It Was Alright In The Seventies.

[poliphilo]

Here's a clever idea. The archives of the TV companies are full of shows too offensive ever to be shown again in their entirety. What on earth should we do with them? I know; let's repackage the worst bits as social history.

The bad art of a period of social change is always going to be more embarrassing than the bad art of a period of stability: the old certainties have gone, the new ones are still being crafted;  the ground is all churned up and because the artists are persons of limited intelligence and imagination it's as if they are wearing blindfolds- and the puddles and ruts receive them. The '70s were a decade of sexual revolution, women's liberation and mass immigration. There was just so much to get wrong. Here's Frankie Howerd, a closeted gay man of a certain age- out of touch, going with the flow and- there are girls and black entertainers on stage with him and- oh dear, o dear, o dear!  And here's an episode of the Goodies that believes it's sending up apartheid. Let's just say they meant well. Bill Oddie as he now is has been corralled into watching his younger self slinging the racist epithets around. He squirms, tries to come up with excuses and fails. "I'd rather not go there," he says.

But, really, could we be where we are now if we hadn't been there first? How would we know what the unacceptable looks like if we hadn't seen it. Trial and error,  boys, trial and error.

Comments

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

Sitcoms like Mind Your Language and Love Thy Neighbour...dear God. I know it was the early 70s, but did no one have the balls to actually say "hang on, this is actually a little bit offensive?"

Thank God for '10s. We have Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a matter of balls; most people just weren't very clued up about race. I didn't watch either of those shows, not because they were offensive, but because they were low-brow and a bit naff.

Other times, other values.