1. Pressure and Burnning an Illusion
The following comments by Joel might help you when you are watching the films.
You can also follow the links that take you to sources of more information.
With racial tensions, after years of simmering, finally erupting across Britain's inner
cities in places like Liverpool's Toxteth, Bristol's St. Paul's, Birmingham's Handsworth
and at the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Margaret Thatcher's axiom 'there's no
such thing as society' seemed to ring particularly true for a whole generation of black
British youth.
The ensuing social unrest was juxtaposed with, and to some extent exacerbated by,
tensions between first and second generation immigrants. The originally optimistic,
often middle-class immigrant sensibilities of the Windrush generation was
transformed into a predominantly pessimistic, working- and under-class, notion of
black Britishness (Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain: Report) of the
first fully Anglo-Caribbean generation to have come of age in Britain. Each film also
set the tone for a series of productions that would re-evaluate what it meant to be
black in Britain, from a stridently militant point of view. Previously, productions
Sapphire(Basil Dearden, 1959, UK) and Flame in the Streets(Ray Barker, 1961, UK)
took a liberal stance, viewing the situation of Britain's demographic change, from the
mainstream perspective and still clinging to paternalist attitudes of race and class
that seemed somewhat beholden to a bygone era and sensibility.
Both Pressure and Burning an Illusion were released in the wake of black exploitation
cinema's peak in the mid 1970s and well after the political impact of the genre's early
films had been softened by formulaic storylines, in an attempt to appeal, as the
studios saw it, to a broader mainstream audience. With the revolutionary zeal and
counter cultural stance of Sweet, Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (Melvin Van
Peebles, 1971, USA), Superfly (Gordon Parks, 1972, USA) and The Spook Who Sat
by the Door (Ivan Dixon, 1973, USA), giving way to heroines and heroes who, though
'black and hip', forewent the radical content, ghetto politics and activism of their
forerunners in favour of an inherently ghetto aesthetic. Just like the commercialised
gangsta rap formula at its worst, with the procession of pimps, pushers and
hoodlums, that came to personify them, black exploitation films were a means to their
own ends, seeking to carve a niche for themselves within the system, not trying to
overthrow or transform it.
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While characters such as Sweetback (in Sweet, Sweetback's Baadasssss Song),
Priest (in Superfly) and Dan Freeman (in Spook) became disillusioned, then
challenged and ultimately usurped the system, the protagonists in films like Shaft
(Gordon Parks, 1971 USA), Foxy Brown (Jack Hill, 1974, USA) and Cleopatra Jones
(Jack Starrett, 1973, USA) were, no matter how marginal, part of the system and
operated to uphold the status quo.
It is against this backdrop that both Pressure and Burning an Illusion need to be
considered, in the light of the black independent and studio representations of the
African American experience, which manifest themselves in the form of black
exploitation cinema, and the shift from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Power
which helped to fuel the subsequent development of a black British identity and
screen presence. The protagonists in both movies undergo a political awakening,
reminiscent of Sweetback's and Priest's, but are grounded in a stridently social realist
structure, beholden to British cinema, that distances itself from the action-packed
Hollywood formula of even the most radical black exploitation movie. For more
information about the pioneers of black filmmaking in Britain go to screenonline.
As with any movie, the reading of these films changes as its context shifts with time.
In the 30 years since Pressure was produced and released into a cultural milieu of
rising unemployment, social unrest and racial instability much has changed. On the
one hand, the emphatic and continued mainstream success of black popular culture
in Britain, particularly in sports, arts and entertainment, has sparked a more highbrow
contemporary interest, as witnessed by recent exhibitions, Black British Style at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, Africa Remix at the Haywood Gallery and the
forthcoming West Indian Front Room: Three generations of change in the black
British home at the Geffrye Museum.
On the other hand, despite the positive presence of black MPs and cabinet ministers,
many of the old millstones still weigh heavily around the neck of black Britain. Issues
such as police victimisation, limited job prospects and continued failure within and by
the education system, highlighted in Pressure and Burning an Illusion, have been
constantly recurring themes, virtually definitive of black British youth culture today.
