Rhetoric Of London

Front 1

Three World Wars

Back 1

World War 1 (1914-1918)
World War 2 (1939-1945)

The 'War on Terror' (Afghanistan, Iraq, 9/11, 7/7)

Front 2

WWII History

Back 2

Start/Finish Dates

3 September 1939
Britain declares war on Germany

7 May 1945 (surrender of Germany)
14 August 1945 (surrender of Japan)

Front 3

Key Antagonists

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Germany and the Axis Powers
-Italy (1939-1943)
-Japan
-Russia (1939-41 non-aggression pact until 1941 German invasion of USSR)

Britain and her Allies
-Most European countries
-All British Empire countries
-USA (1942-1945) - (Was in an isolationist position until realizing what pains Germany was inflicting)
-USSR (1941-1945)

Front 4

Origins of War

Back 4

1930s rise of National Socialism (Nazism) in Germany; Hitler comes to power in 1933

Nazi reign of terror in 30s Germany; beginnings of the Holocaust (Buchenwald concentration camp opens in 1937)

Announcement of the 'Third Reich' (Third Empire) to last 1,000 years (wanted to build his own new empire, predicted it would last 1,000 years)

Quest for Lebensraum ('living space')
Pursuit of Aryan racist ideal
German annexation of Rhineland (1936), Czech Sudetenland (1938), Austria (1938) and Poland (1939)

Front 5

From the 'Phoney War' to Dunkirk

Back 5

The Phoney War -- England expected an attack but there was calm until the fall of France. In Fall 1939 - Spring of 1940, an eerie calm in the UK

Dunkirk-- The evacuation of 300,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkerque, France: 'miracle' or inglorious defeat? Britain now stands alone.

Front 6

The Blitz

Back 6

Technologized war and move extremely fast
Blitzkreig (German 'lightning war')

Tanks
Airpower
Paratroopers
High tech radio and communication lines

Front 7

The Intensity of the Blitz

Back 7

7 September 1940 to mid-May 1941
200 planes a night, plus daytime raids

September-November 1940
13,000 tons of high explosive dropped on London, 1m incendiaries which would ignite causing the 2nd or 3rd great fire in London

Blitz happened nationwide: bombed Coventry so badly that to "coventry-fy" meant to wipe out

Front 8

Effects of the Blitz

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Rationing
Black out (didn't want lights attracting German bombers so they had to drive without lights)
Need for shelter
Protection against potential gas attack
Evacuation
Homelessness
Break up of family life

Human cost of the Blitz: 43,000 civilians killed and 139,000 civilians injured

Front 9

Three Stages of Attack on Britain

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June - September 1940: The Battle of Britain

Fighter battles over south-east England between Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe

Autumn 1940 - onwards: The Blitz

Subsequent bombing of London to destroy docks, supply and power sources and subsequently instrument of terror against civilian population

Endgame: V-Weapons 1944/45 (rockets/flying bombs)

V1 Flying bomb: 10,000 bombs launched, 2,419 reached London, 6,184 dead, 17,981 injured
Could shoot them down if lucky

V2 Flying bomb: Supersonic, too fast to see coming. 1,054 reached England, killing 2,700 Londoners

Front 10

Images

Back 10

Transportation was wrecked (pictures of destroyed buses and subway trains)
Business as usual mentality (people walking about the destroyed town going to work)
Docks ablaze (pictures of the East End which was bombed the most heavily because it was the first part of London that the Germans flew across)

Front 11

St. Paul's: The Miracle of Survival

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Religious message
You'll never completely destroy us
People rushed out to put out potential fires around the cathedral (when incendiaries were being thrown)
The area around St Paul's was completely obliterated but St. Paul's was still standing

Front 12

Words and Music of the Blitz

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...this was their finest hour [speech] by Sir Winston Churchill, wartime PM to the Houses of Parliament on June 18 1940

