The 80s Film that sums up Thatcherism

[Harold Shand]

I'm writing a dissertation on Thatcherism in British Film. Need to choose 1 film that sums up the 80s mood. Toyed with but rejected Brassed Off, Full Monty, Billy Eliott. Looking for something with a harder edge. Would be grateful for any suggestions.

[rskershaw]

name='Harold Shand']I'm writing a dissertation on Thatcherism in British Film. Need to choose 1 film that sums up the 80s mood. Toyed with but rejected Brassed Off, Full Monty, Billy Eliott. Looking for something with a harder edge. Would be grateful for any suggestions.

Instead of looking at 90's retrospective films, why not look at the British films made during the Thatcher era itself. You'll get a primary account of issues. For a Left Wing angle look at films by Jarman, Greenaway, Frears, Loach, Leigh. Right Wing; check out Merchant Ivory and on TV Brideshead; Raj Quartet.

[NappieB]

name='Harold Shand']I'm writing a dissertation on Thatcherism in British Film. Need to choose 1 film that sums up the 80s mood. Toyed with but rejected Brassed Off, Full Monty, Billy Eliott. Looking for something with a harder edge. Would be grateful for any suggestions.

"...a harder edge.." Damn!!!! you're a hard taskmaster!!



Try LETTER TO BRESHNEV not for the squeamish!

[penfold]

If you can include Telly there's Boys From The Black Stuff.....otherwise the only one not mentioned is Me and Sue and Bob Too, which has a lot to do with personal greed and superficial consumerism....

[batman]

On TV, although it ran in the 90s, Chancer was very much a product of the 80s.



In the cinema take a look at My Beautiful Launderette, For Queen and Country, Defence of the Realm and Dealers.



Bats.

[Moor Larkin]

If you want to read a view of how 'Thatcherism' caused a renaissance of British Film, try here:

The Renaissance of the 1980s: Margaret Thatcher



If you want see reasons why Thatcherism became such a powerful force until it blew itself up, watch a film like 'I'm Alright Jack'

Movie Review: I'm alright,Jack



Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!

Oi! Oi! Oi!

[Steve Crook]

name='Moor Larkin']If you want to read a view of how 'Thatcherism' caused a renaissance of British Film, try here:

The Renaissance of the 1980s: Margaret Thatcher



If you want see reasons why Thatcherism became such a powerful force until it blew itself up, watch a film like 'I'm Alright Jack'

Movie Review: I'm alright,Jack



Maggie! Maggie! Maggie!

Oi! Oi! Oi!

You mis-spelt "Out" as "Oi"



Steve

[Harold Shand]

Cheers guys.Some excellent examples there.

I want to do the comparison of how Thatcherism is seen through film retrospectively starting with This is England to how it was shown at the time. Probably For Queen and Country may be useful as a comparison to This is England as it deals with the aftermath of the Falklands war.

Thanks Moor Larkin for that link.

[batman]

I hope this on everyone's Xmas list .....







Bats.

[Everett Sloane]

Lindsay Anderson's BRITANNIA HOSPITAL, though it was made after she'd only been in power a couple of years, provides an incredibly powerful (albeit surreal) portrait of the desperate British political situation that allowed Mrs Thatcher to be elected. Leonard Rossiter as the ruthless hospital manager might be seen as the archetypal Thatcherite.

[julian_craster]

Try THE PLOUGHMAN's LUNCH....

[Mark O]

How about 'Empire State'?..........set in the East-end where the Docklands area was undergoing much regeneration was one of the Movie's themes......

[sippog]

When the one pound coin came in, some people called it a "Maggie". Why? Because "it's hard and bright and thinks it's a sovereign."



Maggie is the reason that, no matter how much I despise New Labour and no matter how much the Tories might reform themselves, I could never bring myself to vote Conservative.

[Nick Dando]

Meantime by Mike Leigh and Made in Britain by Alan Clarke. Although made for TV, they are the start of two great careers in British film - Tim Roth and Gary Oldman.



Nick

[hankoler]

Was The long good Friday made in the thatcher era?

[Moor Larkin]

name='Mark O']How about 'Empire State'?..........set in the East-end where the Docklands area was undergoing much regeneration was one of the Movie's themes......

The first time I came to London was in 1976. I can recall walking extensively around the London Docklands and was flabbergasted to find it all closed and empty. I had come fresh from the North, my head full of pictures of bustling docks and men unloading ships from all over the Empire. I found nothing but a silent wasteland, even emptier than the Liverpool I had come from. I wandered into a 'place' called Silvertown. There was a huge church there, entirely derelict, blackened and charred; I fancied at the time the damage looked weathered enough to have been like that since a bomb hit it during the war, thirty or forty years before, but maybe it had just been set on fire by the Isle of Dogs Liberation Front.



Whilst loathing places like 'Canary Wharf' as sterile, planned 'communities', I can't help but wonder in retrospect what the cosy conservative and labour governments had been doing for all those years filling my shoolboy head full of dreams of empire, whilst the trading heart of it lay like a broken doll in a patch of weeds, unbeknownst to most. People since have explained it all to me with the clarion cry of 'Tilbury!'

[dadsarmy]

Meantime (1984)



Meantime (1984) (TV) - Plot summary



A great film showing the effects on a family liveing on a council estate,it took me a few years to get this on dvd.

[Steve Crook]

name='hankoler']Was The long good Friday made in the thatcher era?

Very much so. The main scam is to do with the rebuilding of Docklands and opening it up for the Yuppies. Although that was in the early years of Thatcherism, when people thought it might all work without too much blood on the streets



The film was released in November 1980 when Thatcher had been in office for about 18 months.



Steve

[oxfam1uk]

Don't you think it's curious that all the films mentioned have been negative, leftie ones ?



And yet Margaret Thatcher led her party to three election victories, becoming the most powerful and influential (and popular ?) Prime Minister of our times.



What's the explanation ? That all film-makers, then and now, are lefties who can think of nothing good to say about those years ?



Harold Shand, surely a thoughtful essay on Thatcherism should include positive as well as negative views. I would suggest "Local Hero" and (at a pinch) "Chariots of Fire".



p.s. There is an American film "Oxford Blues" and a British one "True Blue", which are rather similar, and give a flavour of those heady days (both are about Oxford University rowing team !)

[oxfam1uk]

If you want see reasons why Thatcherism became such a powerful force until it blew itself up, watch a film like 'I'm Alright Jack'

Or indeed its serious counterpart "The Angry Silence"