The 1970s Project

Corporatism, most simply understood as the operation of tripartite agreements between the government, trade unions and business, was a key feature of the 1970s’ industrial and political scene, which had emerged out of the British post-war consensus. It was both developed in the 1970s, as new forms of industrial representation and consultation were expanded upon, and challenged by the right and also the left, as the Keynesian welfarist accords came under assault.

My paper looks at some aspects of how industrial relations, changing ideas of entrepreneurship and corporatism were portrayed in a selection of 1970s' TV and film.

With regard to the early 1970s, I will assess how worker representation in the boardroom and industrial consultation were addressed by mainstream TV, by considering The Brothers (1972-1976), the BBC drama serial set in a road haulage firm. From the mid-1970s phase, I will explore how an idea of corporatism was represented in the post-apocalyptic BBC series Survivors (1975-1977).

Notions of entrepreneurship and corporatism will also be assessed in the film Jubilee (1978), particularly through the character Borgia Ginz. Derek Jarman’s biographer, Tony Peake, describes how the "despairing and angry mood" of the mid-seventies "awakened Jarman's passion and instinct for keeping abreast of the times" (Peake, 1999: 243), which is suggested in the film. Reflecting this concern, rather than considering Borgia Ginz in relation to film studies and Jarman’s other works, I situate Jubilee within critiques of corporatism and consider it in relation to Jarman’s anti-materialist reading throughout the film.