Wedding of Hazel Guy to Brian Williams (1950). By Matthew Smith

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The film is an 11 minute 50 second amateur recording in colour of both the day leading up to and the actual wedding of Hazel Guy to Brian Williams in 1950. The presence of colour film is not uncommon as by the 1950s the cost to buy and produce colour film had been dramatically reduced.[1] The film progresses through two distinct parts before displaying the actual wedding, the first (from 00:05 to 00:39) appears to be a drinks reception for one or both families involved, while the second (from 00:40 to 01:39) records a beach and individuals, likely to be family members relaxing on it. The film then (from 01:47 onwards) records the actual wedding and wedding reception.

The reason for the good quality footage can be explained by Rascaroli, Young and Monahan who note that by 1950 several companies such as Kodak had released popular and successful manuals on how to shoot home movies.[2] This is further supported by an advertisement for home cameras as an ideal Christmas present in The Times newspaper in November 1950.[3] Therefore, both the quality of the footage and the fact that the wedding was filmed presumably by a family member is due to both the ease of access to filmmaking equipment and the presence of instructions on how to best use it.

In addition, it is important to analyse the way in which the film has been made. For example, despite the film from 01:46 covering the wedding day the actual ceremony is not filmed and the newly married couple are not shown until 05:45, indicating perhaps that the individual filming the wedding could not or did not film for long inside the church. This appears to be a personal choice by the filmmaker rather than there being a ban on filming in a church, clearly evidenced by an article from The Times in 1951 (a year after this film was recorded) concerning a church that had won the right to continue to play films in its crypt without a licence, thus making the likelihood of a ban against recording wedding services unlikely.[4] Therefore, the people and events the filmmaker chose to record is likely due to their personal preference and not restrictions on what they could film.

It is also vital to understand why home movies such as this were created. Baron notes that home filmmaking was often popular due to its use within families to promote togetherness and as a result many home films were tailored towards a specific and limited audience, i.e. immediate family and friends, while developments in technology meant these films could be preserved for longer.[5] This is further supported by a similar homemade film of a wedding which focuses on similar areas to the first film, for example it dedicates the entirety of its three-minute runtime to recording the post-service reception and celebration.[6] Therefore, it can be argued that main reason the film was made was for later viewing by family and friends of both Hazel Guy and Brian Williams.

This links to the significance of the film as the popularity of creating amateur films such as this led to the development of new 8mm film to meet the growing public demand.[7] Holmes further supports this by arguing that home television viewing of films was on the rise, thus home films such as the Wedding of Hazel Guy and Brian Williams represent part of a shift away from cinema film viewing and towards a more home centred experience consisting of television and amateur moviemaking.[8] However, Roberts counters this interpretation by noting how throughout both the 1950s and 1960s amateur filmmaking was ‘still a relatively expensive hobby’, thus the film represents a very specific part of home leisure rather than major part of home film consumption.[9]

Therefore, the overall significance of the film is that it is an example of the growth in home moviemaking during the 1950s. However it must be considered when using films such as this that both their creation and showing was expensive thus making amateur film highly useful for research when used alongside other primary sources (notably newspapers), but not as a standalone source as its limited audience and production make general inferences difficult.

 

[1] Annette Kuhn and Guy Westwell, A Dictionary of Film Studies (Oxford, 2012), 89.

[2] Laura Rascaroli, Gwenda Young and Barry Monahan, Amateur Filmmaking: The Home Movie, the Archive, the Web (London, 2014).

[3] ‘Public Notices’, The Times, 27 Nov. 1950, 1. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 26 Feb. 2018. http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=ulh&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS17386363&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0. First Accessed 26/02/2018

[4] ‘Films in Church Crypt’, The Times, 15 Sept. 1951, 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 26 Feb. 2018. http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=ulh&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=CS135089455&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0. First Accessed 26/02/2018

[5] Jaimie Baron, The Archive Effect: Found Footage and the Audiovisual Experience of History (London, 2013), 83-85.

[6] ‘Wedding’, Media Archive for Central England, University of Lincoln, https://vimeo.com/248125714.

[7] Ian MacKillop and Neil Sinyard, British Cinema in the 1950’s: An Art in Peacetime (Manchester, 2003), 210.

[8] Su Holmes, British Television and Film Culture in the 1950s (Bristol, 2005), 35.

[9] Les Roberts, Film, Mobility and Urban Space: A Cinematic Geography of Liverpool (Liverpool, 2012), 104.