In both films, overtly political issues such as police harassment, blatant racism, poor
housing and discrimination in the workforce are juxtaposed with the more subtle
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aspects of popular culture such as food, language, music and fashion. These have all
ultimately made major contributions in the formation of a black popular cultural
renaissance, now beginning to receive full critical attention for its impact on the
mainstream.
Like all cultural artefacts, both Pressure and Burning an Illusion speak volumes about
the times in which they were produced. To contemporary audiences, they may seem
dated particularly as they were made to a tight budget, but they nevertheless hold a
certain resonance for anyone who grew up in the 1970s. Much has changed in the
three decades after the first black British feature film went into production, and while
we can look back with a certain degree of satisfaction it would be wise to remember
that much has also stayed the same.
Themes in Pressure and Burning an Illusion
Before going further, if you haven't done so already, you should watch the films. In
his analysis of them, Joel concentrates on three themes, illuminating how the films
convey their meaning through their use of:
• Food
• Physical environment
• Hair and fashion
These themes relate specifically to the mise en scène of the films, exploring how they
reflect the changing cultural values, and the way the young people in the film react to
their experience of racism in Britain at the time they were growing up, as Joel has
outlined in the notes you have just read. These themes are by no means the only
ones that could be examined, but they do provide an interesting way of exploring and
analysing the films and the issues that they raise.
He also examines how language reflects character development in the films.
Food
Early on in both films, food acts as an indicator of cultural disjuncture. In Pressure it
is at breakfast, between Tony and his elder brother Colin. In Burning an Illusion it is
at Pat and Del's first date, in the 'best black restaurant in town'. Many mainstream
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and arthouse films have used food as a cultural signifier. Juzo Itami's classic
Tampopo (1985, Japan) explores some of the issues surrounding gender and cultural
identity in Japan through the politics and etiquette of food. Itami also structures his
movie, an eclectic composition of stories, in a way that is as different from traditional
mainstream film structures, as a Japanese Bento Box is from a hamburger.
In Steven Spielberg's Hollywood blockbuster Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(1984, USA) there is a more conventional use of food as a plot device. At a banquet
scene in which Jones and his cohorts are invited to dine with the young maharaja, his
advisers and a British military representative to India, the meal, a highly unlikely
assemblage, consists of a lavish and extremely debauched spread that includes
giant beetles for starters, snake surprise, eyeball soup and chilled monkey brains for
dessert. As expected, Jones remains unfazed by the fare, the British representative
shows stoic disdain, while Jones' companions (a woman and a child) squirm and
shriek in front of every dish laid before them, aghast as their hosts' rapaciously poke
and prod food with their fingers, dig things out with their nails and burp and slurp their
way through a frenzied display of barbarism. The overwhelming decadence of their
performance is in complete contrast to that of their Western guests and serves as a
metaphor and forewarning for their underlying savagery, which will unfold later on in
the movie. By contrast, in the very next scene we see Jones partially seduce his love
interest with a 'civilised' bowl of fruit, which displays none of the exotic produce one
would expect to find from a platter on the Indian subcontinent.
Neither, Pressure nor Burning an Illusion employs food to represent such a clear,
over-the-top cultural binary; nevertheless food and culinary etiquette operate, in both
films, as signifiers of cultural disenfranchisement.
Pressure
In the breakfast scene, at the start of Pressure, Colin confronts Tony over his choice
of bacon and eggs as a meal because it exemplifies his Englishness which Colin
sees as a dilution of his 'blackness'. Colin instead chooses to eat the zaboca
(avocado), which we have just seen him take from his father's shop, lamenting how
they grow on trees all over Trinidad. Colin further asserts that he eats 'black food',
unlike the typically English fish and chips that Tony so loves. Colin uses this situation
to question Tony's identity (pointing to a Gary Glitter poster on the wall) and self-
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awareness. When Tony refers to the fruit as an 'avocado', Colin launches a verbal
attack, asking Tony what he really knows, again evoking images of Trinidad, where
zaboca 'grow wild'.
