http://quarmby.blogspot.com/
The colour scheme et al may need slight tweaking, but it's on the go, with a few introductory pieces and a pointer towards a new Adam Curtis venture.
If anyone else is interesting in writing for this new blog, send me a message: mysteryofthefence@googlemail.com
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A lot of things struck a chord with me on your blog post. My life has been really hectic at the moment so have not had much time for the internet, but hope to keep track of your new blog.
ReplyDeleteJust a point I’d make, I notice you refer to British TV. Do you think that it is worth making the distinction with English TV productions?
I’m asking this question, but don’t have a fully formed opinion of my own. In some regards I think of neo-liberalism as being a bit of an English tragedy: that a culture that seemed to be nearing a very special fruitition chose the path of atomisation and materialism and after revolutionising modern popular culture, including TV, in numerous ways has taken a step backwards.
By contrast, Scotland didn’t contribute much to post-war popular culture, TV or music, but seemed to hold together more coherently. The Scottish electorate decisively rejected the Tory party of the 80s. Whilst Thatcherism was not pretty in Scotland, there was none of the savagery of the mining riots. Conversely, most older Scots I’ve spoken to say they have no memory of industrial unrest in the ‘70s.
I’m not much of a fan of modern TV, but my two favourite presenters are Neil Oliver and Ian Stewart. I can’t help contrasting their down-to-earth approach (with plentiful digs ar the rich and powerful) with the nearly solidly Oxbridge upper middle class English non-fiction presenters.
This isn’t triumphalism of Scottish character, but a comment on selection. I have no doubt that English TV has a greater potential than Scotland’s, but I can’t help but feel that it has very different values than it had in the 1970s. Of course, England probably has many gifted populist academics like Oliver, but they probably wouldn’t get very far in the selection process. Maybe Scottish programming has been more consistent, even though our fiction productions have probably generally been of uniform mediocrity before and after the 80s.
Sorry this is very rushed, but just some thoughts on modern history of Britain and how I think that programming reflects this. I hope I haven’t said anything offensive.
Incidentally, any thoughts on my flu induced burst of inspiration:
http://deformablemirror.blogspot.com/2011/01/watership-down-generation.html