London Pride [song]
written and performed by Noel Coward, 1941

The White Cliffs of Dover [song]
written by Nat Burton, sang by Vera Lynn 1942

Front 13

The Response by Londoners

Back 13

Positive
'London Pride'/'The Spirit of the Blitz'/London Can Take It: the 'official' mythology

Negative
surging levels of crime and anti-social behavior, the unpalatable truth
Murder/looting during black out. Even rescuers stole from people they were rescuing

Front 14

Memories of war run deep

Back 14

Survivor of concentration camp returns to the area where he almost lost his life

Prince Harry dresses up as a Nazi and causes huge controvery

Neo Nazis still exist in Germany (skin heads in UK were associated with Neo Nazism)

"Racist outburst' by Ken Livingston who made a comment about Jewish reporter

The 1940s House -- An experimental TV reconstruction of the experience of the WWII Blitz on the part of ordinary Britons

Front 15

Humphrey Jennings Short Film: London Can Take It

Back 15

Rushing home before dark
at night bombings come
bombings will kill a few people
it's widely accepted that civilians are now soldiers
symphony of war -- sounds of bombs, walls of banshee
wall of banshee at 6 am to share that bombings are over for the night
bombs can't kill the spirit of London, London can take it

Front 16

7/7 Attack on London

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Muslim extremists about to attack the country where they were born
men were educated, very religious.
Bombs set off going in each direction, on man on the number 30 bus.
Tony Blair interrupts G8 summit to address the nation and flies back to London

Front 17

Notting Hill (Londoners)

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(dir. Roger Michell, UK/USA, 1999)

An intercultural love affair between William Thacker, a Notting HIll travel bookshop owner, and a globetrotting Hollywood superstar, Anna Scott

Rituals of London Life: The Markets (character walks through the markets), Going to Work (works at a bookshop)

Personal and Public life in the city: They aren't always kept separate. Though they are for a majority of the film, dating in secret, eventually their love is revealed despite distinct class and cultural differences.

"the commute and communication is between the world of the Ritz Hotel in Picadilly, transient home to the American film star Anna Scott, and the humble bookshop where our hero is committed to a different way of understand travel and its record This film culminates in a race through the West End of London as our hero and his friends cohere around a common mission to gatecrash Anna's press conference and to make a declaration of love."

Narrative position in relationship to their central characters: Seems to put the American in power, the Londoner is star struck and in love.. kind of hopeless. He is poor, the company is doing poorly.

"The contrasts between the power of Americana are more concretely symbolised int he on-off relatonship between a Hollywood superstar who cannot achieve privacy (Anna Scott), and a London bookseller who, in spite of perhaps too much interiority, nonetheless posses a keen sense of locality and groundedness which completes the sense of personal identity for which the rootless superstar Anna has been searching.

Front 18

Sliding Doors (Londoners)

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(dir. Peter Howitt, UK, 1998)

A romantic comedy centering on Helen, a PR executive whose professional and private life are challenged by life in the city. The narrative magically splits in two as we pursue two differing versions of Helen's life and times.

rituals of London life: What people do on the tube (read, listen to music) not a lot of interaction, going to work (picking up coffee)

Personal and public life in the city: they are usually kept separate.

Narrative position in relationship to their central characters: Narrative position can be seen with both Helens. You can see two different versions of the Helens.

In terms of landmarks "Bridges figure as places of romantic encounter in Waterloo Bridge ad Sliding Doors."

Front 19

28 Days Later... (Landscapes of London)

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(dir. Danny Boyle, UK, 2002)

Boyle's 28 Days Later... shows Britain in the grip of a deadly virus which has wiped out almost the entire population, leaving little hope for the few survivors

London iconographies: the tipped over double decker bus, calling out on Westminster bridge and it is so silent everything echos

Where do we go in London: Around the major landscapes, Westminster, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street

How do journeys affect our understandings of representations of London: London is a bustling city, always full of people and it is eerie to see it uninhabited with people.

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28 Weeks Later (Landscapes of London)

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(dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, UK/Spain, 2007)

Some months after 28 Days Later..., the Isle of Dogs has been a security zone, controlled by the US military, for survivors of the virus. One family contains the seeds of further destruction, and also the promise of salvation.

