Real Life Parallels

[vardathemessage]

script:
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. RAINBOW THEATRE – ROOF – DAWN – 1975
 
We pass through to the roof where it is dawn and snowing. Curt and Arthur are there, hanging out after sex. They turn in our direction but we continue our ascent.
 
            DISSOLVE THROUGH:

A series of shots:
 
EXT. LONDON STREETS – DAY – 1974
 
Shots of busy Londoners on their way to work.

[INT. ENGLISH FACTORY - DAY - 1974

Female Workers turn up a song on the radio, nodding their heads with the chorus.]*omitted from the final film.

LONDON PUB – NIGHT – 1974
 
The song’s chorus continues through a small transistor radio from which we TRACK, revealing a candle-lit pub during the 1974 miners’ strikes.
 

The visual of a candle-lit pub during the 1974 miners’ strikes is a rather obscure reference, especially for younger and non-British audiences. The miners had previously gone on strike for better wages in 1972. That strike lasted seven weeks. By 4 February 1974 the miners' situation had deteriorated and a national miners strike was called again. This strike lasted four weeks. A state of emergency and a three-day working week were once again declared. [Because of a shortage of electricity, hence the candles.] The Prime Minister, Edward Heath, called a General Election hoping that the electorate would support the Government's attempts to deal with the deteriorating industrial situation, but the Conservative Party was defeated. The new Labour government reached a deal with the miners shortly afterwards.

Todd apparently sees the solidarity of the British people at that time reflected in both the music played at the factory and the local pub as well as the country backing the strikers. Again, it's also another contrast to 1984's Thatcher government, who, (like Reagan, and presumably the fictional Reynolds) would try and break the unions, resulting in the miners striking again that year.

Comments

[sor-bet.livejournal.com]

That *is* an obscure reference. I thought the bar was lit by candles for ambiance. But it's an interesting parallel, the strikes in 1974 and in the 1980's (which I learned about from watching "Billy Elliot").

6 Degrees!

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

The soundtrack to Billy Elliot is all Marc Bolan and T.Rex songs. And Ewan's film Brassed Off is about the closing of coal mines in the 80s as well.

[q-spade.livejournal.com]

Wow, I totally did not catch this reference. The radio does look very retro, but then blue-collar pubs (in my experience) tend to keep things around as long as they work. A radio that old wouldn't look out of place in an 80's pub, hence my assumption elsewhere that the pub scene took place in 1984.