theme 4 - the changing quality of life 4B: pop culture and entertainment

1920’s British film under pressure from the American industry

1914 ¼ of films shown in Britain were British, a decade later this fell to 5%

1927 Cinematograph Films Act

Ensured that 7.5% of films shown were British - rising to 20% on 1935

Picture palaces

1910’s cinemas were seen as ‘seedy’ and dirty places

1920’s gentrification - picture palaces were built - affluent MC audiences

1930’s 18-19 million cinema tickets were sold every week

Cinema tickets sales grew during the post war slump and the Great Depression

Escapism for the unemployed (cinema)

1931 study showed unemployed watched 2.6 films a week - daytime showings for cheaper tickets

In Glasgow 80% of the city’s unemployed saw a film once a week during GD

Miner’s institutes 1930s

Improvised cinemas in South Wales - only charged what out-of-work miners could afford

Between 1937 & 1939 cinema provided more than half of;

Entertainment tax revenue

In 1937 the tax on cinema yielded the govt

£5.6million

Films reflecting social values

Mostly escapism - romances, crime dramas, thrillers

Some class commentary - The Pleasure Garden by Alfred Hitchcock - two single young women - narrative reflects changes in the lives of young women

1928 the first born

Unhappy wife with an unfaithful husband longs for a child

Adopts her hairdressers baby - saving her from shame and stigma

‘Illegitimate’ child would have been recognisable to 1920’s’ audience

Cinemas remained open during the war

Important for morale - popular demand - escapism

Films which encouraged patriotism were popular during the war

Cinematic version of Henry V - coincided with invasion of Northern Europe

Let George Do It - 1940 - Actor slaps hitler - Mass Observation alleged to be the biggest morale boost

1947 Hue and Cry

Ealing comedy about school boys that thwart a criminal gang - filmed amid ruins - villains based on wartime black marketeers

Passport To Pimlico (post war austerity theme)

Residents of Pimlico have legal right to declare independence from Britain - no longer faced ration restrictions and haven for black market

Satirised the harsh economic conditions

War films post war

Britains global standing and economy declined Gave a positive sense of Britishness

James Bond

Britains most successful film franchise - Dr No 1962 - expensive cars, clothes & international travel.

The Ipcress File 1965

Hero, WC londoner, resents UC MI6 bosses - represented popular egalitarian ideas of the 60’s

Shelagh Delaney - A Taste Of Honey 1961

New wave social realism - based on the experiences of WC. Story of passion, desires and ambition

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning 1960

WC man Arthur Seaton, resentful of class status - materialistic. Represented the mass consumption of newly affluent WC people

Get Carter 1971

gangster seeking revenge for the death of his brother - darker and pessimistic than dramas of the 60’s. Scenes of drug abuse and prostitution

A Clockwork Orange 1971

Stanley Kubrick - dystopian 70’s Britain - a future Britain where violent young men rape and kill for fun - mirrored anxieties about hooliganism and lawlessness

1920’s music - Ivor Novello

Keep The Home Fires Burning

Paid £15k (1.5 million in today’s money)

Jazz and swing 1930’s

20,000 dance bands in Britain by 1930

British dance bands inspired by American jazz

Rock and roll

American artists, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry

British artists the Kinks the Rolling Stones

Beatlemania

Formed 1957 - She Loves You 1964 sold 750k copies in under a month - sold millions of records and Beatles wigs - stopped touring in 1966 - optimistic pop music

Mod music

The WHO, the Kinks - consumerism and fashion - clothes were important to the subculture

Glam Rock

1970’s Marc Bolan & Bowie - androgynous and sexuality - radically different and subversive - teenagers sought to distinguish themselves from their parents

David Bowie

Space Oddity 1969 - inspired by moon landings - alter ego ‘Ziggy Stardust’ - ‘camp mannerisms’ deliberate rejection of male heterosexuality

Island and Trojan 1969

Record labels that imported reggae music selling to black & white audiences

1st reggae song to number 1

Desmond Decker ‘The Isrealites’ 1969

Punk (late 70’s)

Angry music - Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Buzzcocks - piercings, spiked hair ‘music of the dole queue’

Was alternative music popular?

Tastes throughout the 60s & 70s were quite tame - more people listened to the Bee Gees

Top selling UK album of the 1960’s:

Sergeant Pepper - the Beatles

The Sound Of Music Soundtrack

Most popular recording artists of the 1970’s

Elton John - 16 top 50 albums in a decade

Queen sold 19 million records 1975-77

When was the BBC formed

1922 - licensed by the govt and had a close relationship to the state

John Reith

BBC director general.

‘Inform educate and entertain’ - BBC broadcast programmes beneficial to ordinary people

Pirate radio

BBC had the only licence to broadcast in UK - stations on ships moored outside British waters - Radio Caroline had a 10million people audience by 1964

In 1967 pirate radio resulted in the reorganisation of the Light, Third and Home programmes into:

BBC radio, 2,3, and 4 and a new radio 1 focussed on catering to youth market with pop music - many pirate DJs were hired by radio 1

Commercial radio

In 1975 licenses were granted and the BBC lost its monopoly - plaid niche music and sustained on add revenue

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on the BBC

1953 - broadcast to 8million viewers - the number of TV license holders doubled- many had rented a TV to watch the coronation

Hugh Carlton Greene

Appointed 1960 - decided the BBC needed a more egalitarian face

Drams about social issues such as homelessness and illegal abortion

Cathy Come Home 1966 & Up The Junction 1968

Dr Who

First aired 1963 - Dalekmania 1963-1966

The most successful programme on ITV

Coronation Street 1960 - not the first British soap opera - The Archers had been on the Light Programme for a decade

The television Act 1954

Allowed for a commercial rival - ITV financed through commercial advertising

In Britain the post war period saw 1 million — a year compared to —- in the early 1930’s

Births, 800,000

National service

Introduced 1948, At peak 160k boys every year for 2 years service

May 1964 mods vs rockers

Vandalism and fighting in seaside towns - 51 arrests in Moorgate

In 1945 the Scouting movements had —— members after the baby boom this rose to ——

471,000. 540,00 members