Dossier #6 TRADITION AND MODERNITY

“The sun never sets on the British Empire. "This famous quote is often used to show the large number of territories that Britain had all over the world during the seventeenth to the middle of the twentieth century. By extension, this also shows the scope of its influencel. The first of this set of three documents is the opening speech to the 2012 Olympic Games given by Academy Award winner film director Danny Boyles under whose direction the whole programme fell. At first sight Boyle’s text seem somewhat unrelated to the Olympics as it seems rather like a tribute to Britain and we get the impression that he was on a mission of patriotism lauding Britain as a great country.

However, to put this speech into perspective it may be worthwhile to bear in mind the fact that, as mandated by the Olympic Charter, the formal ceremonial opening of this international sporting event is combined with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation’s culture. We can therefore understand the relevance of the contents of this opening speech. In fact, the different sections of the ceremony were designed to reflect aspects of British history and culture.

Document 2 is the 2006 logo of the British Conservatist party. The previous logo of a torch which was used from 1983 until then was abandoned because of its negative association with the party under Margaret Thatcher. The torch emblem logo having been introduced in the Iron Lady’s eighties heyday, David Cameron wanted to distance himself from her. According to the editor of the Conservative Home Website, Tim Montgomery, the green in the logo reinforces what party leader David Cameron is trying to communicate in terms of a more environmentally friendly party. The former logo was therefore replaced by a scribbled drawing of a green and blue oak tree. Document 3 is an excerpt from Stanley Baldwin’s speech to the Royal Society of St. George, which is an English patriotic society established in 1894 to encourage interest in the English way of life, as well as English customs and traditions. It was given on 6th May, 1924 and it is entitled, “What England means to me.” In this speech Stanley Baldwin who was a Conservatist focuses on the traditional English way of life and the core values of the Englishman. He regrets their disappearance and feels convinced that in spite of the fact that they are no longer present, English people deep down yearn for and are always in search of this way of life, in particular, that environment in which their forefathers lived, as this is an inborn need in English people and the more time goes by and people become estranged from it, the more they crave and yearn for it.

The documents span a period of eighty-eight years, that is from 1924 to 2012 and it is particularly interesting to note that although they all deal essentially with the representation of a people, document C unlike the other two documents which focus

on Britain, deals with the idea of Englishness rather than Britishness. England being the largest constituent part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, accounting for eighty-three per cent of its population and most of its economic activity, is however the seat of power of the entity called Great Britain. I will therefore not take into account any differences between England and Great Britain. In light of this we may wonder what image the major proponents of Britishness over the years have wanted to depict of Britain and how do the notions of tradition and modernity come into play in the picture depicted. In order to answer this question I will look at the idea of Britishness versus Englishness, next I will concentrate on Britain as a changing society, and last but not least, I will look at Britain as a Great society and a world leader responsible for changes that has had far-reaching effects.

Great Britain came into being in 1707. However, In document 1 Danny Boyle mentions the names of many people of whom Britain can be proud such as Abraham Darby who was one of the pioneers in the Industrial Revolution, Tim Berners-Lee, another Briton who sparked the World Wide Web. He goes on to mentioning great poets such as Shakespeare, Blake, and Milton, but all these people are English born so we may wonder if his talk about Britishness and the essentials of being British is much different from the discourse held in document C by Stanley Baldwin. Could Britishness be just a political coat? If not, why is no mention made of the English pioneers? Boyle is in reality boasting the exploits of English people under the cloak of Britishness. Does he really mean to present Britain as a great nation or England as a great nation? In speaking about the digital revolution which started in 1990 he uses the term Briton, "another Briton sparked another revolution", but how many members of the British society really refer to themselves as Britons ? Not many anyway. Most people, except for those of immigrant origins, representing only about ten percent of the British population tend to refer to themselves first as English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh. Gynfor Evans, Welsh nationalist politician, said that Britishness is a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, Welsh , and the Irish. We can therefore see that within Great Britain there's a feeling of layered national identity.

