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Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

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Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have difficulty crossing rail tracks on foot after that film. Same period was "Apaches" (farm safety), in which 10 children are killed one by one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3yyKFaq-aw

Not to forget the classic "Spirit of Dark and Lonely Water" narrated by Donald Pleasance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNPMYRlvySY

Couple that with 'children's' TV program "The singing ringing tree" and it is a wonder any of us grew up even vaguely normal.

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#72

I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.

Nothing worked reliably due to constant industrial action. We had a low-level civil war due to the IRA, with bombings being almost routine. We felt like we would be the first to go if the cold war went hot, due to the strategic importance of the radar base at RAF Fylingdales and the USAF base at Greenham Common. The decade was underscored by a pervasive fear of total societal collapse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…

I was born in 1966 and have been noting how much the 2020s feel like the 1970s in the UK: pessimism, inflation, industrial action and a feeling of decline.

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#73
post #28

> I finally discovered that I hadn’t imagined it—it’s a 1977 public information film called “The Finishing Line,” which was made to deter children from playing near railway lines. The film was screened at my junior school https://youtube.com/watch?v=SXGqwCbeFD8

cf the 1990s version. Skip to the end for a song which is enough of an earworm for me to still remember it after 30 odd years... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVF8gCzrXnc

My mom was a big Gorey fan, and I'm sure that shaped me.

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#74

I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.

Nothing worked reliably due to constant industrial action. We had a low-level civil war due to the IRA, with bombings being almost routine. We felt like we would be the first to go if the cold war went hot, due to the strategic importance of the radar base at RAF Fylingdales and the USAF base at Greenham Common. The decade was underscored by a pervasive fear of total societal collapse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…

We also had the sugar shortage in 1974 https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jul/09/archive-...

... and the cod wars (not a typo), and a potato shortage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars https://rulesfoolsandwisemen.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-1970s-...

Both of which hit fish and chip supplies! https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1975/jul/... https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1976/feb/...

Plus as already mentioned the blackouts. I remember we had a camping gas stove, candles and paraffin heater to get us through those nights, plus hot water bottles (with water from the stove) for going to bed, because the whole house was cold.

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#75
post #26

I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.

As a kid that grew up in the 80s in the UK and caught the tail end of the educational videos mentioned in the article - the government of the day did use brutal imagery to try to instil fear in kids back then. I remember explicit imagery of burns from fireworks and … a really nasty “educational” video about a kid who tried to rescue a frisbee from an electricity substation that then dies of electrocution. We had also…

I have seen industrial training films from the 60s/70s/80s and they are horrifyingly/hilariously brutal. The 'best' one had some having someone having their (fake!) arm graphically torn off by a spinning lathe. I guess it got the message across though.

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#76
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a kid that grew up in the 80s in the UK and caught the tail end of the educational videos mentioned in the article - the government of the day did use brutal imagery to try to instil fear in kids back then. I remember explicit imagery of burns from fireworks and … a really nasty “educational” video about a kid who tried to rescue a frisbee from an electricity substation that then dies of electrocution. We had also…

> I remember explicit imagery of burns from fireworks and … a really nasty “educational” video about a kid who tried to rescue a frisbee from an electricity substation that then dies of electrocution. JIMMY!!! It was called Play Safe [1]. I’m not British but these videos were parodied in How TV Ruined Your Life by Charlie Brooker (creator of Black Mirror ) so now they hold a special place in my heart. Wish I had the…

Charlie Brooker is a genius. I guess most of his creatve energy is directed into Black Mirror these days.

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#77

I know the 1970s were the malaise decade for a lot of places, but the situation in the UK always seemed... malaisier than anywhere else. What was going on then? I see clips of children's shows from 1970s UK and a lot of them are just creepy and not age-appropriate.

Perhaps that was that lead poisoning from gasoline. I wonder if anybody researched its effect on non-criminally inclined population.

IIRC there were studies done on the effects of lead on people living near busy traffic areas, such as the spaghetti junction near Birmingham. It might be difficult to separate the effects of the lead from the effects of living near Birmingham though. ;0)

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Modern slavery system" is hilarious, but even more worrying is claim that one might ever lose the modern society's protrection against being enslaved under some conditions.

> "Modern slavery system" is hilarious Admittedly, their modern system is a huge improvement over v1

Quote: “Slavery was never abolished, it was only extended to include all the colors”

Re: Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016)

#79
post #28

> I finally discovered that I hadn’t imagined it—it’s a 1977 public information film called “The Finishing Line,” which was made to deter children from playing near railway lines. The film was screened at my junior school https://youtube.com/watch?v=SXGqwCbeFD8

And the replacement railway safety film “Robbie” which was shown well into the 80s - I remember being quite horrified by it, despite there being no blood or gore.

https://youtu.be/WxXDw3WOGQs

However, the line “Robbie had lost both feet … and broken half the bones in his body” made logical, adult me chuckle. I mean, unlikely a train running over his ankles also resulted in over 100 other bones being broken, without actually killing him surely ?

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