Social, historical and cultural contexts -> 1960’s and the Avengers

Social, historical and cultural contexts -> 1960’s and the Avengers

Television drew up upon this tradition while at the same time responding to the social and cultural changes of the 1960’s

Series 4, episode 1

‘the town of no return’

Brief summary

Steed and Emma, are on the trail of the several murdered agents. They visit little bazeley by the sea, a town that strangers rarely leave alive - and discover it is being secretly infiltrated (invaded) by enemy agents.

London had just been transformed from the bleak, conservative city, only just beginning to forget the troubles of the second world war, into the capital of the world, full of freedom, hope and promise.
Young people were given a choice!
Parents of the 60’s had spent their teenage years fighting for their lives and wanted their children to enjoy their youth and have fun.

Music in the 60’s

Britain invasion groups e.g. the Beatles truly began its ground - breaking changes to music.
Beatles are an example of how music influenced young britons e.g. ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.
They experimented with new sound and develop innovative pieces of music, reflecting on the time - new era new Britain.
Young people began to stand up for their beliefs and their individuality.

Drug culture

Recreational dugs (drugs taken for entertainment rather than medically) were at their height in the 60’s and became more commonly used in the later part off the decade.
Images of the Woodstock festival show people high on marijuana and LSD, dancing in fields with paint on their face and their hair flowing free.
LSD made people feel happy and optimistic and helped bring about the ‘hippie’ movement.
The effects of these arts were also reflected in psychedelic art, music and films

Feminism

1960’s - the feminist movement
Protests, women’s liberations groups
1965 -> use of contraceptives/safe birth control. This changed the relationships attitudes to many young women to sex and sexuality.
Lawsuit for equal pay -> women were paid significantly less (60%) than men
Fighting for reproductive freedom - women’s abortion rights.
Women rights in the workplace -> women had lower salaries and worked ‘pink collar’ jobs such as secretaries, not professional ‘white collar’ jobs such as lawyers/doctors.

Emma peel

Clothes of peel and fighting ability -> this demonstrated modern liberated femininity. She embodies the new international fashion in women who like to dress and fight like men./ slightly ahead of fashion at the time.
Leather outfit (originally designed for freedom of movement) added to the highly fetishistic dimension, which was far removed from the ‘girl-next-door’ image that was represented in TV during the 50’s -> a social, cultural change in society

Sexuality

In 1963, the minorities research group (MRG) became the uk’s first lesbian social and political organisation. They went on to publish their own lesbian magazine called ‘arena three’
In 1966, Humphrey Berkeley introduced a law to legalise make homosexual relations. He lost his seat in parliament due to his actions to legalise gay sex.
Gay men who were publicly gay, were either sent to prison or put into a mental institution.
If men were sent to mental institutions, they endured experimentation, torture, pain-causing drugs and electroshock therapy as a cure for homosexuality.
Mid 60’s, gay activists became increasingly aware of the threat of prison.

Russian spies

After WW2, the united states and the soviet union were the world’s strongest nations
The cold war (1945-91) was a long period of tension between the democracies of the western world and the communist countries of eastern Europe.
there was great distrust between the soviet union and the rest of the Allies.
The west was led by the united states and eastern Europe was led by the Soviet Union. These two countries became known as superpowers.
Arms race -> who had the better weapons?
Space rest -> who could accomplish space race first?
The cold war came to an end with the collapse of the soviet union in 1991.

Paranoia was common during the cold war - due to propaganda, ignorance, fear and secrecy.
The threat of replacement ‘insiders’ in the avengers reflects the paranoia generated by the cold war, compared the more everyday threat of crime in cuffs

How is this context represented in the avengers

It takes for granted the existence of a Russian spy ring in Britain…
Steed knows where their headquarters are. And this episode aired at the time when the reality of soviet unions were penetrating the British intelligence.
English system is seen as an obstacle, preventing the Russians from carrying out their plans.

Ethnicities

Ethnic minorities - a group within a community which has different national born cultural traditions from the main population.

Gender

Post sexual revolution:

Women vs Men

More females than ever were entering the paid workforce, and this increased the dissatisfaction among women regarding huge gender differences in pay and advancement and sexual harassment at the workplace.
By the end of the 60’s, more than 80% of wives of childbearing age were using the contraception after the federal government in 1960 approved a birth control pill -> this provided women with a lot more freedom.
Basic goals of the sixties feminists: equal pay for equal work, an end to end domestic violence, restricting service limits on women in managerial jobs, an end to end sexual harassment, and sharing of responsibility for housework and child upbringing.
The mini skirt was designed to be free and liberating for women, allowing them to “run and jump”
In 1968 at a ford factory in Dagenham, 850 women went on strike, arguing for equal pay with their male co-workers. This action resulted in the passing of the equal pay act of 1970
Cigarette advertisements always featured attractive men, most often in suits, but from the 1960’s on, advertisements also showed rugged men in outdoor settings.

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