Blog Two - Imagined Interiors

Blog 2 Imagined Interiors

Mengham, Rod “Anthropology at Home: domestic interiors in British film and fiction of the 1930s and 1940s.” in Aynsely, Jeremy & Grant, Charlotte (Eds.) Imagined Interiors: Representing the Domestic Interior Since the Renaissance London: V & A Publications, 2006 244-255 Print.

1. What was the focus of the essay?

The essay examines how set design in film and fictional descriptions of interiors were used to convey ideas about the state of Britain in the 1930s and 1940s.

2. What did you learn from reading it?

I learnt about how concerns about social issues were conveyed in novels and film through choices made in set design and literary descriptions of interiors.

3. What aspects of the interior were focused upon in these representations? (i.e. particular spaces, particular social events, arrangements of objects) What was valued then? Is it still valued now? If not, what is valued now?

4. How are these representations of the interior analysed by the author of the essay in relation to the religious, and/or social, and cultural values that were important at the specific time and place they were constructed?

In the 1930s and 40s in UK film sets and novels the focus was on the cleanliness and orderliness of the interior (or otherwise), the functionality and degree of comfort and the extent to which it was cluttered or crowded and symmetrically laid out. Objects in the interior also performed the function of “taste indicators”. These elements were used to signal information about the psychological and moral state of the people living in these settings, as well as their social class, to the viewing audience. “Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the domestic interior appears in film and fiction as a kind of stage for acting out of certain ideas about society, addressing issues of standardization and individuality, of order and threats to that order, class and national character and of cultural continuity.” (Mengham 251)

The focus of the representations on order and cleanliness reflect the value placed on stability, composure and order in British society in the 1930s and 40s, as well as the class consciousness of the society at that time.

Mengham mentions a variety of socio-political issues that were important in the UK in the 1930s and 1940s that were addressed in film. Left and right agendas were pursued by film makers. As part of the “mass observation” movement, there was an effort to document the living conditions of the working class. On the other side of the political fence, in one movie, the dangers of the introduction of a National Health Service were examined by movie makers who were concerned about England moving in a Socialist political direction.

ln the 1940s, after the extensive bombing of the war years, there were a number of movies set in the midst of bombed-out interiors and some l0oked at how survivors adapted to the new reality. Mengham also states that concerns about juvenile delinquency and a gang behavior were also a theme of movies in this time frame, often in the context of a wider moral breakdown in society. I think some of these issues arose out of some criminality seen in the context of the war – rationing and black market trading.

The art of set design has moved on a great deal from the 1940s, to allow a more realistic depiction of three dimensional space in film interiors and the introduction of colour. If we look at contemporary film set design we can see a similar use of movie interiors for acting out ideas about society, but with a far greater focus on the selection of objects, colours and materials, reflecting what we value today and technical changes in film production. The change also reflects the contemporary power of advertising in linking social status to brand names, the greater appreciation of good design amongst the general public as well as the increase in affluence.

An example of the contemporary use of colour and brand name objects in the set design can be seen in this image of the apartment of the central character in the film American Psycho. Bateman is extremely style and brand name conscious and he has an extremely stylish apartment for the period in which the film is set (1980s). He is also a violent psychopath. In this movie, the values of “yuppie culture” are examined especially the focus on brand names and materialism.

Patrick Bateman’s Apartment

Image Source: http://upstagedbydesign.com/2011/08/06/american-psycho-foreign-collector/

The interior of his apartment is stylish, monochromatic and contains furniture from big name designers like Mackintosh, van der Rohe and Piva. However the whiteness conveys a sense of sterility, coldness and unease.

In the movie Down with Love Barbara Novak is a feminist writer of self help books for women. However the set design features curvy furniture in shades of pink and white shag pile carpet suggesting that under the tough exterior she has a softer side than her outward behavior suggests.

 

Barbara Novak’s Apartment  

Image Source:

The movie is a kind of homage to 1960s comedies but also addresses issues about “what women want” and the role of feminism in contemporary society. The set design suggests that underneath it all, we want pink curvy, cuddly things.

Works Cited

Mengham, Rod “Anthropology at Home: domestic interiors in British film and fiction of the 1930s and 1940s.” in Aynsely, Jeremy & Grant, Charlotte (Eds.) Imagined Interiors: Representing the Domestic Interior Since the Renaissance London: V & A Publications, 2006 244-251 Print.