Strike

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Not the Eisenstein film but the equally montage-tastic C4 doc on Saturday (I went out after like!). Ewing on NYLPM has gone againt the use of pop hits to underscore this actually very reasonable documentary on the 1984-5 Miners' Strike, but this was exactly what I predicted for the future of TV a few years ago (during 'I Love the 80s') and so I'm feeling vindicated. It wasn't as interesting a show as 'Battle of Orgreave' but it *was* more informative for the lay-viewer. What next though?

I think this will become more and more a standard documentary technique -- last year's 'Baader,' a not very good German film, told the story of the Red Army Faction using old MC5 records.

BTW I think I'm being spammed by a well-known ex-troll (says 'You' in subject line). Might be just paranoia, but PH34R!!!

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Ewing on NYLPM has gone againt the use of pop hits to underscore this actually very reasonable documentary on the 1984-5 Miners' Strike, but this was exactly what I predicted for the future of TV a few years ago (during 'I Love the 80s') and so I'm feeling vindicated.

eh, have you ever seen The Rock And Roll Years? mixing pop hits with documentary footage is an old trick, and it works very well.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Monday, 26 January 2004 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

May 1968 -- and Paris was ablaze!!!!
[what can a paw boy do?...]

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

The Pinefox and I watched this programme with a growing sense of incredulity. This may be simply an age thing (ie we had quite vivid memories of the actual events). But I thought it was shockingly, depressingly bad.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

the beeb have got their doc on tomorrow night, although that's called "the miner's strike" or summat, rather than STRIKE!

i thought it concentrated on little bits too much (ie no reference to the north east, which was more solid than notts, but not exactly south wales, but then i would say that) and the first ten minutes were pointless, as was the bit on bandaid...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm holding out for tomorrow's doc, the one from last night looked terrible on the trailer.

― chris (chris), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but the Rock and Roll years was history as fast moving light entertainment. This was an in-depth documentary and so a bit more surprising. It worked least well when they tried to use the music as an emotional soundtrack (esp. at the end - that was crass). Better when Wham! was actually being talked about in a (not very inspired, I admit) attempt to tease out a picture of Britain in 1984 that examined pop and politics together. So I guess I liked the idea but not the execution so much.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I tht Tom's point was more abt the ridiculous choices of tracks, which seemed to be completely based on the lyrical content of a couple of lines of the song vaguely matching the events. Eg You Spin Me Round used to illustrate spin doctoring, only thing connecting them: use of word 'spin'. This is an all too common device in C4 programs nowadays.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:25 (twenty-two years ago)

It was tongue-in-cheek surely? Ditto the use of the Bolero.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:30 (twenty-two years ago)

More importantly Ewing said it on Do You See?.

The comparison can come with BBC2's apparently more mannered version of events on Tuesday: The Miner's Strike. But i didn't see it so can't really comment.

What would be better with the choice of music is something that creaps up on you (Ever Thought About....Food? doe sthis, its sushi prog was full of tangentally related sushi and Japanese songs). Importantly the emphasis should not turn of the lyric, but on the song, on the band, on the songs title. And sometimes we don't need music at all.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:32 (twenty-two years ago)

It's to compensate for the hole Pan's People left in all our lives.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

If the use of this device is tongue in cheek, central music selection at C4 must have one knackered out tongue by now.

Otherwise, what Pete said.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)

It's true that a lot of prgs do *this kind of thing*. But the actual content of the doc, the v/o, wasn't all that bad, considering. Bear in mind that C4 is aiming at the 18-24 demographic and all, and not just ILX posters.

Perhaps if they'd consulted the ILM Rough Guide section they would have dug deeper, but hey.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha, yes we're all music snobs, well done Enrique. Thing is it's a relatively new trend (as in the last two years or so). Incidental music editors never used to have this addiction to glib single word lyrical connections. Hell, it's their job to come up with appropriate muscal accompaniment, so I hardly think it's too much to ask them to do it properly.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Are there actually such people as 'incidental music editors'. I don't see them in the credits.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, maybe not as such, but someone's making these decisions.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:57 (twenty-two years ago)

AND THEY MUST PAY!

