Hacker Cinema
Scum
1979 · Film · 96 min
Directed by Alan Clarke
Carlin is a new reform school inmate with a reputation as a hard case. The authorities encourage gang leader Pongo to humble Carlin, but Carlin overtakes Pongo as Daddy of the ward. The guards institute a reign of terror and neglect, with Carlin emerging as an unlikely leader.
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3 comments on Hacker News
There's a scene in the 1979 film Scum (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079871/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) where one of the warders in a young offenders' institution allows a bullied inmate to be framed by his peers and punishes him.
When I saw that (not long after it was released) I thought how well that captured the spirit of many school interactions, where bullies would blame their victim and the teachers would fall for it.
Great TV show/comedy, but for a more realistic insight into prisons of the time, the film Scum(1979) seems more on the nail.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079871/
This really nails the psychological atmosphere of my late 70s-early 80s British childhood. I remember being terrified of rabies thanks to films and posters like the one in the article, and believing that I would one day have to fight the Soviets in some foggy, anthrax infested field. All before I was ten years old!
This diminished as the 80s went on, along with that sense of Orwellian paternalism that seemed to suffuse British life (see films like Scum, If..., The Offence) - Perhaps it was the shadow side of the "cradle-to-grave" era which ended with Thatcher - a welfare state administered by former aristocratic imperialists. I don't know. I was too young to have a handle on it, and like the creator of Scarfolk, the time has a kind of mythological existence for me.
The article mentions how the creator of Scarfolk was inspired by public information films. These were a source of pure terror to any kid who grew up in 70s-80s Britain.
Imagine you are watching something fun on childrens TV, then, out of nowhere a short horror film appears - only, as the authoritarian narrator reveals - this isn't fiction - this is real. You couldn't watch tv without the fear of some horrible thing being shown at random. There were certain times of day when they were more likely and you could feel the dread mounting as they approached.
Here's an example of the wholesome and educational material 80s kids were subjected to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfOLN9Z1yw
This scared the crap out of me as a child. If you're at all interested in horror or propaganda then I highly recommend them! There are a bunch of them on youtube.