Maculate conceptions : Irish film and drama of the 1930s

Abstract

In the 1930s Ireland grasped the opportunity to define itself as a modern free state and the decade is thus one of the most dynamic in Ireland’s history since Independence. Within the space of ten years, Fianna Fail came to power, the IRA were banned, an economic war occurred, the Senate was dissolved and the Constitution was rewritten. Crucially, this was a transitional period for Irish national identity as Irish nationalism was no longer anti-establishment but, rather, in a new position of authority and power. It is not surprising, therefore, to find in the thirties an equally dynamic cultural tradition as writers, artists and film-makers responded to the conditions of the time. Much of this response is critical of the emerging modern state or prescriptive in tone and it is this relationship between filmic and dramatic culture and the Irish state that will form the main focus of this thesis. The plays and films discussed here are representative of a wide range of attitudes, both conservative and subversive, and though they often share the desire to critique the Free State, they do so in many different ways and from different political perspectives. The aim of this thesis is to explore these different perspectives and in so doing to provide a window on a decade that has often been overlooked or sidelined.