SPOTLIGHT: Lee Grieveson

Lee Grieveson is an expert on American gangster movies, censorship, and silent films. But despite a distinguished career as a scholar of American films, this semester marks his first time teaching cinema to students in the U.S.

Grieveson, current director of the graduate film studies program at University College London, will serve as Visiting Associate Professor in Harvard’s Visual and Environmental Studies department for one semester.

He will spend his time at the College acclimating to the United States, continuing work on his latest book, and teaching two film courses—one on government and film, the other on silent cinema.

LG: I’ve really enjoyed it so far. Cambridge seems like the kind of place where you can walk around, the public transport is great, and it’s nice to be close to Boston. And I didn’t find it as cold as I was fearing.

Growing up in Britain, Grieveson explains that he, like many Europeans, was continually influenced by American preeminence in cinema, rather than films from his own country.

LG: British cinema, at the beginning at least, was quite vibrant and important. But certainly from about the First World War onward, it’s been dominated in various ways by America cinema...more commercial and mainstream British filmmaking tries to mimic the American tradition, and not always successfully.

Grieveson credits American films for instilling him with an early interest in both the United States and the principles of moviemaking.

LG: One of the first films—and this was not even from when I was all that young, really—was ‘E.T.’ I watched it a lot as a teenager. That was a really important film for me. I still find it an extremely moving story. I challenge anyone not to cry at the end of ‘E.T.’ I don’t think you’ve got a heart and soul if you don’t.

Grieveson is currently writing a book that has a topic similar to that of “Law, Order, and Cinema,” one of the two courses he’s teaching at the College.

LG: The book seeks to think about the way in which cinema has been used by various bodies which seek to influence and manage people’s conduct. It really looks at American cinema from its beginning to probably the end of the 1930s.

Above all, Grieveson is optimistic about his experience this semester, eager to interact with Harvard students and professors.

LG: I hope to share some of these ideas with smart students, to see how they hold up and explore how they might develop. And I hope for really the same thing with my colleagues, in talking to the people around me. Of course I’m hugely excited about all these prospects.