It is therefore not surprising that in addressing the Royal Society of St. George, an English patriotic society established in 1894 to encourage interest in the English way of life, as well as English customs and traditions, Stanley Baldwin echoes what England as a country and a nation means to him. Englishness as far as he is concerned is embedded in traditional English values , customs, and way of life; just what the society he was addressing tries to promote. However, he focuses on traditional values and customs, "the tinkle of hammer and anvil in the country smithy; things that existed before the Industrial Revolution and the era of modernization that Danny Boyle is so proud of and tries to highlight in document 1. Englishness represents for the Royal Society the love of home, "it makes for that love of home, one of the strongest features of our race"( l. 20,21). In fact , the word home is used

five different times between lines 20 and 25 and it certainly carries with it the deeper meaning of homeland in reference to England, and thus the idea of patriotism to this land and not to the larger entity Britain.

Since Great Britain was formed before the Royal Society of St. George it is clear that in this speech Baldwin is, in the name of , and on behalf of this society reminiscing about the old days; the old days long before the Industrial Revolution and before Great Britain was created. We can therefore see how dynamic the process of change from modernity to tradition and from tradition to modernity is.England has evolved to become Britain but at the same time England and Englishness still exists at the heart of this new society, even if in some aspects it is only in the minds and desires of some people who because of their search for national identity seem not to welcome certain changes.

Danny Boyle on the other hand, has a different perspective of the situation with regards to change. He says in document A “at some point in their history most nations experience a revolution that changes everything about them”, and this is no less true of the United Kingdom as the Industrial Revolution which started there has changed not only everything about that nation but “everything about the whole of human existence”. Document 3 echoes the same idea of change due to the advent of the Industrial Revolution but unlike document 1 which presents these changes in a positive light,("out of his genius flowed the mills ,looms, engines") the speaker in this document rather deplores the absence of the sights,(the sight of a plow”,(line 2) the sounds, “tinkle of hammer on the anvil in the country smithy, the corncrake on a dewey morning, the sound of the scythe against the whetstone (lines1,2), and smells of what was characteristic of England before the Industrial Revolution, “the smell of wood smoke coming in an autumn evening, or the smell of the scutch fires: that wood smoke that our ancestors” (lines 8,9). It would therefore seem that in order to be able to recapture the image of a changing Britain one must use his senses. Danny Boyle heralds the same idea in document 1 when he repeatedly says "You'll hear the glorious noise of our unrivalled pop culture. You'll see characters from our great children's literature (. …........... )You'll see ordinary families(..............) you'll glimpse........" Although Boyle and Baldwin express different opinions about changes in the British society they do seem to agree on the means to be employed in understanding the picture painted of Britain that Document 2 seems however to put people to the test when it comes to the use of the sense of sight because some people seem to have had problems identifying be what it really is. One person said it looks like a Broccoli while others say it looks like a child's scribble..

This modernized logo reflecting the concerns of the day is also a reflection of a changing Britain as the torch emblem representing enlightenment (knowledge) has become somewhat obsolete in the age of technology and information) and has therefore been replaced by an oak tree symbolizing strength, endurance, renewal,

growth and the word-wide concerns for the deteriorating environment. This logo is also considered as one that lends itself readily to change reflecting a dynamic and changing society. As a matter of fact, it has been modified since its conception in 2006. We therefore see a moving away from the traditional emblem of the torch to a new one; an environmentally friendly logo which has more symbolic significance to the new concerns of the modern day Conservatist party with regards to ecology. A change which takes place at the heart of a party that happens to have a name derived from the verb conserve.

