Home>Baptiste Demaire-Lepape
Research Interest(s): Cultural and social history of cinema audiences; history of cultural practices; history of popular leisure activities; history of writings on the working classes
Discipline(s): History
Current Research
My research aims to write a social and cultural history of popular cinema audiences in interwar France. Within this chronology, these audiences are in full configuration, both quantitatively, in perpetual growth, and qualitatively. The multiplication of writings about the world of cinema forges fragmented imaginaries of spectators, including those from popular backgrounds. These audiences are today difficult to grasp as they leave few traces and were not the subject of systematic surveys by public authorities. They were either accused of degrading a developing art or acclaimed for their
innate cultural common sense. By exploring different forms of sources, our study consists of confronting representations and practices in order to establish a diachronic picture of popular spectators between 1919 and 1939.
Thesis topic
“Beaucoup d’ouvriers lisent des feuilles communistes, mais tous vont au cinéma !”. A social and cultural history of popular French audiences in the interwar period (1919-1939), under the co-supervision of Marion Fontaine (CHS – Sciences Po), Christophe Prochasson (CESPRA – EHESS).
Teaching
Method conferences “Histoire des mondes contemporains. Égalité, hiérarchies et émancipations aux XXe -XXIe siècles”
publications
Baptiste Demairé, « Nadège Mariotti, Filmer le travail sidérurgique en France (1896-1983). Le spectacle des gestes ouvriers », Histoire Politique [En ligne], Comptes rendus, 31 mars 2026, https://doi.org/10.4000/15zaf.
Baptiste Demairé, “Vers un cinéma socialiste ? Espoirs et Révolutions dans l’industrie du septième art à l’aune du Front populaire,” (Towards a Socialist Cinema? Hopes and Revolutions in the Seventh Art Industry in Light of the Popular Front), Germinal, n° 8, 2024, p. 87-96. https://doi.org/10.3917/ger.008.0087