ABSTRACT

Through three archival case studies, this article explores problematic aspects of Stanley Kubrick’s relations of production and the power underlying his role as a film producer by the 1960s and 1970s. The case studies explore Kubrick’s practices in the casting of women, his attitude toward trade union regulation and labor relations, and his interactions with politicians in the UK in the 1970s in attempting to lobby for more favorable tax conditions. This article makes a critical intervention in Kubrick studies to argue that the use of the Stanley Kubrick Archive is vital for future research to reframe scholarly understanding of Kubrick. The filmmaker instigated a ‘myth’ about himself that continues to dominate, a self-promotional strategy that has obscured the relations of production on his films. Empirical evidence is required to reveal new perspectives on his attitudes and professional behavior. The article concludes that wider comparative research is imperative in Kubrick studies to ascertain the level of Kubrick’s uniqueness or otherwise in these relations of production and to determine whether they are indicative of wider systemic behaviors across the American and British film industries in the twentieth century.

摘要

通过三个档案案例研究，本文探讨了斯坦利·库布里克在 1960 年代和 1970 年代作为电影制片人角色的制作关系中存在问题的方面以及他作为电影制片人的权力。这些案例研究探讨了库布里克在选拔女性方面的做法、他对工会监管和劳资关系的态度，以及他在 1970 年代与英国政界人士的互动，以试图游说更优惠的税收条件。本文对库布里克的研究进行了批判性干预，认为斯坦利库布里克档案的使用对于未来研究重新构建对库布里克的学术理解至关重要。这位电影制片人煽动了一个关于他自己的“神话”，并继续占据主导地位，这是一种自我推销策略，掩盖了他电影的制作关系。需要经验证据来揭示关于他的态度和职业行为的新观点。文章得出结论，在库布里克研究中，必须进行更广泛的比较研究，以确定库布里克在这些生产关系中的独特性或其他水平，并确定它们是否表明了 20 世纪美国和英国电影业的更广泛的系统性行为。