Wedding of Hazel Guy to Brian Williams (1950). By Sarah Bothamley

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This clip is taken from Guy’s family home movie collection and was recorded on 2 September 1950. Whilst there is no commentary, which prevents a clear narrative and access to personal thoughts, the film depicts the wedding celebrations of Hazel Guy and Brian Williams held at Donington parish church at Albrighton in Shropshire. The footage shows how the family and friends interact with the celebrations, demonstrating that weddings are perceived to be a public celebration of marriage. Throughout the film, the lavish clothes worn by the wedding party in conjunction with the partial colour footage implies that these families are middle-class. Evidently, the film conveys that despite social and cultural changes within the postwar era, weddings continued to be the most obvious of the few remaining traditions around which individuals organised themselves in Western society.[1] Ultimately, the film reveals how middle-class weddings were conducted in the 1950s, enabling us to see how this was projected through the use of amateur filmmaking.

Within the post-war period, marriages were being redefined as a relationship where spouses agreed their roles based on personal preference rather than old-fashioned societal expectations. Companionate marriages are described as a set of ideas ranging from an emphasis on companionship between partners who had different roles which would promote teamwork to shared roles.[2] Evidently, this shift in marriages from early twentieth century to the 1950s confirmed that many relationships were based on communication between spouses.[3] For many, communication resulted in the sharing of lives and responsibilities such as socialising and leisure, childbearing and household tasks. Hence this indicates a breakdown of clearly established roles. The Royal Commission supported this notion commenting in 1949 that there was a greater importance on the wife as a companion to her husband in juxtaposition with the more traditional role as the child bearer.[4] Therefore the expectation of newly married women such as Williams was changing, with marriages being redefined to incorporate modern ideals. Reworkings of marriages were not just limited to women, particularly the conventional notion of male patriarchal authority and the ‘paterfamilias’ model was perceived to be old-fashioned among the younger generation.[5] Although husbands like Williams were expected to uphold the ideals of being the breadwinner, authority within the family was intended to be shared. The departure from the traditional roles highlights how marriages sought to provide greater equality eroding some of the traditional gender taboos. Indeed, how the previous generations of the Guy and William’s families experienced marriage would be different for Hazel and Brian. Therefore, whilst the clip focuses on the wedding celebrations, it also represents the new societal expectation for the younger generation to have a companionate marriage.

Through concentrating on the dismantling of gender roles, the footage locates the importance of wedding in 1950s Britain. Historian Joan Scott pointed out that marriage is a ‘social institution that appears fixed and timeless’.[6] Hence the clip is representative of how a marriage is based on a relationship between two people and a means of social organisation which pursued to epitomise ‘normal’ gender roles and identities.[7] Throughout the 1950s marriage increased in popularity meaning that fewer single women were available to work.[8] Conversely, this popularity can be explained by women abandoning their careers to focus on marriage. This is supported by Ann Temple in the Daily Mail who noted that ‘all girls want to marry and nearly all will’.[9] Certainly, the expectation amongst young women was that any marriage was better than the prospect of remaining single. The footage supports the trend that most weddings took place in churches and concentrated on a standard marriage format. For many brides, they intended to create their own unique special day alongside the expected wedding traditions.[10] This is reflected in the footage with the traditional aspects of the wedding with the cutting of the cake and the reception being combined with new conventions such as Guy choosing to wear a white wedding dress. The tradition of white weddings did not become popular amongst the middle-class until the 1950s but was still limited to the first-time ‘virginal’ bride.[11] However, the concept that white weddings were exclusive to the middle-class is discredited by Iris Dutch, speaking on BBC radio’s Any Questions?, who maintained that ‘you can have a white dress for a relatively small sum’.[12] Clearly, the suggestion that young women from all classes could afford to wear a white dress indicates the working-class aspiration for social mobility in the 1950s. Regardless of this white weddings remained associated primarily with the middle-class.

The film portrays how the middle-class celebrated weddings in the postwar era. Moreover, it encapsulates how the traditional connection between the wedding ceremony and marriage thrived to create relationships of shared responsibilities and equality. Ultimately, the film signified an era of the undoing of Victorian ideals which was characterised by the affluence and optimism of the 1950s. Throughout the MACE archive, weddings were a popular event to record in this era. However, this particular footage was more professionally captured compared to working-class weddings. Although home movies are often dismissed as being narrow-minded and of little relevance as primary sources, this footage provides a valuable insight into how middle-class weddings were celebrated in the post-war era.[13]

 

[1] Julia Carter and Simon Duncan, ‘Wedding Paradoxes: Individualised and Conformity and the “Perfect Day”’, Sociological Review 65 (2017), 3-20 (4).