. In document 3 Stanley Baldwin mentions a longing for the contact with nature his ancestors had that modern day English people don’t have but which he feels is innate to the English, “when they were still nomads, and when they were still roaming the plains of the continent of Europe. These things strike down into the very depths of our nature”, (lines 9, 10). In fact , the green tree logo in document 2 is the best representation of nature one could ever have. Also, it is particularly interesting in light of the idea of tradition and modernity are as we see in one document the Conservatist pary whose guiding principles is to represent traditional values , in this case those represented by the red white and blue torch, actually changing for something that represents other values. At the same time it is confirming Baldwin’s idea in document 3 that the English are always in quest of nature, “the working man and woman after generations in the towns will have their tiny bit of garden if they can, will go to gardens if they can, to look at something they have never seen as children, but which their ancestors knew and loved. The love of these things is innate and inherent in our people”, lines 17-20).” The modern day logo may be seen as symbolic of nature, therefore representing the inborn need in the English people for gardens that Baldwin speaks about. Therefore, the needs of the English people in document 1 has over time become the needs of the British people.. This shows us yet another movement between tradition and modernity. What one hails as traditional is what another hails as modernity almost a hundred years later. Where then do the differences lie in these two concepts?

According to Stanley Baldwin, the traditional way of life of English families that represents England have drastically changed, "the last load at night of hay being drawn down a lane as the twilight comes on, when you can scarcely distinguish the figures on the horses as they take it home to the farm" (lines 5-8). As far as he's concerned, most modern day people have not had as children "the things that make England", (line14). He also says that in spite of this lack working men and women even after generations of city life still strive to have the things that make England, "that their ancestors knew and loved" and that they never had during their childhood. Document 1 tells the spectators at the Olympic games "you'll see our ordinary families" but what he means by ordinary families would no doubt be in contradiction with Baldwin's idea were he alive today. Boyle also mentions great children's literature and singing children which is in contrast to the children of the nomadic ancestors roaming the forests of Europe depicted by Baldwin. The need for this kind

of wild environment which Baldwin says are chords that resonate inside of English people is what leads them to Dominions overseas where they make homes peculiar to the English.

This making of homes according to Stanley Baldwin is one of the sources of greatness of the English people. (line24). Also on line 35-36 he pursues the idea of greatness of the English race in the following words," we still have among us the gifts of that great English race". Danny Boyle also follows up on the idea of Britain as a great nation in his Olympic speech.He knew he was addressing millions of spectators who were present at the games in England and who were watching on live television the world over. This was a showcase event, an opportunity to present Britain to the world at large. The great Britannia had lost power with the loss of her colonies, and due to the result of the two world wars and this was a good occasion to remind the world of who she is. The opening sentence of his speech is a quotation of the the words of a world of the great and well- renowned English poet William Shakespeare. In his speech Boyle also makes several references to greatness and outstanding performance. For example, "great children's literature", "extraordinary athletes, "amazing special effects", and "unrivalled pop culture". The symbol chosen by the Conservatist party is said to represent strength and endurance which suggests long lasting effect rather than greatness but the whole idea of this new logo seems paradoxical as changing a logo may be considered contrary to the very idea of endurance. It gives the impression of instability which may be assimilated to weakness.

Britain was a world empire so she was used to disseminating her culture abroad. According to Boyle she has accomplished many things that have had far-reaching effects on the world at large and he justifies this by speaking about the effects of the Industrial Revolution that gave rise to all the machines and techniques that build the world we live in. Boyle says that the Olympic Opening "is for everyone, "the World Wide Web is for everyone", "and the belief that we can build Jerusalem and it will be for everyone". This shows that Great Britain really considers herself as a word leader.

In document 3 we also the idea of English people building the world as "they go overseas and they take with them what they learned at home: love of justice, love of truth, and the broad humanity that are so characteristic of English people". The same notion of building the world, and in fact a better word is echoed in is in document 1 in the following words," the idea of Jerusalem- a better world…....."). So we see that both documents 1 and 3 focus on building a world where people can be happy hence the idea of love, justice truth and humanity in document 3 and of the "caring nation that built the welfare state in document1.

These documents therefore show us different images of Britain but whether these images fall under the heading Great Britain or England there are basic similarities and differences in the way different factions of the British society see Britain. Some see it through the prism of a rural England of the past and certain values which they consider as representative of the English but not necessarily of the British at large. The other two parties on the other hand see a Britain that is constant changing and