Martha Bridegam <bridegam.DeleteThis@pacbell.net> wrote in message news:<4001BE4D.19C59C0F.DeleteThis@pacbell.net>...
> Nigee wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > It's a great imaginative documentary that Night Mail.
> >
> > In a similar vein, Listen to Britain (1942)is one that's well worth a
> > watch. Interesting for several things: its depiction of Britain at
> > war, apparently all united as one; its emphasis upon the wider
> > community of the English speaking world; and the aural montage it puts
> > across.
> >
<font color=green> > > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/XQ/asp/art.thirdcinema/page.8/QX/page.htm</font" target="_blank">http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/XQ/asp/art.thirdcinema/page.8/QX/page.htm</font</a>>
> >
<font color=green> > > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.netribution.co.uk/features/essays/grierson_jennings.html</font" target="_blank">http://www.netribution.co.uk/features/essays/grierson_jennings.html</font</a>>
> >
> > N
>
> Interesting in the second page:
>
> "...This was perhaps the first time the British viewer had seen the poverty and living conditions of the
> working class. ..."
>
> The writer must think of "the British viewer" as someone who doesn't personally live in such conditions. Even
> considering that the cost of television sets might have made the typical "British viewer" a prosperous one,
> it's odd: as though "the working class" were some kind of little-known minority subcategory of the country.
> Wouldn't they have been its majority?
>
Yes, there is a kind of dichotomy, but you have to remember that in
the early days of BBC broadcasting newsreaders were required to wear
black tie evening dress to read the news on the RADIO, so there was a
tremendous sense that broadcasting was a terrifically formal medium
and, as such, the property of the educated classes. If you didn't
speak properly, hold your knife and fork properly, and own a black tie
getup, there was no media career for you. Orwell, was, of course, an
honorable exception who kicked agains many of these conventions in
speech, dress, and use of the knife at the table. Also remember the
anecdote about Orwell drinking tea from his saucer in the BBC canteen,
to the shock of all.
This seems bizarre looked at from 70 years down the pike, but actually
the current US political situation has some similarities, being one in
which most politicians almost totally disregard the points of view of
working class people as if they did not exist.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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