Margaret Thatcher, who was born exactly a hundred years ago – on June 13, 1925 – dominated the order of Great Britain from 1979 to 1990, and during the hour of her career she probably achieved the greatest popularity among the British politicians after Winston Churchill.
Margaret Thatcher with a man in Downing Street after her victory in the elections on May 4, 1979 in London
However, Margaret Thatcher was not just a political titan, she was a cultural icon. The mysticist Michael Billington noted that “Thatcher, perhaps, did not need to indulge in mysticism, but she lost her viral trace in the new one.” With her uncompromising policy, firm voice, luscious hairstyle and handbag in her hands, the British leader was a source of inspiration for comedians, playwrights, directors and songwriters, regardless Moreover, they loved the stench and even hated it.
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From music to films, television and fashion, politics and Thatcher's re-conquest, there were influences in popular culture, especially like the 1980s, which were broadcast by their representatives. For the most part, all cultural influences were liberal, and things with pop culture did not work out.
Musical opposition
Pop music was politically oriented during Thatcher's time through the social supernatural forces of the 1980s. While there was a positive impact on history, including the promotion of feminism and women's rule, Thatcher recognized the changes in the light of music. From Elvis Costello to Paul McCartney and Morrissey, musicians have created lyricism against the leaders of this land.
“I don’t expect joy, but only troubles, I don’t expect a chance for your bright new tomorrow,” the Beat group sang, calling out Thatcher to sing in the song Stand Down Margaret. On the track Tramp the Dirt Down, Elvis Costello revealed the day of Thatcher’s death: “If you decide to throw a stink into the ground, I will stand on your grave and trample the ground.” The great frontman of The Smiths, Morrissey, goes even further, fantasizing lyrically about the guillotine in Margaret on the Guillotine. Together with Paul Weller and Billy Bragg, musicians formed the Red Wedge movement to oppose Thatcher and for the Labor Party in the 1987 elections.
Many influxes of British bands emerged during Thatcher's reign, among them The Clash, Gang of Four and The Jam, who often guessed the order in various songs. Musician Billy Bragg told The Guardian: “When people ask me to name my favorite song, I always say 'Margaret Thatcher.' Even though I wanted to create an opera, it served as the background for all the songs I wrote during that turbulent period.”
Silver screen and stage mystique
Thatcher's free market policy transformed and divided Great Britain, causing the creative wrath of her opponents to manifest. A generation of British comedians, from Ben Elton to Oleksiy Sayle, polished their talents in spite of Thatcher.
Lyalka Margaret Thatcher at the show “Exact Copy”
For the satirical critics of the popular 1980s TV series “Exact Copy,” Thatcher was a hooligan who smoked cigars, a butcher with a curved cleaver, and a strong leader in the hearing room. ministers For example, in one of the sketches, Thatcher and their ministers gathered for lunch. Thatcher finished the steak. “What about the vegetables?” – asked the waitress. “The stinks will be the same as I,” said Thatcher. The USA also played a satirical role in the Saturday Night Live program, making the “sweet lady” the heroine of several scenes. In one of them, Monty Python member Michael Palin portrayed the prime minister as a troubled woman after being fired at the planting and being ridiculed “without her hair.”
Thatcher's transformation into a theatrical and screen character began quickly after she fell into disrepute. One of the first was the play Anyone for Denis?, which recounts the evening in 1981 that the man Denis spent in the West End. In the musical “Billie Elliott”, which won the Laurence Olive and Tony Awards, the miners sing Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher – a song by Elton John with the words: “We are still celebrating Christmas today, but one more day closer until your death.”
Still from the film “Margaret Thatcher: Long Walk to Finchley”, 2008
Nina's fans of the West End theater may marvel at the song “The Audience” about Queen Elizabeth II's consorts with the 12 prime ministers who changed during the hour of her three-year reign. This song is a soft liberal drama, in which the monarch praises Thatcher for her opposition to anti-apartheid sanctions in New Africa.
As a character on the screen, Thatcher appeared in a fiery episode similar to the 1981 James Bond film “Something for Your Eyes.” And the line “My Fair Prayer” by Stephen Frears is one of the films of the 1980s in which Thatcher’s Great Britain stood as the end of poverty and racism.
There is also a drama in popular culture about a grocer’s daughter who became the first female Prime Minister of Great Britain. In the 2008 TV movie “Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley,” the lady is portrayed as a young politician who is fighting for a seat in parliament. The coming fate of the world is the television film “Margaret” about the end of Thatcher's career and the legacy of the coup d'état in 1990.
Merrill Streep in the role of Margaret Thatcher in the film “The Lady's Lady”, 2011
The most famous artist to portray Thatcher on the screen is Meryl Streep, who appeared in the role of Politicina in the 2011 film “The Lady's Salute.” For the deep act of trying to portray her heroine as a human being, the actress received an Oscar.
Ten years later, another popular American actress appears in the role of Thatcher – Gillian Anderson. Vaughn played Thatcher in the cult British historical show Netflix “The Crown.”
Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher in the series “The Crown”
Literary character
Thatcher appeared on the pages of several novels that describe the years of the 1980s. Frederick Forsyth often thought about it in his own life. She was invisibly present in Alan Hollanderst’s 2004 novel “The Line of Beauty,” which, having won the Booker Prize, was part of the fallout of the Thatcher government. Hundreds of political comics have not failed to respect her. And, of course, the incredible number of books about her political activity, including the authorship of Thatcher, cannot be accommodated by many popular science books.
Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton. On the same day, the IRA tried to hit her with additional bombs, 1984
Margaret Thatcher has been scrubbing at her post for a long time, but now she needs to get over it. This great victory led to something else—it once again changed the cultural landscape. Over the past forty years, the “lady’s salve” has become the heroine of dozens of different mystical creations – a terrible achievement for a woman whose hundred years with mysticism have always been uneasy.
