I think I'm tired of the Seventies.
Not all the wonderful things that occupy me to this day, but the way they are portrayed, especially on TV. If you saw any of that Young Ones programme last night, in which Sylvia Sims, Kenneth Kendall, Lionel Blair, Derek Jameson, Liz Smith and Dickie Bird - all ancient - moved into a house to live their life like it was 1975, then you'll know what I mean.
Now, the Seventies have become one long decade of novelty garishness. But as we know, having lived through the decade, it wasn't ALL like that. Perhaps I missed something, but every room of that house was the most unsettling it could possibly be. With hugely patterened wallpapers, sunglasses-on paintwork and fabrics Margot Ledbetter would baulk at. It truly was an assualt on the senses. I do hope that this was done on purpose, in order to give these old sticks a jolt. Because if it wasn't, then the researchers should be shot.
Everything about those years has now melded into one. No attention is paid to what year a song was released, what was popular on TV or what the fashions were. It's now simply all 'Seventies'. The Eighties are going the same way. Even if something was set in 1989 you can bet you'll see white socks and soul slippers, while something from Top Gun plays on the radio. I find it incredibly irritating, don't you?
Anyway, this show was mildly amusing. It's meant to be a social experiment to see if age is all in the mind, but really it's just time tourism. Some great clips though. I love the music that plays on the Generation Game when the conveyor belt goes along. What's it called and where can I find it?
6 comments:
I didn't see this programme, but I need to know more. How was Kenneth Kendall required to live life like it was 1975? Was he compelled to read the news at nine o'clock every night?
Well no, but he watched the news with him presenting at nine o'clock every night, which must be odd. It's on tonight and tomorrow too, but Creamy clips aside, it's not that exciting.
I didn't see the programme, but from the trailers, it seems like the set designers have confused "living in 1975" with "living in the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1975". Rather than living in a house full of tat from the sixties with the occasional daring pair of curtains, which is what most people did.
My point exactly, RS.
I get really riled with the shorthand set dressing - usually over done to point of caricature. Why overplay it for viewers that were never there. Watch a PIF for the authentic seventies instead.
It's a pity, isn't it? It was just complete overkill. RS is spot-on in observing that most people kept stuff from years before so had a mixture of old and new. Or perhaps my parents were among the few not doing a complete house-clearance on the first day of each new decade.
Was it you who once implied Sylvia Sims was less than pleasant? If so, nature seems to have given her the face she deserves.
I STILL hope I die before I get old.
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