What to write about, my mood shifts between crossness and optimism. Watched the 1944 film 'Cantebury Tales' directed by Powell and Pressburger. It's symbolism somewhat obscured but its gentle story - who would put glue on young female's hair today I wonder ? There was a gentle subtle tenderness as the three young people, all from different backgrounds follow their goals through the film. It reminded me with its landscapes shorn of the clutter we find in our country today of books I have on my shelf about the countryside of the 1940s. A complete contrast to the fields of sugar beet that will sadly have the dreaded 'neonicotinoids' that kill our bees we see today. Arguments for and against later on.
An enjoyable film, it reminded me that once whilst doing a course at Bath Spa university we had watched French films of the 1930s with two very young lecturers (up their own a****). Shame I never stayed to do the 1940s. What I found with all these early films is an extraordinary vividness of what life was like then, and it captures the simplicity of the human race, and how things have changed. And yes we are still simplistic in our thinking, but we would never talk about 'village idiots' now! Our grandchildren would descend down on us 'politically incorrect', they would wag admonishing figures at us.
I also watched a Greta Thunberg documentary, a mite of a girl, sent out against the forces of the world. She is brave, tackling the 'white old men', their pomposity in meeting her made me laugh at their need to be part of the discussion on Climate Change. Of course they will do nothing about it they have far more important things to do (such as?) She has problems but is shielded by her parents but I wonder if this crusade will not mark her mentally for life. No matter how you go against the crowd they will always beat back. But slowly she winds the clock forward to show that we have to actually acknowledge that the natural world is changing, could we halt it? or will Lovelock's Cyberbots rule instead?
So neonicotinoids; (did they actually invent that name so we could not spell it?). Well, kick Brexit under the table, are we reverting to farming practices that the EU have ruled out. The argument for using the aforesaid insecticide (on the seed) of sugar beet, is that the aphids, which transferred a disease, were at 'bomb' levels last year and need to be tackled. There are restrictions of course on its use, two thirds only, no sowing of same crop for a specific time, or the growing of wild plants anywhere near (the contaminated ground?) for a certain length of time either. Monoculture take heed, we need all those different environments to sustain a healthy Earth, that is why preaching 'extinction' as David Attenborough is doing is a reality not some fashionable essay.
Ah! You watched A Canterbury Tale! So much to like. The little boys playing in the boats spring to mind. There's so much in it that makes you thing 'ah, this is a Powell Pressburger film!' There's a sort of unique, addictive quirkiness to them all.
ReplyDeleteAs for the environment... I think the government response to the pandemic is probably a microcosm of the government response to climate change - the only difference being that the latter will play out over a century or so. Political compromises with scientific advice where no compromise will do. The measures that are always too little too late. The claims to be doing something. The turning of crises into business opportunities. The outright denials. It should be -has to be- a wake up call to the fact that we need to do things differently!
I think the cathedral and the cinema organist playing caught my eye. Such a thing would probably be impossible to day, but for the young soldier a dream come true. But it was the grainy atmosphere of the cathedral that was impressive. Standing there for so many centuries, seeing war ceremonies. A building dedicated to Christianity. Now religion slips away but those stones remain, a gathering point.
DeleteI think you know that 'A Canterbury Tale' is my all time favourite film. I have all of the P&P films on DVD and I have watched them more times than I can remember. I thought I was alone, but if you go to You Tube you will find whole societies dedicated to the film. They make group trips to the locations in Kent and some of them are so nerdy about it, they read from the script in places like the Town Hall where the glue man worked. 'Sticky stuff?!'
ReplyDeleteYour mention of the term 'village idiot' brought back memories of my childhood in a Lincolnshire village almost eighty years ago. There was one such character - Bob - a chap in his thirties who used to stand at the door most of the day. When the Radio Times came he would spend a couple of days learning the programme times and then when folk passed by they would ask him and he would tell them. He had the respect of the whole village - I suspect an unusual thing in those days.
DeleteYes Tom, I can see why it is a favourite, it catches the heart. People who get engrossed in fragments of history are probably nerds and quite happy to own up to it. They dress up round this part of Yorkshire from the 1940s every year. Nylons with the seam straight at the back, fox fur tippets, and soldiers of course.
DeletePat, language and the use of it in social history either becomes obsolete or enters the world of the PC. In actual fact, many village idiots were given a secure home within the village, there being no proper facilities in the outside world. Of course now, they would be given a 'condition' to explain their symptoms.
DeleteActually an interesting topic to follow up on.
Quite a few village idiots were either inbreds or shell-shocked WW1 veterans I think.
DeleteInteresting. I remember in high school studing the Canterbury Tales and really enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteThough the film starts with the Canterbury Tales Tabor it was set in the 1940s, you can find it on F/B under Canterbury Tales. 1944 film.
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