Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Mrs T doc

I'm not suggesting this will provide direct material for your exam, but it would be useful to give you a wider sense of the huge changes that have taken place in the UK over the last half century. Starting at the dawn of the 60s and ending on the period of Thatcher in power that is the subject matter for so many UK films, especially (left-wing, counter-hegemonic) social realist movies from Leigh, Loach, Meadows et al, the BBC doc also includes a fascinating insight into the beginnings of the modern media age. It shows how Thatcher was transformed - her voice, headwear, clothing, make-up, hair - by media adviser Gordon Reece to appear more acceptable, and touches on the emergence of political advertising (the iconic Labour Isn't Working poster campaign by Saatchi + Saatchi).
You can (for 2 weeks only) catch it on the iPlayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00c13bf/The_Making_of_the_Iron_Lady/

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