The first thing I noticed when trawling through the collection was that white people were much whiter in the past. In the 1970s, before you could fly to Malaga on Easyjet for 60 quid, the nearest most British people got to seeing the sun was taking a vandalised British Rail train to Clacton-on-Sea. The lack of vitamin D is almost squint-worthy in two short films about the punk era. [...]
Getting naked was clearly a thing that young alternative people did back then. Imagine 20-year-old lads today standing around at Glasto 2016, ankle-deep in mud with the sound of Foals drifting from the main stage, bottle of Magners in hand, willies out. Inhibition has replaced exhibitionism.
Besides the odd royal wedding, Britain has never really been that good at finding ways for people to come together in the streets. Grove Carnival shows how the Caribbean community gave Britain the annual party it badly needed, Notting Hill Carnival. Made in 1981 (the same year as the Brixton Riots), the film is a beautiful snapshot of everything good about Carnival. Steelpan music resonates through west London streets. A beaming Darcus Howe parades in costume. Kids wave at the camera. Black, white, Asian and mixed-race people sway to calypso beats. Afros and drainpipe jeans are seriously on point. It's life-affirming stuff.
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