(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul

A 2018 report published by the British think tank Demos claims that, in Britain, “nostalgic rhetoric clearly played a significant role in the Referendum campaign, in particular, emphasising particular tropes around the Second World War, empire and the ‘re-instation’ of British sovereignty”. Indeed,...

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Main Author:	Clelia Clini
Format:	Default Article
Published:	2020
Subjects:	colonial India empire postcolonial Britain Brexit European Union Victoria & Abdul
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/2134/13020716.v1
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spelling	rr-article-130207162020-09-29T00:00:00Z (Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul Clelia Clini (4482625) colonial India empire postcolonial Britain Brexit European Union Victoria & Abdul A 2018 report published by the British think tank Demos claims that, in Britain, “nostalgic rhetoric clearly played a significant role in the Referendum campaign, in particular, emphasising particular tropes around the Second World War, empire and the ‘re-instation’ of British sovereignty”. Indeed, these tropes feature heavily in popular culture, with several films and TV series centred on Britain’s imperial past. Taking on board Nadine El-Enany’s suggestion that “Brexit is not only an expression of nostalgia for empire, but it is also the fruit of empire”, this article discusses the role of imperial fantasies in the debate over Britain’s membership of the European Union and draws a connection between these fantasies and recent re-presentations of Britain’s imperial past on screen. Focusing in particular on Stephen Frears’s Victoria & Abdul (2017), it argues that the film offers a sanitized version of the empire, which contributes to the reproduction of nostalgic imperial fantasies in post-European Britain. 2020-09-29T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 2134/13020716.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/_Post_colonial_friendships_and_Empire_2_0_a_Brexit_reading_of_Victoria_Abdul/13020716 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
institution	Loughborough University
collection	Figshare
topic	colonial India empire postcolonial Britain Brexit European Union Victoria & Abdul
spellingShingle	colonial India empire postcolonial Britain Brexit European Union Victoria & Abdul Clelia Clini (Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul
description	A 2018 report published by the British think tank Demos claims that, in Britain, “nostalgic rhetoric clearly played a significant role in the Referendum campaign, in particular, emphasising particular tropes around the Second World War, empire and the ‘re-instation’ of British sovereignty”. Indeed, these tropes feature heavily in popular culture, with several films and TV series centred on Britain’s imperial past. Taking on board Nadine El-Enany’s suggestion that “Brexit is not only an expression of nostalgia for empire, but it is also the fruit of empire”, this article discusses the role of imperial fantasies in the debate over Britain’s membership of the European Union and draws a connection between these fantasies and recent re-presentations of Britain’s imperial past on screen. Focusing in particular on Stephen Frears’s Victoria & Abdul (2017), it argues that the film offers a sanitized version of the empire, which contributes to the reproduction of nostalgic imperial fantasies in post-European Britain.
format	Default Article
author	Clelia Clini
author_facet	Clelia Clini
author_sort	Clelia Clini (4482625)
title	(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul
title_short	(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul
title_full	(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul
title_fullStr	(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul
title_full_unstemmed	(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul
title_sort	(post)colonial friendships and empire 2.0: a brexit reading of victoria & abdul
publishDate	2020
url	https://hdl.handle.net/2134/13020716.v1
_version_	1797730925968097280

(Post)colonial friendships and Empire 2.0: a Brexit reading of Victoria & Abdul

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