Making political films politically?:the film-making practice of Jean-Luc Godard

This thesis attempts to re-examine the work of Jean-Luc Godard and in particular the claims which have been made for it as the starting-point for a revolutionary cinema.This re-examination involves, firstly, a critical summary of the development of Structuralist thinking, from its origins in linguistics, with Saussure, through to its influence on Marxism, with Althusser. It is this `Structural Marxism' which prepared the ground for a view of Godard as a revolutionary film-maker so its influences on film theory in the decade after 1968 is traced in journals such as Cahiers du Cinéma and Screen and in the work of their editors and contributors. Godard's relationship with such theories was a complex one and some of the cross-breeding is revealed in a brief account of his own ideas about his film-making. More important, however is his practice as a committed `political' film-maker between 1968 and 1972 which is analysed in terms of the responses it makes to the cultural opportunities offered in the period after the revolutionary situation of May 1968. The severe problems revealed by that analysis may be partially resolved in Godard's greatest `political' achievement Tout va bien, but a comparative analysis proves that in earlier `a-political' films such as Vivre sa vie, he was creating more meaningful and perhaps even more revolutionary art, whose formal experimentation is more organically linked to its subject and whose ability to communicate ideas far oustrips the later work. In conclusion some indications are suggested of a more fruitful basis for Marxist theories of art than Structural variants, seeking a non-formalist approach in the work of Marx, of Trotsky, of Brecht and Lukacs.

Micro-holographic methods for sub-micrometer grating fabrication in fused silica with UV femtosecond laser

The optical layouts incorporating binary phase diffractive grating and a standard micro-objective were used for femtosecond microfabrication of periodical structures in fused silica. Two beams, generated in Talbot type interferometer, interfered on a surface and in the bulk of the sample. The method suggested allows better control over the transverse size of the grating pitch, and thus control the reflection strength of the waveguide or fibre grating. We present the examples of direct inscription of the sub-micrometer periodical structures using a 267 nm femtosecond laser radiation.

Stardom in postwar France

The 1950s and 1960s were a key moment in the development of postwar France. The period was one of rapid change, derived from post-World War II economic and social modernization; yet many traditional characteristics were retained. By analyzing the eruption of the new postwar world in the context of a France that was both modern and traditional, we can see how these worlds met and interacted, and how they set the scene for the turbulent 1960s and 70s. The examination of the development of mass culture in post-war France, undertaken in this volume, offers a valuable insight into the shifts that took place. By exploring stardom from the domain of cinema and other fields, represented here by famous figures such as Brigitte Bardot, Johnny Hallyday or Jean-Luc Godard, and less conventionally treated areas of enquiry (politics [de Gaulle], literary [Françoise Sagan], and intellectual culture [Lévi-Strauss]) the reader is provided with a broad understanding of the mechanisms of popularity and success, and their cultural, social, and political roles. The picture that emerges shows that many cultural articulations remained or became identifiably French; in spite of the American mass-culture origins of these social, economic, and cultural transformations.

Micro-holographic methods for sub-micrometer grating fabrication in fused silica with UV femtosecond laser

The optical layouts incorporating binary phase diffractive grating and a standard micro-objective were used for femtosecond microfabrication of periodical structures in fused silica. Two beams, generated in Talbot type interferometer, interfered on a surface and in the bulk of the sample. The method suggested allows better control over the transverse size of the grating pitch, and thus control the reflection strength of the waveguide or fibre grating. We present the examples of direct inscription of the sub-micrometer periodical structures using a 267 nm femtosecond laser radiation.