"The emergence of television as a mass medium of communication was the key turning point in improving leisure opportunities for the ordinary people of Britain." How far do you agree with this statement?
"The emergence of television as a mass medium of communication was the key turning point in improving leisure opportunities for the ordinary people of Britain." How far do you agree with this statement?
At the beginning of the 20th century, the lives of 'ordinary people' were not ideally suited to the world of leisure. An urbanised workforce and an economy geared toward industry saw lower-class people working long hours at a low pay rate. This style of living left hardly any free time and disposable income, both key requirements for leisure opportunities. The aristocracy had always revelled in the world of leisure; their high incomes and low maintenance professions gave them a perfect framework for pursuits such as dancing, theatre going, hunting, socialising and horse riding.
Although there were popular activities of the working classes - family games within the home for example, or more commonly, an evening spent in the local pub - leisure was limited. I believe that television was the key form of mass communication to improve the leisure opportunities of the working classes as it was accessible, cheap, and knew how to cater for changing styles and tastes.
When television was first introduced on a wide scale in 1936 only a small percentage of the British public owned a television license. It's initial emergence as a mass medium was therefore not a turning point, as the 'ordinary people' simply did not have access to it. It was difficult for television to flourish before the fifties anyway, due to the condition of Britain prior to world war two. The earliest form of television had actually been introduced in the late twenties for a trial run, but the economic slump of the decade guaranteed an impossible environment in which to launch it. The British workers were in a poor situation, and leisure opportunities would have been at the bottom of their priorities list. Shortly afterward, the country was gearing up for war and with the emphasis on this preparation the BBC was forced by the government to shut down television broadcasting until 1945.
As a result of the impracticalities of earlier decades, television was not a widespread phenomenon until the 1950s, when in 1952 the first televised coronation of Elizabeth II took place, with the BBC dedicating a whole day to the coverage. 50% of the population watched the ceremony (a figure of around 25 million people) and sales of television sets rocketed prior to the event. I would argue that it was the 1950s and onwards, in which television became a crucial part of 'ordinary' people's leisure time. As part of the consumer culture of the fifties, the sale of ...
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As a result of the impracticalities of earlier decades, television was not a widespread phenomenon until the 1950s, when in 1952 the first televised coronation of Elizabeth II took place, with the BBC dedicating a whole day to the coverage. 50% of the population watched the ceremony (a figure of around 25 million people) and sales of television sets rocketed prior to the event. I would argue that it was the 1950s and onwards, in which television became a crucial part of 'ordinary' people's leisure time. As part of the consumer culture of the fifties, the sale of television sets increased massively - more than 42,000 sets were sold every month in 1950 and this figure had more than tripled by the mid 1950s when 140,500 sets were sold per month in Britain.
Television seemed to be ideally suited to the working classes; it was cheap (after the initial purchase of the set and a television license, no extra fees were needed), based in the home (travelling would have cost extra money), family orientated (working class families were usually larger than those of other classes) and a relaxing leisure pursuit after a long day at work. The environment of the 1950s was significantly different from those of the 20s, 30s and 40s. Britain was considerably wealthier due to the post-war boom shared by other countries such as America, there was full employment and the importance of leisure seemed to grow - especially with the influence of 1950s American youth culture.
Television's ability to change and adapt to the interests of the 'ordinary' classes and the youth of the decade was also something that set it aside from other forms of mass communication. Whilst BBC radio had come under criticism for being too elitist, television (especially during the 1960s) made a real effort to represent the working classes. By the late 50s ITV was producing very popular 'variety shows'- a mix of comedy, music and other light entertainment wrapped in a family package - which appealed to a mass audience. Television's interest in the needs and wants of the majority continued into the sixties.
