Watching these I was struck by how a certain generation was raised on a very MR James idea of 'public health' in PIFs. How much anxiety and fear did those of us born before 1980 experience when thinking of driving, trains, ponds, pets, household plugs, floor polish etc. etc. - in fact anything in everyday life symbolised by ghosts, madness, violent deaths and the rest? Then along came Thatcher and 'public information' was relegated as some socialist folly - but then we were growing up on 'Threads' (made to look like a PIF), 'The Day After' and any number of apocalyptic kid's books and super-heroes (Judge Dredd's facist wasteland replacing Dan Dare's techno utopia) and pretentious nuclear war-based pop videos. No wonder today's thirtysomethings have become a scurrying, suspicious set of terrrified nimbies! Raised on all that fear - we had to place it somewhere. Too bad today's kids are paying the sad price for it...
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Then along came Thatcher and 'public information' was relegated as some socialist folly - but then we were growing up on 'Threads' (made to look like a PIF), 'The Day After' and any number of apocalyptic kid's books and super-heroes (Judge Dredd's facist wasteland replacing Dan Dare's techno utopia) and pretentious nuclear war-based pop videos.
No wonder today's thirtysomethings have become a scurrying, suspicious set of terrrified nimbies! Raised on all that fear - we had to place it somewhere. Too bad today's kids are paying the sad price for it...
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