Problems with Kubrick: reframing Stanley Kubrick through archival research

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.