Martin Parr - Think of England (1999)

Celebrated photographer Martin Parr travels around England during the summer of 1998, armed with a DV camera and a mission to define 'Englishness' through the nation's subjects.
Think of England (tx. 27/4/1999), shown as part of the BBC's Modern Times series, continues Martin Parr's project, documented over thirty years as a Magnum photographer, to expose the eccentricities and casual bigotry of England's white 'moral majority'. The film's rainswept resorts, dual-carriageway picnics, and village-of-the-damned fetes are unmistakably English, but Parr's surrealistic style (ugly close-ups of a bulging bicep with blurred "Liz" tattoo, or the naked lunch of a cardiac-inducing Sunday roast) is more reminiscent of American photographers Garry Winogrand and William Eggleston, and film-maker David Lynch. For example, a day-glo red rose in Think of England, adrift in a concrete garden, echoes Blue Velvet's (US, d. Lynch, 1986) suburban nightmares, yet here the national symbol is transformed into a powerful metaphor for a falsely proud and isolated island.
Like Lynch, Parr has been accused of trading warmth for wit and turning humans into laboratory rats under microscopic inspection. Certainly, Think of England (the "lie back and..." allusion of its title is an early clue to Parr's satirical intentions) is a far cry from the so-called objectivity of the "observational style". Rather, it is a highly subjective state of the nation address, a portrait of England's white tribes as terrifyingly insular, racist (whether the working-class Wolverhamptonian who tells Parr, "Do what Enoch Powell says, send 'em all back" or the Hooray-at-Henley who bemoans the sale of his beloved Rolls Royce to BMW: "the Germans"), and full of empty jingoism. "We won two world wars and one world cup," barks a youth as if on autopilot, to which his friend replies, "All we're good at is moaning."
While Think of England touches cursorily on sexual politics and the North/South divide, Parr's subjects are ultimately of a type, united under a Union Jack and a permanently grey sky. As the film reaches its climax on Blackpool pier, biblical storms whistle up mini-skirts and candyfloss crashes to earth. "I love it. Reminds me of my childhood," insists a woman bent double by the gales. It's the kind of 'English dottiness' much beloved of British film and TV, that usually signifies heroic endurance or, at worst, lovable eccentricity; here, it's a symptom of pathological self-delusion, patriotism as the last refuge of a nation. -- Joe Sieder

[@draganmikki5688]

This is Martin Parr's best work. It gets more relevant and better as the time goes by. The sign of the true classic. Brilliant.

[@mildredhighcock7333]

My favourite piece by him. I'll always remember the Liverpudlian lady

[@ArthurFellig]

Awesome! Long live England! Long live Britain! Big love from the U.S.A!

[@annejgibson4427]

i think they would take exception to being called "British"..

[@moffattF]

Saw part of the film & lots of Martin's photos in an exhibition in the Vienna Hundertwasser Art Museum. Having lived in Switzerland for nearly a decade I mostly meet foreigners so this really brings home a lot of what being British is about. Believe me Britain has a lot to be proud of but also has a great deal to learn from other cultures. In the new Brexit era this is something I think of a lot.

[@annejgibson4427]

i think they would take exception to being called "British"..

[@michaelwittmann1973]

I was an exchange student in England in 1999. Great times. Greetings from Germany.

[@poopbreak]

“I feel so fraught at having my photo taken, I’d betta have another” 😂🍸 Parr was brilliant, is brilliant ..

[@AnnabelleJARankin]

Fantastic. Sadly, I think much has changed for the worse since this was filmed.

[@3zObafouzr]

The 20 secs starting from 38:59 gets a large part of the way towards encapsulating the english mindset. Such a great little snippet.

[@MistaSpookie]

Brilliant.

[@edkent8140]

A really great doc. Some very interesting, funny and terrifying contributions!

[@psbzu]

Marvelous, if anything he could have visited Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. During the late 90´s and early 2000´s it was a special kind of England.

[@myblueandme]

The title should be. What do drunk people think of England?

[@clothmonkeybag]

thanks for loading.....makes me both proud & scared to be from the uk

[@mariofilipenatividaderamos3523]

Genial photographer

[@pearl.jasmine]

This is amazing!

[@fiscalhairy]

superb Martin

[@themajesticbulldog3832]

1999 was the year I was born

[@Rustynuckles1]

I cant help but really enjoy listening to the british acent, compared to me.. theres something about the britsh

[@annejgibson4427]

i think they would take exception to being called "British"..

[@keeperofthecheese]

Oh my god that liverpool girl...

[@quantumeseboy]

The English self image is so ironic.

[@RuanndaSilva]

When girls looked normal and not like a stuffed plastic duck taking selfies