― Ricardo (RickyT), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I want to know who it is - I'd could do that. Gissa job.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 26 January 2004 10:59 (twenty-two years ago)

It's an innaresting topic cos of the impact of incidental music on what used to be 'underground'. Also ads. I mean, Boards of Canada are massive thanks to ads/soundtracks. Then you've got Royskopp, Air, etc. I picture the incidental music editors as being exceptionally nathan Barley-ish.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:04 (twenty-two years ago)

what ads are BOC on? I never noticed them. I'd bloody love to have that job. The bloke who puts music to the football on BBC is very very good.

― chris (chris), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Choices for ads are another business.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Boards of Canada are massive thanks to ads/soundtracks

i don't think this is really true, their cult following developed purely on the basis that MHTRTC reminds everyone of watching documentaries about bears when they were 6

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:06 (twenty-two years ago)

People always make this kids TV connection but I never hear it. Was I watching the wrong programmes?

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

what ads are BOC on?

Erm, it was for a car (Saab?) and I think involved a swimming pool, and a lady. Track one off the 'A Beautiful Place...' EP.

You can hear TV noises in their songs I think.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:10 (twenty-two years ago)

it wasnt kids TV as such, it was just stuff on in the early mornings - the duo's name itself refers to the film boards who produced wildlife/nature/possibly science documentaries - not exactly Wackaday

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:11 (twenty-two years ago)

But anyway, 'Strike' was something new -- an attempt to use the format of the 'I Love' series to deal with 'important' 'real' 'historical' shit, albeit with a heavy cultural bias (Gramsci would approve).

Ie having Midge Ure talk about how it affected him, which is a bit like asking, I don't know, Gracie Fields, what she thought about the Munich conference. Or something.

A. Scargill didn't go on it, which was ironic given his 'form' as a chat show guest.

But where were all the left-wing recidivists at? Could have done with Eric Hobsbawm precis-ing 'The Forward March of Labour Halted' to the tune of 'What Have I Done To Deserve This'.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

except that was released in 87

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Gramsci would approve, my arse!

― run it off (run it off), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry Alan! I can see that makes the whole Hobsbawm-on-clip-show idea seem utterly preposterous. Would Gramsci disapprove?

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 26 January 2004 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Ricardo is right.

Enrique's point *sounds* good - he puts it well. But it doesn't work as a defence of... *this programme*. The programme itself was quite bad, and was a genuine case study in the... pitfalls... of... contemporary... historical memory.

I think that my head, like C4's tongue, is tired.

But another thing - the idea that C4 should not be catering for people over 24 is something like an outrage. Well, I'll be outraged on behalf of the calm and composed rest of you.

The other fact is: the programme's rhetoric became increasingly reactionary. It... let slip the mask of... millennial political detachment... that its... contemporary-doc-format seemed to... indicate.

― the pinefox sans nipper, Tuesday, 27 January 2004 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I have missed the BBC's programme.

How was it?

― the minefox, Tuesday, 27 January 2004 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

last year's 'Baader,' a not very good German film, told the story of the Red Army Faction using old MC5 records.

How could this be bad??

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Beeb prog still on, only just catching the end of it. It focusses on a single mining community. (Music very BoC pastiche)

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 22:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Beeb doc I found very moving and not at all romanticised.

― blue, Tuesday, 27 January 2004 23:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe rather than seeing 'Strike' as a history programme inappropropriately 'spiced up' with pop nostalgia, we should see it as pop nostalgia shamed into acknowledging that the past wasn't all deelyboppers and hilarious hairdos.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 23:30 (twenty-two years ago)

And fucking Torville & Dean.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 27 January 2004 23:31 (twenty-two years ago)

N otm: I'm not callous about the past, but all the good will and thoughful soundtrack choices in the world won't bring back the pre-Thatcher era. I though Strike was a good effort: not the best doc of the year perhaps, but illuminating enough. Cf the George Orwell doc that did mock-doc stuff to show what 20s Burma or 30s Lancashire/Catalonia were like. Arguably shallow, but...

last year's 'Baader,' a not very good German film, told the story of the Red Army Faction using old MC5 records.
How could this be bad??

Baader was a dick!

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 09:54 (twenty-two years ago)

bah, missed last night's due to pubquizzage, wonder if they'll repeat it anytime soon...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Quirkily ended on Nick Drake's Northern Sky - maybe because all miners live in the north? Odd/tasteful mix of music rather than the crass choices of the C4 doc - New Orders 5-8-6 at one point - not quite got the relevance there, certainly time is a year or so out...