The 1960s has been described as the decade of 'television revolution', with the introduction of many new programmes designed for the working classes. The new ITV channel had been very successful since it's launch in 195_ and the BBC split into BBC1 and BBC2 in the early sixties, with colour being introduced in 1968. Political satire (such as That was the week that was) challenged the idea that politicians were 'better' people, and black comedies such as Steptoe and Son took a bleak but realistic look at ordinary peoples lives. Television had become so important to the ordinary people of Britain by the 1960s, that it was feared to have an effect on voting turnout. In 196_ Steptoe and Son was postponed until after the polls had closed to encourage working class Labour supporters to register their vote, and possibly as a result, Wilson won the election. Television's popularity continued into the seventies, where statistics showed that around 90% of the British public owned a television, and the extreme popularity of new shows gave seventies' television the title of 'the Golden Era'.
In comparison with cinema, television has been substantially more important as a leisure opportunity on a longer timescale. However, it could be argued that the cinema of the thirties was also a key turning point in the improvement of leisure opportunities for 'ordinary people'. Undoubtedly, cinema was the most important form of working class leisure in the 1930s. Dubbed the 'essential social habit of the age' by A.J.P. Taylor, we can see that the attendance figures of the decade were huge, on a nationwide scale and rising throughout the thirties. Attendance statistics rose from 903 million in 1934 to a massive 990 million in 1939 and cinema construction boomed - with an average of 160 new cinemas in Britain every year between 1926 and 1939. Big cities such as Birmingham could boast to homing 110 cinemas by the end of the thirties, a two-fold increase since the end of world war one.
Despite a middle class following in the newly built 'cinema palaces', cinemagoers were more often working class, due to a number of reasons. Whereas other forms of leisure at the time were expensive (such as the theatre) the cinema offered enjoyment even to the downtrodden sectors of society. Many cinemas offered a cut rate during the middle of the day - giving the unemployed a chance to enjoy themselves. Cinemas were important to urban communities, as independent exhibitors controlled the majority of picture houses, (only 21% of cinemas in the thirties were owned by major companies) and looking at the situation of cinemas of the decade, we discover that most were found in the traditional working class areas of northern England, Scotland and southern Wales.
The experience of going to the cinema was very important to the working classes. Despite being the source of news for many people (especially as the war drew closer) it was also regarded as a type of social 'club', and an escape from the harsh realities of economically depressed Britain. The importance of leisure changed after world war one - even though many were hit by depression, those who were lucky enough to work found themselves in a changed society. Women had a slightly less subservient attitude after their role as workers during the war and began to go out more often. Leisure found an audience, as people were more willing to spent their money on the cinema, football games and dancehalls rather than other commodities such as alcohol. Workers had their hours reduced after the war and the average working week of the twenties went from 54 to 48 hours, leaving the working classes with more free time.
Trade unions became more powerful after the war and in 1938 negotiated paid holidays - giving workers the opportunity to spent more money during their leisure time. Into this environment, cinema made a huge impact and played a key role in providing the ordinary people with an appropriate leisure activity - it was cheap, widely available and tied in with the strong sense of community found in traditional working class areas. However, it could not compete with television and even by the end of the 1930s, cinema owners were anxious about the threat TV could pose.
On a timescale of the last 60 years, it would be accurate to say that while cinema has gradually died in popularity, television has gone from strength to strength. Between 1946 and the 1980s 15,00 cinemas closed down all over Britain and the average attendance figure shot down from 40 times a year to only 1.2. Whereas after world war two, television became what cinema had been beforehand. Furthermore, unlike the popularity of cinema, television-viewing figures climbed to dizzying heights in the seventies when audiences could reach numbers of ____ for certain shows such as 'The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special' of 197_. Compared to the changing prices of other leisure activities, the traditional television package has remained relatively inexpensive, yet has improved technologically and has stayed in tune with youth culture. In the nineties television caters for all sectors of society - whether it be due to the choice of programming or channels found on terrestrial TV (ITV is commonly known to provide shows aimed at a more working class audience whilst Channel 4 is often identified as a more youth orientated channel) or the vast amount of channels on satellite and digital television ranging from Punjabi music television to gardening channels.
I believe that television was the key turning point in providing leisure opportunities to the 'ordinary people of Britain'.
