Thatcher's Britain

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In response to the Iron Lady’s passing, Cambridge Film Festival is showing selected British pictures made in her premiership years, inviting another look at British culture in the 1980s and the modern cinema industry itself.

The features share themes broadly thought of as Thatcherite; for example, the social effect of new economic individualism. Bill Forsyth’s warm cult comedy LOCAL HERO gently explores the consequences of free market economics through a Texan oil agent’s visit to a remote Scottish community. Julien Temple’s ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, featuring David Bowie, has a young photographer drawn into a garish 1950s Soho that echoes 1980s yuppie culture. Thatcher herself appears at the Conservative Party Conference of 1982 in the climax of THE PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH, an Ian McEwan drama in which an ambitious working-class journalist enters a love triangle with a privileged mother-and-daughter pair.

Another theme is cultural shift in attitudes to race and gender. Both the Liverpudlian comedy NO SURRENDER and the moving MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE depict contemporary cultural and racial confrontations – between Irish Protestants & Catholics, and London’s white & asian communities respectively. LAUNDERETTE, starring a young Daniel Day Lewis, also portrays a re-emergent Victorian morality in relation to homosexuality. Mike Leigh’s LIFE IS SWEET evokes differences in feminist attitudes between a  mother and her twin daughters. Together, the works paint a broader social picture of Thatcher’s Britain.

These films show that the 1980s in Britain weren’t only Thatcher’s – the decade belonged to many other people too.

In terms of production, parallels exist between the 1980s film industry and now, especially regarding public funding: in 1979, the newly elected Conservative government scrapped the Eady Levy, which had subsidised British film production via a percentage of all ticket sales. Similarly, the 2010 David Cameron-led coalition abolished the UK Film Council, a body which had invested £160m in British motion pictures since the year 2000.

Another decade-spanning cinematic resemblance emerges in competition from other formats – the arrival of VHS players in 1980s homes posed a threat to the big screen comparable to that posed currently by the availability of film on the internet. However, British film continues to score occasional worldwide successes: CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981) and GANDHI (1982) won Best Picture Oscars, an achievement SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008) and THE KING’S SPEECH (2010) have gone on to match. However, whilst period dramas such as Merchant Ivory’s A ROOM WITH A VIEW continue to be a staple of the industry, other titles in ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ are lower budget, depicting contemporary communities. This genre now seems to be missing in UK cinemas – amongst James Bond, Harry Potter and Cockney-geezers, it would be a pleasure to see successful regional comedy or drama set in the modern world. THIS IS ENGLAND(Shane Meadows, 2006)’s Falklands war setting indicates Thatcher’s continuing influence, but overlooks comment on present-day life.

These films show that the 1980s in Britain weren’t only Thatcher’s – the decade belonged to many other people too. Similarities between the film industry of both eras, as well as the first female Prime Minister’s lingering cultural impact, beg the question: are we still living in ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ today? Watching this fine selection of films depicting contemporary 1980s Britain, one might also wish for their modern equivalent.

Films from THATCHER’S BRITAIN are screening throughout Cambridge Film Festival. To buy tickets click here.