That 70s Show.

I watched the Channel 4 program 'It Was Alright In The 70s' the other week. It featured TV programmes from the 70's and what they used to show that they couldn't show now. There were lots of references to what would now be considered casual homophobia, racism and inappropriate sexual references mostly directed at school girls. The 70s used to be considered laughable as the 'decade that taste forgot' but now it's getting a much more sinister and malevolent reputation.

The world has moved on as it should and things that were acceptable to say and show then are not acceptable now, even if people still think it. What surprised me most was the shock and horror displayed by the younger generation of interviewees who weren't there at the time, the implication seemed to be that anyone who watched 'Benny Hill' should be a little ashamed of themselves. Those staples of 70s sitcom Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais came under fire for inappropriate references to paedophilia and even Carla Lane was mentioned for a casual mention of female rape fantasy. Clearly Jimmy Saville was the tip of the iceberg and everyone was at it. The younger generation were aghast.

Of course the production company set out to be provocative because that makes good Telly and I shouldn't be surprised at the modern reaction. The culture these days is for accusation and denouncement, pointing fingers and laying blame rather than a mild amusement for the past which didn't know any better. One needs to appear shocked and appalled in case you are deemed to be condoning it or complicit in some way. You can't be seen to laugh it off.

You Gotta Love the 70s.

They have had some successes in changing our cultural history by adapting 'Enid Blyton' stories and chopping out the characters they don't like. You won't find references to those three scallywags and petty crooks " Golly, Wolly and Nigger' any more. They have managed to erase Gary Glitter and are currently at work airbrushing out Jimmy Saville from the BBC archives along with a handful of other TV personalities. 

There were a lot of inappropriate references in the decade between the supposed liberation of the 60s and the social awaking of the 80s. In fact most of it was outrageously inappropriate. Perhaps we ought to save time by airbrushing the whole decade out at once and pretend it didn't happen. Mind you they are easily shocked these days, just trying using that old, mild playground insult 'spastic' and see what happens.