The scene can also be read as a metaphor for the beginning of Tony's journey of
self-discovery in the film. As the argument between the two brothers peaks, Tony
asks 'What's wrong with bacon and eggs, fish and chips and Gary Glitter?' The
question is a precursor to those deeper questions Tony will later be forced to ask of
himself as he experiences a growing sense of alienation and self-awareness.
The breakfast scene also uses the preparation of food and the rituals of consumption
in a symbolic way that compounds the distance between the two brothers. Before we
even see Tony we are presented with a close up of the bacon and eggs being
prepared for him by his mother, as she screams for him to get ready for his
forthcoming interview. This early display of cultural acquiescence in the film confirms
an association between Bopsie, the boys' mother and an unquestioning desire to
have her youngest son 'fit in' to the British way of life, no matter what the cost. While
her stance is not specifically highlighted or questioned until later in the film, here she
is seen preparing a meal that no other member of the family seems to enjoy, apart
from Tony. By contrast, Colin's ritual preparation of his 'natural' meal is presented as
a confirmation of his Caribbean roots, reinforced by the use of his hands when
eating, a stark contrast to Tony's 'correct' (in his eyes) and staid use of a knife and
fork.
Later on in the film, after Tony has returned from the unsuccessful interview, Bopsie
interrogates him about his continued lack of success on the job front, reiterating the
sacrifice she and his father have made for him and the benefits, as she sees it, that
now lay before him. 'You born here, you have an English education, nothing should
stop you.' Both are unaware of the forces working against him and here the director
again uses Tony's food preference as a means of displaying his immersion into
British mainstream culture. Tony rejects his mother's offer of the rice and peas she
has cooked for him in favour of a trip to the chippie and, despite her initial resistance,
she finally concedes, asking if he has enough money for chips as he walks out the
door. Furthermore, in the next scene Tony appears, alone and dejected, walking
along the canal and taking seemingly little solace, if any, in his bag of chips.
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Chips are used ironically throughout the movie to emphasise Tony's
disenfranchisement, both from the mainstream of society and his Caribbean roots.
After meeting an old school friend, Sheila, at a nightclub Tony walks her home and,
along the way she suggests they stop for chicken and chips. Due to his financial
situation Tony says that he will just have chips. Sheila waves this aside insisting that
the meal will be on her as she is working. While Sheila in buying the food, Tony does
not even enter the café, a KFC, instead he cuts a forlorn figure, as he stares at her
through the shop window, as if doubting his self-worth and earning ability.
The next day Tony is labelled 'a fish and chips man' when upon meeting a group of
his 'West Indian' friends under the shadow of the Westway flyover near Portobello
Road, he is asked if he would like to join them as they are about to go and buy some
patties (a Jamaican meat pasty). He accepts the invitation though stating that he
doesn't want any 'pâté', much to his friends' amusement. Even though, he is not
ridiculed or made to feel alienated for this, it is clear that Tony was born here (in
Britain) culturally as well as physically, while many of his friends still hold a greater
cultural attachment to the Caribbean.
As they walk through the market, various members of the group disappear, only to
return with stolen fruit, much to Tony's surprise. Here again food is used as a social
signifier. This is not a malicious criminal act, though there does seem to be an
element of adolescent horseplay involved, but is a result of necessity - stealing to
eat. However, it is compounded and has more serious consequences later in the film.
Surprisingly, we do not see the shop where the West Indian food (patties) is
purchased, as Tony stops to talk to his brother, whom he meets selling an activist
newspaper, while the rest of the group move on. When they return, patties in hand,
Tony, who again has been berated by Colin for 'not thinking black' is presented, not
with a patty but a bag of chips. The signification of the chips here is again important,
as Tony is accepted as an integral part of the social group yet, to some extent,
culturally distanced from it.
The acquisition of food, by this group of young men and the social and political
implications associated with it, take on even greater significance when Tony,
returning from yet another unsuccessful interview, meets his friends, on the Harrow
Road, as they are on their way to the supermarket. On arrival, the ever naïve Tony is
posted outside to keep watch without realising what is taking place. As the rest of the
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group execute their plan to procure food, Tony leaves his assigned post, only to send
a pile of tins crashing to the ground, alerting the shop staff to the activities of his
cohorts. As the boys panic and take flight, dragging Tony behind them, one of them,
Jacko, trips and is apprehended by the police.
