In Search Of Britain Flashcards
Why were lots of people taking journeys in the 20s 30s?
Cars becoming available mass produced
What did the war significantly question the definition of?
Englishness and Britishness
Did people tend to look to the past or the future to define britishness?
The past - comforting
What did people mean when they critiqued Britain as ‘blackpooling’ itself?
Selling itself out, commodification and cheap culture, americanisation
In which of the three Englands he describes does J.B.Priestley find home?
None - he is dissatisfied with all of the areas he describes, although he does call the rural england the “real enduring england”.
Why does it affect us that landscapes are often made historical and have histories?
We place ourselves as part of the history of the nation, get embarrassed by our nation’s past and get excited about their future, we are patriotic and aligned
What does Priestley fear happening to english character?
Values from the past will get lost in modernity
Which of Priestley’s England’s are English?
The first two, the third he sees as American
What does Priestley argue is still in Britain?
the old “real enduring england”
What does Priestley’s 3 visions of England tell us about notions of Britishness?
There is not one single image of Britain in this time, and we can’t see it as a blanket approach.
What were railway posters for?
informed people about excursions, only way they could find out about areas to visit, also made money for the government
What style were a lot of the new posters made in?
An art deco, bright style that can be mass produced
What are cars and railways becoming in the 1920s?
Part of old england, been around for quite a while now
Why was their a preoccupation with the term ‘Englishness’?
Need to find a new national identity, wanting to make things smaller, not think on a big global, empirical stage, making England seem like it was worth fighting for
What does Benedict Anderson argue about communities?
That the nation is an imagined community
How does Stanley Baldwin want to present the countryside?
As unchanging and timeless, rural perfection
Who is Baldwin’s England for?
Only a certain few, only the rich have access
What does J.B Priestley say about Jack and Jill in English Journey?
“for the first time in history Jack and Jill are nearly as good as their master and mistress; they may have always been as good in their own way, but now they are nearly as good in the same way.”
What were politicians trying to do in the 1920s?
unite the nation and bring everyone together
What did preservationists, planners and ramblers contrast the freedom and order of the countryside to?
Their urban lives
What did the campaign for access to the countryside cast itself as?
A politically liberal cause appropriating a local history of civic struggle against central government and traditional aristocracy
What were ramblers campaigning for open access not?
Politically affiliated
What did ramblers campaigning for open access understand freedom as?
A moral category bound up with behavioural codes and practices
What did lots of young, working people utilised in the 1930s?
Newly gained leisure time and declining rail fares