ghost town in depth

the political, personal and cultural are always intertwined

the theory that the political problems chain on to personal and cultural views that are all connected by a a single problem or causes

Antonio Gramsci: Italian philosopher writing in the 1930s

Antonio talks about hegemony and tat the domination of ideology and rule and that the thought of one view being correct and that you cant change a view forcefully and that the way of change occours in music and fashion which could be a idle consumption of change

the main causes of the political problems is a person called Margaret thatcher who used black people/the wind rush generation as a scape goat for the fall in economy after world war II she also shut down many factory’s as a result of these factory’s shutting down many people were unemployed as a company they sacked people in order to keep their money and sack those who weren’t needed or crucial to the job to work she also shut down mines which also resulted in unemployment of the masses the song ghost town was Addressing themes of urban decay, deindustrialization, unemployment and violence in inner cities and this song was published while the riots were on the rise and was liked by many and was put at the number one spot on the charts as the riots and such were going on this was also a way of protesting the way that things are and what they are like the music genre was called ska and it had a mix of race within it. the music video shows reckless driving and fighting and empty streets and boarded up houses suggesting the economy decline and the affects of unemployment you can say that the buildings were victims of Thatcherism and that they have been abandoned as the tenants have moved on to the streets as money was scarce the reckless driving symbolizes the craziness of thatcher’s idea of closing down the mines and making many unemployed as if they are on a (wacky ride) or it can symbolize the amount of people who got frunk out of boredom as they are un employed meaning that they give up with trying to look for them as they are all being declined a job so they have nothing better to do so they just sit around and drink. during a scene we can see a group of people fighting suggesting a riot has occurred or a mugging due to riots were a big thing during this time or it could relate to the stereotyping of mugging which thatcher coined to be black people who mug people for their money. there is a part where the car crashes into a wall suggesting the world coming to a stand still or the amount of people who have hit a metaphorical wall of unemployment. at the end we can see the singers throwing stones out onto a river or lake with buildings in the back ground this could signify as them throwing rocks at those who fired them or at big company’s who are all happy and safe with a job this could also be a hint at the riots that occur by signifying throwing things at big businesses’ and smashing window as riots do and by doing so supporting the riots.

during the era of Thatcherism a party of 13-17 year old’s who were all of a black ethnicity were killed by a fire that engulfed the building that killed all of them sadly but one lucky person who survived but Margaret thatcher’s scapegoating of the wind rush generation caused the police to do nothing even though it was said that there was someone who caused it but the police just said that they were probably doing drugs and or they caused a fire by fighting ignoring any other ideas because they were so set on believing on these things that were happening due to those causes and no one was right except them.

this is from the guardian article discussing this topic: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/15/race.london

Thirteen of the people in the house died – including the birthday girl, Yvonne Ruddock, and her brother. One of the survivors was so traumatized that he committed suicide two years later…

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