Re: Random Thoughts

[Anna Raven]

That makes me curious: what are quintessential movies for families from yalls demo? Like I know alot of you British folks grew up working-class, so are there like particular films that your family or people like you watched growing up that yall felt reflected your hometown or culture?

Like a Black person who grew up in the 80s and 90s in America, here’s a list of some of them:
The Wiz
The Last Dragon
What’s Love Got to Do With It
Waiting to Exhale
The Color Purple
Roots

Those are some big ones…

As a white suburban straight kid: every movie ever.

[Blackcyclops]

Well I figured there would be like a film from your town or something that really is like a “this is for us” type of thing lol…

[Anna Raven]

Well I figured there would be like a film from your town or something that really is like a “this is for us” type of thing lol…

Ok, that's true. Growing up in the Dallas, Texas area we had the tv show Dallas of course. And then there was North Dallas Forty, which was a satire/parody of the Dallas Cowboys. The problem with a lot of shows and movies about Texas is they are so ridiculously exaggerated about the "rebel, cowboy spirit" like Walker Texas Ranger, that I'm not actually much of a fan. Or they are about rodeos and oil wells, which is not exactly anything I gave a darn about.

Probably the closest thing to an "everyone in Texas has to know and love this movie" is The Alamo with John Wayne. Of course, then growing up I learned all about the problematic history of the Texas Revolution and the Alamo lol, so it kind of ruined that, but hey it's a good movie if you can shut off your brain I guess.

I always identified more with stories about underdog kids going on some big adventure. Goonies, The Last Starfighter, The Neverending Story, Bad News Bears, ET, etc. Those were the movies I loved most growing up, or considered "mine".

Edit: Oh! I do love me some King of the Hill though!! Mike Judge lived just a few miles from my house when he was coming up with the idea for KotH so I am 99% sure Hank is based partly on my dad. Which makes me Bobby of course...

[das_boot]

Not really a family movie but there was a kids TV show called Byker Grove which was set in my home city (and I was also an extra on it for a season ). It was basically centred around a youth centre and the kids/teens who used it. There was always quite a big focus on the foster/adoption system in it, as well as the fact that the north east was and is very much a predominantly working class part of the country. It was also notable for being the first teen drama to feature stories about homosexuality, and it’s where a lot of famous north-east actors and TV personalities started their career.

[Spectral Knight]

HAHAHA... I just knew you'd say BYYYYKERRR GROOOOVE. T'was never the same where the legendary beardy that was Geoff left. Grange Hill before it went north and hired a load of Scouse kids was very much the London equivalent.

Hmmm, difficult for me to answer this. Loads and loads of shows have been set in London, but not that many have been set in the NW of the city. The Inbetweeners wasn't explicitly 'set' around my parts, but it very much captured suburban teens in London, and was filmed around my way. It's probably a little younger than my demo, but it was close enough, but not really family orientated given the language.

Quadrophenia was set and filmed around where my dad grew up and worked for most of his adult life, and whilst it steers probably five years older than him, but it really captures that working class mod vibe, but that's more sub-cultural than demographic. But when Phil Daniels' Jimmy is scootering down the Goldhawk Road, it brings back a lot of my youth when I used to work with my dad even though it was much, much later, but that's just because of the location really.

The most obvious working class London show would be Only Fools and Horses though. As my dad was also a market trader there was a lot of Del or Rodders found in the people he knew and worked around, even though the show was based in the SE of the city, whilst he was West London. Of course, when the hang-gliding club story finally gets to the printed media once David Jason pops it, I think the legacy of that show will be significantly tarnished...

[Blackcyclops]

Well I didn’t mean it had to be family orientated just something the family watched.

The Color Purple is NOT a kid’s movie by any stretch. But we all watched it over the years with our families because of it’s cultural significance, depiction of Black life and the place the story has in Black literary history.

On the flipside, The Wiz is 1000% a family orientated thing and we watched that because of the cast and who they are to Black history, the music and because it had a place in history for our parents/grandparents as this big production put on by Quincy Jones starring Diana Ross and MJ.

[Spectral Knight]

I'm trying to think demographically specific, and other than age, I'm not sure there's that much commonality, I'm just not sure as much 'spoke' to me as addressing working class views/life. Like EastEnders is probably closest for the South, but that's like Murder Central in the number of deaths on one residential block, and also the amount of marriages/divorces they all go through, so it's not particularly an 'accurate' view, and I think it tends to get cross-country interest rather than specifically London (it's much 'whiter' than London actually is, too).

[das_boot]

Also I’d go as far as to say that Eastenders is highly unrealistic in terms of depicting various socio-economic bits too— there’s no way that the same square would appeal to folk who work part-time in a market, are unemployed, are on minimum wage, and are millionaires alike. Especially not with London property prices for three bed+ terraced houses.

Also, what’s wrong with Byker Grove you absolute heathen?

[Spectral Knight]

Yes and no. It's not that unusual in some parts of London. For example, where my dad grew up in Shepard's Bush, they were in a housing trust home (social housing just not from the council) but if that same property (2 bed flat in a converted townhouse) was on the open market, you'd be looking to pay more than 600K easily. You''ll see the same in parts of Camden too - turn the corner and you go from social housing to proper pricey joints.

Nothing wrong with Byyyyker. The song is burned into my brain. If you'd only heard that theme tune before seeing the credits or hearing of the show, you'd have NO idea what on earth they were saying though

[Blackcyclops]

I’m shocked honestly that you don’t have more TV or film that centers working class Britons beyond cop/murder mystery shows. Those I know because I watch’em.

Us Americans have a shit-ton of “working” class TV shows although the people usually live in impossibly big homes and their financial situation is rarely touched on (there are exceptions). Even Black TV rarely feature working class people outside, again, crime shows. Every Black person on a TV show that’s a sitcom features Black people that live probably upper-to high upper middle class lives.

[Anna Raven]

Yup, they don't make any Sanford and Sons anymore. Instead every show is The Jeffersons.

[Spectral Knight]

Oh there's a lot, but how much it resonates isn't limited to class.

Like the three "big" soaps, the aforementioned Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emerdale are all focused on different aspects of working class life, East End London, Manchester, and rural Yorkshire working classes respectively.

But our comedy in particular has often examined class. Even something genre like Red Dwarf is really a prism to compare the working class but life - if not book- smart Scouse orphan Lister with the middle class, aspirational but ultimately clueless Rimmer.

But if you wanted something very much class centered, check out some of Ken Loach's films.

[P-90]

Yup, they don't make any Sanford and Sons anymore. Instead every show is The Jeffersons.

I've heard of Sanford and Sons (though I've never actually seen it) because it's based on an old British sitcom the called 'Steptoe and Son'

[das_boot]

OH! Shameless I guess? That was a British show before it was American but I don’t think you can REALLY take it as meant to be a “slice of life” kind of tv show, more of a “this is what life is like in council estates x 10000”

[Anna Raven]

Yup, they don't make any Sanford and Sons anymore. Instead every show is The Jeffersons.

I've heard of Sanford and Sons (though I've never actually seen it) because it's based on an old British sitcom the called 'Steptoe and Son'

If you ever get a chance to watch an episode, I say go for it. Redd Fox was a national treasure.

[BardicOne]

Got overlooked for a promotion at work that should have been an easy win for me. Misprinted our wedding invitations. I swear if we make it to the altar let alone the honeymoon without one of us losing our shit and pulling an Unsolved Mysteries "start a new life five states away" scam it will be a minor miracle.

At least I'm enjoying my re-read of the classic 2099 universe.