This is a fascinating collection of films from the British Council archives, which have been digitised and made available on-line for the first time. Starting from the 1930s, they are beautifully shot, and include themes such as cricket and the history of the English language.
This is just an example , London in1942, in the middle of the Second World War:
TIME/IMAGE engages the public in the past, the present and the future by inviting them to explore and discuss the films of the British Council.A number of films are already available to watch through our Vimeo or YouTube channels.
From the early nineteen thirties, for a period of about twenty years, the British Council was an enthusiastic commissioner and distributor of documentaries, designed to showcase Britain to the outside world at a time when fascism was becoming evermore prevalent across Europe. Made by some of the finest filmmakers of the time - such as cinematographer Jack Cardiff (of Powell and Pressburger fame) and director Ken Annakin (Battle of the Bulge) - these films are today held in the BFI archives, almost entirely unused.
The aim of TIME/IMAGE is to catalogue and digitise as many films as possible, and to provide the general public ACCESS to this valuable resource through the TIME/IMAGE website. We want to invite the public to EXPLORE these films and to actively ENGAGE with them through the collection oral histories and artistic responses. In so doing, we want to encourage social debate geared towards how we perceive the present – and hopefully the future – through the interpretation of our own historical narratives.
Working closely with Counterpoint, the British Council and the BFI, the TIME/IMAGE project will contribute to the digitisation and narrativisation of the UK’s cultural heritage; a flagship of New Deal of the Mind’s Digital Domesday.
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1971 by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and the Plastic Ono Band. Although ostensibly a protest song about the Vietnam War, it has become a Christmas standard and has appeared on several Christmas albums.
Remeber the message...War is over if you want it!!
The Beat Generation, also known as the Beat Movement were a group of American writers who emerged in the 1950’s.The most influential members were Neal Cassady, Gary Snyder,William Borroughs, the poet Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
The phrase Beat Generation was invented by Jack Kerouac, the leader and spokesman of the Beat Generation. The phrase was introduced to the general public in 1952 when John Holmes, a friend of Kerouac wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine called `This is the Beat Generation´.
The underlying philosophy was Zen Buddhism, visionary enlightenment and Amerindian CultureThe Beat Generation rejected the prevailing American middle class values and the academic attitude to poetry, feeling that poetry should be brought to people.A common theme that linked the Beat Generation was the need for withdrawal and protest.The Beats sought immediate expression in multiple, intense experience and beatific illumination like that of some Eastern religions like Zen Buddhism.The major Beat´s writings were Jack Kerouac´s On the road, Allen Ginsberg´s Howl, and William Borroughs´ Naked Lunch
Dadaism and Surrealism had a direct impact on the Beats. Dadaism with its attack on the elitism of the high culture and the celebration of spontaneity. Surrealism with its focusonrevelationsfrom the subconscious.
Ginsberg said that some essential effects of the Beat Generation could be characterized in the following terms:
Spiritual liberation, sexual liberation, women´s liberation.
.Liberation of the word from censorship,
.Decriminalization of marijuana and other drugs,
.The evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll as a high art form,
.The spread of ecological consciousness,the notion of Fresh Planet,
.Opposition to the military-industrial machine civilization,
.Return to an appreciation of idiosyncrasy as against state regimentation,
.Attention to a second religiousness developing within an advanced civilization,
.Respect for land, indigenous people and creatures.
To conclude, The Beat Generation influenced a lot of artists such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez ,Jim Morrison,etc. The Beat movement were followed by the hippies, an anti-war movement which led to the environmental movement, Deep Ecology and Earth First.
You tube: “Howl” part 1
“Howl” part 2
“Howl” part 3
Hippie movement (1960’s)
The Hippie movement appeared in the 60’s and it was related to their liberal attitude and lifestyle.
They questioned authority and traditional values and they did a cultural revolution.
The hippie culture did not want to conform to society and created their own world trying to escape from reality with drugs.
The hippie generation had influences on music, television and film. It made marks on practices, fashion, hairstyles, the arts, religion and meditation.
The hippies stood for peace, love and freedom and the only way to reached these was though love and tolerance.
It was important to bring virtue, humanity and brotherhood, so they approved the Civil Right movement and protested against Vietnam War.
They developed a close relationship to nature and concerned as environmental pollution, recycling and organic food.
The movement has peaked near the end of the 1960’s with Woodstock.
Woodstock
It was the most important music festival held in 1969 in White lake, New York. It had celebrated from August 15 to August 17 and there were 3 days of “Peace and Music”
At first organizers (Michael Lang, John P. Roberts, Joel Rosenman and Artie Kornfeld) decided to sell tickets, but a half million of people travelled to New York, the traffic was stuck and it was not enough secure and fence in the zone. So organisers decided that Woodstock would be free.
The field was covered in mud because of the raining weather, and the audience too. There were not enough bathrooms and comforts.
“Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and the conditions involved, there were two recorded fatalities: one from what was believed to be a heroin overdose and another caused in an accident when a tractor ran over an attendee sleeping in a nearby hayfield. There also were two births recorded at the event (one in a car caught in traffic and another in a hospital after an airlift by helicopter) and four miscarriages” said the news.
Besides if we talk about liberal attitude, sex free and drugs in the 1960’s a medicine change the world.
Oral Contraceptives (the Pill) were allowed to be sold by FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
This medicine Helped empower woman to control her pregnancies and prevented illnesses (uterine and ovarian cancers).
Women were free to enjoy spontaneous sex without fear of pregnancy.
This medicine allowed women to decide when she got pregnant.
But when the Pill was introduced in 1960 only married women could buy it. In 1967 single women started to get this pill.
You tube: John Lennon “give a peace of chance” (interview)
"El dìa que me encontré con Andy Warhol en la Municipalidad de La Plata", oil on linen, 2007 by La Plata´s Artist