While there seems to be a growing interest or awareness of "hauntology" as a movement, I've not read many articles which address the concepts and ideas on a personal level. The piece is by Bob Fischer and appears in the Fortean Times, issue 354. It's a really nice wide ranging article starting with Bagpuss and how some of us that grew up in the seventies are haunted by that past. It's something I strongly identify with and it did make me stop and think, photos of me as a child are mostly polaroids, garish colours now faded out with time. Moving images of me.... I think if it still survives there is a vhs tape of a band I played in circa 1990, other than that there's a much later vhs of me playing a gig at Glasgow in the late 90's.
As you might expect the piece covers lengthy discussions with journalists, artists both visual and musical that are part of the movement. If anyone can take credit for identifying the genre, then it's undoubtedly Simon Reynolds and if anyone can take the credit for giving it both a sound and an image then it's Ghost Box and Clay Pipe Records. And for mining the rich seem of forgotten audio, then Trunk Records have that covered.
But it's Richard Littler, creator of Scarfolk that strikes a chord with me. He mentions being terrified by the Ladybird Book, The Gingerbread Man. I know exactly where he's coming from. I had a very happy childhood and many happy memories of the time, but there was certainly an underlying current of danger in the books, television and films and plays of the period. I need hardly mention this :
Children will die. Yes, it's essentially and advert where children will die. Lets stop and take that in for a moment.
In a world where Channel 5 regularly get a deluge of complaints and the inevitable twitter storm over the screening of Watership Down, can you imagine this public information film would even be made, let alone screened today ?
No, me either.
On a personal level though I'm interested in the music. I'm not talking about the mainstream rock or pop ( which I do like ), but the functional music, what I now know as library music. The themes from anything from Picture Box and Bagpuss, through to themes from "educational" schools programmes. I think on a subliminal level these have always been an underlying influence for me. There's a kind of dark, wistfulness in the compositional style of many of them. If you have the odd three hours or so to spare, then sit back and enjoy :
So is this all just a nostalgia trip or something more serious ? Thats for you to decide. I count myself lucky to have grown up in a time that in some respects was simpler, but also more creative.
Comments
Post a Comment