London iconographies: The East End, the Docklands area

Where do we go?: Go to the East End and the suburbs of London because the rest of the city is still destroyed

How do journeys affect understands of representations of London: East End seen as a sanctuary which is interesting because the East End was previously incredibly impoverished and destroyed by the blitz in WWII.

Front 21

Oliver Twist

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(dir. David Lean, UK, 1948)

Discovering the city: City is dirty, busy and bustling, you could get lost easily in the chaos

Human relationships in the city: Everyone is concerned with their own well being, no one really notices Oliver except for another boy who is on the look out for boys like Oliver.

Film, genres, moments and purposes of production: After WWII the city wasn't in the best condition, this seems to reflected in film. Controversy over the Fagan character because he had clearly exaggerated jewish features and since he was the bad guy this was seen as anti-semitic.


"Traveling in the city involves leaving and arriving, hunting and being hunted, escaping and also getting lost. For youngsters, the city is a place of joyful learning and of dreadful threat. In Oliver Twist it is children who are experts in the byways of the city."

Front 22

Oliver!

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(dir. Carol Reed, UK, 1968)

Discovering the city: City seems more glorified, everyone is dancing and singing

Human relationships in the city: People seem friendlier

Film genres and moments and purposes of production: late 1960s musicals

Front 23

Following (Crime and the City)

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(dir. Chris Nolan, UK, 1999)

Crime in the city: Stalking, theft, murder, scene where Bill has been badly beaten and is on the ground

Particular places in social geography of London: "Depicts a more generalized metropolis, staging its own version of key generic milieux such as the street, the bar, and various kinds of domestic interior... external shots serve less to to anchor the film in a knowable 'real place' than to evoke a fluid and dreamlike urban environment where it sit he relationships between people -- as individuals and as crowds-- which are paramount"

Masculinity in the city: The guy with more money gets the girl, Cobb is the one who is really controlling what the girl does to Bill. Bill looks more masculine after deciding to be more like Cobb, he cuts his hair and gets a suit.

Front 24

Gangster No. 1 (Crime and the City)

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Crime in the city: Gangster life style, con men, murder, bank heist, fixed horse races

Particular places in social geography of London: Wealthy well furnished flats.

Masculinity in the city: Masculine dress... suit. Battle over which man is number one gangster, there is one clear number one.

Front 25

For Queen and Country (Cultural Change)

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(dir. Martin Stellman, UK, 1988)

A black British paratrooper serves in Northern Ireland and the Falklands before returning to encounter the mean streets of London in the late 1980s

Race and the city: "City as crucible for stories of ethnicity and nation, assimilation and rejection, difference and resistance."
How people locate themselves in the city: Reuben James, hero of the film is "born in the Caribbean but it is his difficulty in readjusting to life in London after retiring from the army, and the loss of his full British citizenship after the independence of St. Lucia, that sense Reuben on a journey home to the West Indies. It is a journey interrupted by the final calls of military action in the civil war engulfing Reuben's inner city estate, and which claims his life in the final shot."
Links between race, national identity and social class:
"None of the landmarks of known urban landscape of London, but its unswerving attention to the textures, colors and enclosures of the inner city estates renders both a different London and yet one which is highly concrete and immediate to social class."

Front 26

Brick Lane

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(dir. Sarah Gavron, UK, 2007)

In Gavron's beautifully visualized screen version of Monia Ali's celebrated East End novel, Nazeem arrives from Bangladesh to cope with a new way of life and to encounter new forms of desire.

Race and the city: Racism prevalent in the city because the film is set around the time of the 9/11 terror attacks. Racism towards those who look muslim.

How people locate themselves in the city: Bricklane, Bengali area of London in the East End.

Links between race, national identity and social class: character doesn't really have a sense of identity within the city, lives her life vicariously through her sister who is still in bangladesh. low social class, they live in a very small flat... she can't afford to not be married to him.