[2] Margaret Williamson, ‘Gender, Leisure and Marriage in a Working-Class Community, 1939-60’, Labour History Review 74 (August 2009), 185-198 (187).

[3] Kate Fisher, Birth Control, Sex and Marriage in Britain 1918-1960 (Oxford, 2006), 231.

[4] Penny Summerfield, ‘Women in Britain since 1945: Companionate Marriage and the Double Burden’, in James Obelkevich and Peter Catterall (eds.), Understanding Post-War British Society (London, 1994), 58-72 (59).

[5] Jon Lawrence, ‘Class, “Affluence”, and the Study of Everyday Life in Britain, 1930-64, Cultural and Social History 10 (2015), 273-299 (285).

[6] Timothy Jones, ‘Love, Honour and Obey? Romance, Subordination and Martial Subjectivity in Interwar Britain’, in Alana Harris (ed.), Love and Romance in Britain, 1918-70 (London, 2015), 124-143 (125).

[7] Jones, ‘Love, Honour and Obey’, 125.

[8] Hilary Land and Hilary Rose, ‘Peter Townsend, a man ahead of his time: rereading The family life of old people and the last refuge’, in Alan Walker (ed.), Fighting Poverty, Inequality and Injustice: A Manifesto Inspired by Peter Townsend (London, 2011), 59-79 (68).

[9] Ann Temple, ‘Marriage’, Daily Mail, 28 February 1952, p. 6.

[10] Carter, ‘Wedding Paradoxes’, 4.

[11] Carter, ‘Wedding Paradoxes’, 5.

[12] ‘A white wedding and a honeymoon or a house deposit’, Any Questions (BBC radio, 2 Dec. 1955).  http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/marriage/10519.shtml

[13] Heather Norris Nicholson, ‘At home and abroad with cine enthusiasts: Regional amateur filmmaking and visualizing the Mediterranean, 1928–1962’, GeoJournal 49 (2004), 323-333 (323).

Wedding. By Maisie Smith

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One of the first things that can be established about a piece of film which is taken in the 1930s is the level of status that taking a film establishes. This is due to the lack of accesses to recording equipment compared with the modern day. This automatically gives whatever is being recorded within the film a level of value, personal or otherwise, as filming will have accrued a significant cost to those involved. In the contexts of the film on which this commentary is based the personal value of the footage can be seen to be quite simple to establish with it being a wedding video and therefore weighted in sentimental value. It is key however to note that the ‘rise of popular visual literacy is a striking feature of the period’.[1] Therefore film in the period would have been on the increase even if it remain primarily in the domain of the rich. Additionally, the style of this film implies that it is a home movie created for personal enjoyment it can be viewed as portraying realist social situations as there is not the performative element that it may contain had it been aimed at an external audience.

The opening shot of this film shows the guests leaving the wedding ceremony and it is key to note how the new bride and groom at this moment leave arm in arm and walk forward and then retrace their steps seemingly for another camera in front of them. This is interesting as it highlights the prioritisation of capturing an image over the natural moment. This shows technology evoking and influencing behaviour. Contrary to this it is key to note where the second camera angle is. The angle clearly shows multiple people obscuring its view and therefore obscuring its recording. This shows a de-prioritisation of the quality of the film over the individual’s viewpoints of the event. Underlining that film record is not central to the guest experience.

This film is additionally interesting to observe in the context of looking at contemporary technology of the 1930s as there is an extended shot of a camera in use. This shot is significant as it shows what appears to be a domestic umbrella being used to shield the equipment. This implies that there was only a limited amount of specialist products designed to improve photography and that everyday household items had to be used in their stead.

This film is also useful as a tool to explore the beauty standards and fashions of this era as it stand to reason that an event such as a wedding would cause attendees to wear their best clothes. Nowhere is this truer than the case of the bride. The bride in this video conforms to the ‘popular contemporary image of the bride as a young woman in virginal white, which was widely disseminated in the media and through Hollywood films.’[2] This shows that this wedding can be described as traditional at least in the sense of clothing.

