Last Exit To Candlerise
So Lark Rise To Candleford has finally come to an end. This series (which I have occasionally glanced at out of the corner of my eye) has seen the ladies of the village briefly putting aside their copies of the June 1890 edition of Take a Break to goggle at hunky newcomer Gabriel, as he bangs away at his ironmongery. 'Hold this still while I show it who's master!', he commands a nearby urchin, who eagerly obliges.
Later in the series, the village is invaded by a python of possibly supernatural origin. What next, I think to myself - a killer robot? Perhaps that is the mysterious 'machine' Gabriel is slaving over in his forge...
But no, it turns out, in the very last episode, that he has invented the combine harvester. Or something. Everyone is quick to understand that this machine represents the end of their pastoral Eden. One old crone has dreamed of a burning chimney rising up from a field like...like a cack-handed symbol of industrialization. Or a massive penis.
But fans of LRTC are not after subtlety. They only want to escape back into a simpler time - a time of poverty, disease, and early death. A time when they wouldn't even have been able to get away from it all by watching Lark Rise To Candleford. Or even reading it, since it hadn't been written yet.
But what is there in this modern world to escape from? Everyone seems to be having a great time. Just look at The Joy Of Teen Sex on C4. 'Everyone I know is having sex on drugs', one teen blithely assures us. Another reaches into a carrier bag and says: 'I went shopping and I bought some drugs.' For a dizzy moment, I think that they are about to play that shopping list memory game ('I went shopping and I bought some drugs, and a vibrator.') Disappointingly, this is not the case.
A teenage girl attends the programme's 'clinic' with her Mum in tow. She has been dumped by her boyfriend because she refused to do it doggy-style. 'I found it difficult to cope with on her behalf', says her Mum, suggesting - or is that just me? - that she has been dutifully standing in.
Meanwhile, outside the window, a massive flaming penis rises up from the earth...
Later in the series, the village is invaded by a python of possibly supernatural origin. What next, I think to myself - a killer robot? Perhaps that is the mysterious 'machine' Gabriel is slaving over in his forge...
But no, it turns out, in the very last episode, that he has invented the combine harvester. Or something. Everyone is quick to understand that this machine represents the end of their pastoral Eden. One old crone has dreamed of a burning chimney rising up from a field like...like a cack-handed symbol of industrialization. Or a massive penis.
But fans of LRTC are not after subtlety. They only want to escape back into a simpler time - a time of poverty, disease, and early death. A time when they wouldn't even have been able to get away from it all by watching Lark Rise To Candleford. Or even reading it, since it hadn't been written yet.
But what is there in this modern world to escape from? Everyone seems to be having a great time. Just look at The Joy Of Teen Sex on C4. 'Everyone I know is having sex on drugs', one teen blithely assures us. Another reaches into a carrier bag and says: 'I went shopping and I bought some drugs.' For a dizzy moment, I think that they are about to play that shopping list memory game ('I went shopping and I bought some drugs, and a vibrator.') Disappointingly, this is not the case.
A teenage girl attends the programme's 'clinic' with her Mum in tow. She has been dumped by her boyfriend because she refused to do it doggy-style. 'I found it difficult to cope with on her behalf', says her Mum, suggesting - or is that just me? - that she has been dutifully standing in.
Meanwhile, outside the window, a massive flaming penis rises up from the earth...
posted by martin at 10:53 AM
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