History & Practice Session 12: 80s British Culture

The cultural texts of 1980s Britain can be separated into official culture and unofficial culture. The former consists of popular media - films, TV, art and design - that was mainstream, commercially produced and reflected cultural norms. The latter consists largely of small scale media that appealed to the working class and cult followings - inspired by the political events of the times, unofficial culture was contrarian and rebelled against the Thatcherite zeitgeist.

The task for this session was to create a visual moodboard halved into examples of official and unofficial culture. On the top half of my moodboard are official examples, such as the TV show 'Only Fools and Horses' which gained a mass commercial following in 80s Britain. On the bottom half of the moodboard are unofficial examples, such as the indie band 'The Primitives' which earned a more cult following.