Bloody Minded Brits

After all the adverts in the Festival guidebook there is an introduction to the event.  This tells the reader that yes, there may be a touring exhibition; there might be a Festival boat; and yes there might be exhibitions in Glasgow and Belfast.  But the South Bank is THE place to be. They really, really wanted people to go there – this just shows how much had been invested in it.  

There are strict instructions on how one should approach the South Bank exhibition.  You must start here and go round this way.  It adds, rather disdainfully, that some people might want to start at the end and work backwards.  But, these upstarts are informed that some understanding of the story may be lost.  

I think that this shines a light on our peculiarities as a nation.  That those in authority feel justified in telling us exactly how to enjoy ourselves is quite amusing.  But to then let on that they know that half of us will deliberately do the opposite of what they have been told is even funnier.  Sometimes I wonder if we want to have en establishment – someone in charge – just so that we can gleefully subvert their authority.  It all reminds me of a line in the almost contemporary film ‘Passport to Pimlico’, when the local residents are arguing about the revelation that they are actually part of Burgundy.  One of the characters asserts –

“It’s because we’re English that we’re standing up for our right to be Burgundian.”

Just as we would all stand up for our right to go round an exhibition backwards.

We are a bloody minded nation.  The site of the main exhibition attests to this.  The guidebook tells us that this has always been a difficult site due to its marshy land.  But this was prime Thames-side estate and we were never going to just let it go.  We found a use for it and found out how to build on it.  Mother Nature was never going to get the better of us.  Not in our Midcentury mood.

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