― Jaunty Alan (Alan), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick Drake died before Saltley Gates, tho...

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I think maybe they were just choosing music they thought was appropriate for aesthetic reasons rather than ALWAYS RELEVANT, ALWAYS DO YOU SEE?

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Every time I see this thread title I think for a moment that it's about the Comic Strip film.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 13:11 (twenty-two years ago)

You wish!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 13:12 (twenty-two years ago)

It's beyond me Pete, I would always opt for the 'Goodfellas' rule of only plausible songs, yes... by 1984 New Order had like shrunk away -- and anyone who buys records more than 3 months after their release is clearly mental.

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I know, 2001 really annoyed me by not having Britney on the soundtrack.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

hahaha -- dvd home-editing technology makes this a must!

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

N. you bugger, i've been saving the comic strip reference until i had two minutes to write a blog entry and now you've spoiled it...

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

It's OK no one will be reading ~~your blog~~ this thread anyway.

(I think I just made an html 'joke' too)

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 28 January 2004 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't expect anything to bring back the pre-Thatcher era. I didn't suggest that anything would.

I liked the Orwell programme a lot; it was very different from what's being discussed here.

The Nipper says that STRIKE was the best thing that The Comic Strip ever presented.

― the minefox, Wednesday, 28 January 2004 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

Is this the only coal strike thread ever on ilx?

If so, that seems a staggering fact, in 3 years of thousands and thousands of threads.

I don't know whether it is worth starting a new one.

This thread was good, anyway.

(I have been thinking about the miners' strike, a lot.)

― the minefox, Sunday, 6 June 2004 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I read an MFB review of the Comic Strip Presents 'Strike' t'other day. Sounds fab. It's sort of based on the making of Hugh Hudson's disastrous 'Revolution' I think: Canon films want to make a film about the miner's strike, and cast Al Pacino as Scargill, Meryl Streep as his wife. Looks classy.

I'm purty sure the subject has come up elsewhere, minefox, but maybe not as a thread in itself. Has GB84 had a thread?

― Enrique (Enrique), Sunday, 6 June 2004 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

No. Have you read it?

― the minefox, Monday, 7 June 2004 10:25 (twenty-two years ago)

And - you'd be surprised how few results you get for an ilx search on 'Scargill'.

― the minefox, Monday, 7 June 2004 10:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I have not. I'll wait till it's in a proper format.

― Sir Stewart Wallace (Enrique), Monday, 7 June 2004 10:27 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...

One of the things that happened in the pit was young lads at 16 might come in and think that they'd have two years in the pit and then go into the army. You know they might be like fascists - well not fascists, but muddled up, waving the union jack and all that. But then after a while they meet NUM people and then they find out about history and the working class and they'd change, they might start thinking about socialism, but all that's gone now...

...I went to Barnsley a couple of weeks ago and I was parking the car and I saw this bloke and I thought, 'I know him.' And I was looking and he looked at me and I thought, 'Bastard.' I knew who he was, a scab, and just for that split second I could feel all the hate back again.

― *@*.* (gareth), Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

i wonder if the minefox would be interested in this book, by david peace"

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 24 December 2005 17:04 (twenty years ago)

perhaps i should expain, i am...suspicious of 'social realism' in literature, partially due to an unfortunate tussle with zola, as a child

― calderdale in the 70s (gareth), Saturday, 24 December 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

I am listening to a Radio2 programme about the cultural aftermath of the miners' strike! Presented, I'm afraid, by Kirsty Young. It just featured the author of the not very good at all 2005 drama Faith talking about his sympathetic representation of the coppers.

― the bellefox, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 21:31 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

the miners' strike -- what was that all about eh?

― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Saturday, 14 March 2009 13:09 (seventeen years ago)

Winter of Discontent ruined far more lives and communities - apparently

― Sacco, Vanzetti, Passantino... (Tom D.), Saturday, 14 March 2009 13:11 (seventeen years ago)

Seems to be making a comeback now the Thatcherite consensus as gone the way of the consensus it replaced

― Sacco, Vanzetti, Passantino... (Tom D.), Saturday, 14 March 2009 13:17 (seventeen years ago)

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