Beyond Text: short research pieces, example 1

Co-organiser Jennifer and I will be adding short snippets of research as brief examples of the incorporation of beyond text material analysis into research. These short investigative and writing exercises aim to show how single objects can illuminate complicated research stories and histories, drawing upon our doctorial studies and experience working with these collections.

We strongly encourage participating Interfaces delegates, or any interested arts postgraduates to contribute to the blog by offering similar short reflection pieces on key ‘beyond texts’ objects which illuminate their own research… please email images and/or short clips supported by around 300 words of brief analysis to myself or Jennifer, (lrs204@ex.ac.uk / jab228@ex.ac.uk) discussing any such materials relevant to your own research interests.

We hope to get the ball rolling here with a few examples!
First up, Jen’s reflective piece on a BDC item…

Lisa

Smoke Signals: 'Olivier Cigarettes' and the marketing of a post-war British star

Packet of Olivier brand cigarettes: BDC Item No.: 74905
Type of Object: miscellaneous item
Material: paper
Language: English
Country of Origin: UK
Manufacturer: Benson & Hedges Ltd., London

In the early 1950s Laurence Olivier’s star image is marked by a tension between two different and apparently irreconcilable understandings of what constitutes British celebrity during the post-war period, a tension that is, in turn, indicative of wider relations between the post-war British and American film industries. Specifically, Olivier is imagined as oscillating between two different modes of stardom: the theatrical and the cinematic. Here, the former is defined as representative of the prestige and heritage of the nation while the latter suggests a Hollywood-influenced commodification of the star image that is seen as incompatible with theatrical (and explicitly British) star discourses.

This packet of Olivier cigarettes (a brand initiated in 1956 after the success of Richard III) enables me to focus and clarify my research by outlining my argument in relation to a contemporary object that directly cites the tensions that I am exploring. The cigarettes are themselves indelibly marked by the conflict that characterises Olivier’s star image in the early 1950s. Representing a saleable commodity that trades on the Olivier name, the cigarette packaging also evokes the national prestige associated with their namesake. Thus, the white and blue suggests the colours of the Royal Navy uniform that Olivier himself had worn during the war, while the golden imprint of the coat of arms explicitly asserts Olivier’s connection to the nation and its heritage as a cipher for “Shakespeare” and knight of the realm. Advertisements for the cigarettes cite key words associated with Olivier’s star image: “cool”, “smooth”, “elegant”, “quality”; but the Hollywood-style commodification that the cigarettes ultimately suggest is imagined as incompatible with Olivier’s status as a national icon. An outraged Lieutenant Colonel CJ Barton-Innes of Kensington wrote to Olivier in 1956, declaring that it is “inconceivable that one who had received the honour of a knighthood from his sovereign could so besmirch the dignity conferred upon him as to sell his name for such an ignominious purpose as to boost a brand of cigarettes”.

Text by Jennifer Barnes, PhD Candidate, University of Exeter, Dept. of English. July 2010.