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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