as it allowed me to consider alternative ways of developing my argument and craft to help make it even more accessible!
FM: What audience do you hope to reach with your Film Matters article and/or what impact do you hope it has on the field of film studies?
EM: As mentioned before, I hope first and foremost that my article inspires more people to watch Brief Encounter! I also hope that my article inspires somebody to develop one of my arguments — that the film can also be read as Lean’s first colonial film due to its comparisons between Britain and South Africa — into more depth, as that would be a really interesting reading!
FM: How has your department and/or institution supported your work in film and media?
EM: Although I was in the History department for my entire degree (British uni isn’t as flexible as America, since we pick our majors before we arrive!), I was really lucky that my school had a bunch of modules in the history of film and emerging media. As well as looking at historical film, they also focused on genre. It worked out that I got to do most of them, and that my besties also ended up doing most of them — a lot of fun was had!
FM: How has your faculty mentor fostered your advancement as a film scholar?
EM: Mark [Glancy] is great — cannot recommend him enough! Not only did he get me interested in Brief Encounter, but he’s also gotten me into a load of other films, so we’ve had plenty of fun conversations over the years about a wide variety of topics! He also inspired my newfound interest in reception studies, as well as considering the impact of viewing films within a cinema (rather than on home devices) upon audiences.
FM: What advice do you have for undergraduate film and media scholars?
EM: Watch as many films as you can in as many languages and genres as possible! I think it’s super important to not just focus on one national cinema, and to also watch films with different artistic intentions. Also I’m biased on the historical front, but definitely watching films from different eras as well, so you can see how the medium has evolved and influenced later pictures. Also, don’t be afraid to watch films with low reviews — you can still learn something from them, and may even surprise yourself!
FM: What are your future plans?
EM: Academic wise, I’m hoping to do a master’s in Film Aesthetics later this year, where I’ll be specializing in the phenomenology and semiotics of “empty” rural spaces in folk horror. Basically, why we’re fascinated with long, minimalist shots of nature, and why we associate these landscapes with anxiety! After that, I want to travel for a bit and improve my language skills, before working in film programming. I’m also considering doing a PhD, which I’d like to focus on how the concept of “Netflix and Chill” subverts spectatorship theory. For now, though, I’ll probably keep haunting my local cinema!
Author Biography
Emily Moore is a History graduate from Queen Mary University of London, who specialized in early British and Japanese cinema. She is also fascinated by depictions of the environment within film (and especially folk horror!), social realism, aesthetics, and reception studies.
