Living in the '80s

From the collection of

Media Archive for Central England
MACE is the strategic lead organisation for screen heritage for the East and West Midlands regions. An independent charity based at University of Lincoln, MACE preserves and makes accessible a collection of more than 100,000 historic moving images representative of the diverse cultures and histories of communities throughout the heart of England from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh border.

Living in the '80s

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Boredom in the Black Country: a group of teenagers act out what the 1980s were really like for a lot of young people - left with nothing to do but count paving slabs.

Teenagers talk about their life in and around Dudley in a video produced by Jubilee Arts and Dudley Youth Service.


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From the collection

Young Voices: Growing Pains and Teenage Dreams in the Midlands

Was the experience of growing up in the 1980s so different to today?
This collection focuses on youth culture in the years before technology took over. The 1980s was a world without mobile phones or social media, where teenagers met up to talk to one another face-to-face. These young people would be instrumental in pushing technology forward to where it is today. But what did their future look like back then, and what were they hoping for? Among the films here you'll see offerings from Jubilee Arts, a community arts organisation that ran from 1974 to 1994 in the Black Country. The Jubilee Arts team worked with kids of all ages to produce films with a distinctive, slightly chaotic energy - but the casual, candid filmmaking here leaves us under no illusions as to the lives of Midlands teens. Also featured are the outlooks of younger children. Whether spending their pocket money or saving their world, they too paint a vivid picture of 80s Britain, though perhaps a slightly less jaded one. With subjects ranging from 'leaving school at 16' to 'the merits of Sylvester Stallone', immerse yourself in the modest delights of an 80s childhood.

13 videos in this collection

1

Am You Taping It?

2

Class of 87 Preview

3

School Newspaper

4

Anti Vandalism Campaign

5

Rights - Wot Rights!

6

Children and Angels

7

Children's Report on Seal Culling

8

Living in the '80s

9

Children and their Pocket Money

10

Generation 2B

11

Class of '87 - Martin

12

Class of '87 - Phuong

13

Class of '87 - Angela

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