What is also significant in the film is the way in which the individuals interact with the camera (and assumed cameraman). This is particularly noteworthy near the end of the film when a young lady directly makes eye contact with the camera as directly before this the footage jumps slightly from a direct location to focus of what is presumed to be the exiting of the guest from the wedding. This is interesting as it shows a shift in the film from the significant highly photographical elements of the wedding, the bride and groom leaving the church and the taking of wedding photos to the focus on a more low key moment, so low key in fact that the bride, a traditional focal point of wedding films and wedding photography, is absent. This can be seen to cast aspersions on the status of the bride within the wedding party, a fact that is not disproved by the significant age difference of the bride and groom and the supposed economic disparity. So this shift to the guest’s level implies a choice on the part of the cameraman or his employer to film this moment or that there is lost film which would bridge this gap. The later can be deemed more likely due to the age of the footage. This tonal shift in the footage is significant for the observation of human interacting with filming technology as it shows a young women who as she gets into the car acknowledges the camera and seems to be pleased with the attention. This implies that photography was still a novelty at this stage that it would warrant observation. It is also significant to note that she then leaves in the car with an older man. This along with the age different in the newly married couple shows a social trend of younger women being with older men which can be seen as a gender relations comment.

This individual is also significant to observe in the context of gender relations and the level of affection displayed in the semi-public sphere of a private party, which a wedding constitutes. One of the moments within this film which can be deemed the most significant is where two females briefly kiss on the lips. This shows the acceptability of this type of female-female interaction in this period as it does not invoke a response from others, which would imply it was commonplace.

 

[1] Helen Wilkinson, ‘“The New Heraldry”: Stock Photography, Visual Literacy, and Advertising in 1930s Britain’, Journal of Design History, 10:1 (1997), 23-38.

[2] Edwina Ehrman, The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal (London, 2011), p. 127.

Wedding of Hazel Guy to Brian Williams (1950). By Kyle Knowles

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This essay will analyse the film the ‘Wedding of Hazel Guy to Brian Williams’. This essay will aim to break down the content of the film explaining what is being filmed and the historical context behind it, such as why is this being filmed and how historians can use the footage in these movies to examine the culture at the time the film was shot. The video was shot in 1950 and like a lot of home movies shot at the time it is a silent piece of film.

The film begins with a large crowd waiting, dressed semi-formal, party formal not as formal as a wedding clearly showing this is just one of the events on the wedding weekend. The film shows the scenic beach location of the reception including shots of the waves. The film seems to show people lying next to the beach. The film cuts to in the countryside before cutting to the church on the day of the wedding the bit beforehand can be argued was a rehearsal dinner for the event. The focusing on the family in these events can show how they were filmed for intentions of showing for family members later.

The film cuts to people showing up to the wedding. The dress of the guests at the wedding indicates the high class of the society they were. This can be seen in this video by not only what they were wearing but the walking sticks used to indicate class as well as the cars which they were arriving at the event in, as well as having staff at the events to open the doors for them. It then cuts to what can be interpreted as being the aftermath of the ceremony, with taking pictures on the outside of the church as well as guests waiting to be chauffeured into their transportation to take them to the location of the ceremony. There are also many examples of fur present in the video in terms of clothes, scarves, etc, which shows the class of the guests. It can also be argued that the intent of this film when it was shot was to show to the families later. This can be seen in the unnatural pauses which are taken in order to pose for the camera, which can appear quite jarring.

The ceremony for this event is held in a large marquee as the film moves onto the main reception and shows the bride and the groom cutting the cake. This again shows the continued tradition of weddings in the 1950s, it can also be argued that it shows the continuity of the gender roles in the twentieth century with the giving away of the bride, and the social construction of weddings being reinforced in this film.

There can be a large amount written in the historical context of this film. It was filmed and took place in 1950 which was a time in the rise of the self-perceived middle class with many people tending to refer to themselves as middle class rather than working class, which this footage can go to show with more money and time being devoted to the actual wedding and the events at the weekend. This fits in with the movement which tended to involve people trying to separate themselves from the working class. There can also be an argument made that the aftermath of the Second World War changed the perceived class of how women where viewed in society and many began being viewed as equal partners in their household, although marriage still seemed to be an accepted part of a woman’s life .

There can be an argument made about how useful this film clip can be in the twenty-first century. The main use of this footage is to show the lives of everyday people as otherwise the voices of the ordinary people would get lost as most of the footage which was shot would be focused on the higher classes. And this helps to learn more about how people lived in the twentieth century particularly in this case the 1950s. In particular this clip could be helpful to look at how weddings have changed and the ceremonies have adapted or in particular how they have changed the same in spite to the changes in culture and society in the late twentieth century. Weddings are an interesting example of changes in society as they have been viewed as one of the more traditional life events in today’s society.

To conclude the film is an insightful look into the everyday lives of the perceived middle classes in the 1950s and looking in particular at how these events ran. They are often used for historical research not only into looking at and comparing to how different classes would dress in weddings and distinguish if there was a notable difference in the classes in everyday life.