Contemporary British Fiction. Cool Britannia and After: British Literature, Culture, and Society from the 1990s to the Present Session Two

Agenda A Tour of the 1990s: –Jay Roach, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) –Britpop –Britart –Heritage films –Foreign and domestic politics –What people remember

A Tour of the 1990s Jay Roach, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

A Tour of the 1990s: Britpop

BBC, ”Cool Britannia” Growing up in the 90s was fantastic, it seemed anything was possible, Britain was cool again, we had our own music, our own art, our own identity. Who'd have thought a few years down the line there would be debate on whether Britain even had an identity? In the 90s we did, and it was cool, working class kids were leaving school with optimism, the world seemed open to them, music was good, life was good, for once their seemed to be a government in charge that was making things positive. How did it all go wrong? Eddie Tyrell, Liverpool

A Tour of the 1990s: Politics Tony Blair 1994: Labour elects Blair 1995: dumps Clause Four: New Labour 1997: Landslide victory

A Tour of the 1990s: Britpop Oasis, ”Supersonic”: video and lyrics Blur, ”Girls and Boys”: video and lyrics Pulp, ”Common People”: video and lyrics The Spice Girls, ”Wannabe”: video and lyrics

A Tour of the 1990s: Britart Young British Artists Damien Hirst Tracey Emin

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991)

Mother and Child Divided (1993)

Tracey Emin, My Bed

Interpretations What sort of work of art are we dealing with?

Six Factors of Verbal Communication Roman Jakobson, ”Linguistics and Poetics” context Addressermessageaddressee contact code

Six Functions of Verbal Communication Roman Jakobson, ”Linguistics and Poetics” Referential Emotivepoeticconative phatic metalingual

Five Approaches to Art Contextual ExpressiveFormalistReader response (phatic) Structuralist

Saatchi Gallery commentary Tracey Emin My Bed 1998 Mattress, linens, pillows, objects 79 x 211 x 234 cm Tracey Emin shows us her own bed, in all its embarrassing glory. Empty booze bottles, fag butts, stained sheets, worn panties: the bloody aftermath of a nervous breakdown. By presenting her bed as art, Tracey Emin shares her most personal space, revealing she’s as insecure and imperfect as the rest of the world.

Herritage Film: Pride and Prejudice (1995)

The two openings Jane Austen Authorial comment by narrator (Telling) Dialogue between Mr and Mrs Bennett (Showing) The BBC