After a desperate dash, the rest of the friends escape and find refuge in a
ramshackle house upon which Tony breaks down and starts to cry about his
unwitting contribution to an illegal act and, as he perceives it, his newly acquired
'criminal status'. When confronted about his actions at the store, his defence, that he
didn't know what was happening, is greeted with an incredulous, 'How could you be
so stupid?'. The notion that any of his friends need to steal in order to eat comes as a
complete shock to Tony, despite the realities of their lives being played out under his
very nose. The plate of food waiting for him whenever he gets home represents the
relatively cosseted world that his peers can only dream of.
This disjuncture is compounded in the next scene when Tony finally returns home, as
his first port of call is the kitchen and the pot of food left for him on the cooker by his
mother. As he sits down with his plate of rice and peas he once more enters into a
debate with his brother, as Colin points, ironically, to the fact that Tony is finally
eating 'black food' and using pepper sauce to boot. Yet, though heated, this is not the
head-on clash of opinions that we have witnessed previously between the two, and
for the first time in the movie, we start to see Tony engage and even take onboard
some of the issues being raised. At last Colin's rhetoric about black empowerment
finds a tangible reference point with Tony when he hears that Colin has already been
trying to find legal representation for Jacko - funded by raising money from the sales
of the newspaper and locally organised dances.
As with the breakfast scene earlier, the etiquette of food consumption in the film is
again brought into play as we now see Tony eating with a spoon, not a knife and fork.
In the Caribbean spoons are often used with meals, largely due to the high
consumption of sauces, casseroles, marinades and soups. However, in this scene,
although no mention is made of it, the spoon represents more than a mere utilitarian
choice but a cultural, as well as sibling, realignment. The spoon and pepper sauce
are later reinforced as icons when they reappear at a political meeting which Tony
not only attends, but where he also offers a considered political point of view, finally
receiving the acknowledgement of his elders. Still, the rift between Tony and Colin is
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not fully healed and as Tony begins to assert himself, the process unfolds gradually.
He questions Colin's position on interracial relationships and responds to his
brother's question about another interview, asking whether there is any difference
'starving for poverty or Black Power?'
Physical environment
By focusing on physical environment, such as architecture and décor, in each film,
you can consider how they have been used to represent conflicts and convey
messages, as well as convey a sense of time and place. It may also be useful to
compare them to other films set in London, such as Notting Hill.
In the following notes Joel examines how the architecture and urban development in
different parts of London give us insights into how communities have changed over
the past 30 years.
Films, like many cultural artefacts, comment upon the cultures that produce them in a
variety of ways. However, how spectators view and read them is not fixed and will
undergo a continued transformation over time. Additionally, cultural variances among
audiences will always alter the intended meaning of a film and its director.
Furthermore, films may also be read as historical documents recording issues
peripheral at the time of filming, which may take on a great significance when viewed
subsequently.
Both Pressure and Burning an Illusion, through the personal development of their
central protagonists, offer an enlightening commentary on the development of
London, culturally and physically, over the past 30 years. They are both set in parts
of west London frequently featured in films, areas which have undergone a dramatic
cultural and architectural transformation during the post-war era.
A film shot more than a decade earlier, Roy Barker's Flame in the Streets (1961, UK),
takes a very liberal stance for the time, telling the tale of an interracial couple trying to
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fight off the bigotry they face on all sides, in order to maintain their relationship. Like
Pressure and Burning an Illusion, it has a number of scenes shot in Notting Hill and
surrounding areas (Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park). The film was released
only three years after the infamous Notting Hill race riots, a theme which is drawn
upon in the narrative. Settled by many first generation Caribbean immigrants during
the post-war period, the area around Notting Hill can be used as a yardstick to
measure the 'integration' and development of a black British community.
In films such as Flame in the Streets and Pressure, we are presented with a very
different view of the area than later featured in Notting Hill (Roger Michell, 1999, UK).
This is largely filmed on Portobello Road, the location of the very same market that
Tony and his friends patrolled and stole food from in Pressure. However in Michell's
film, starring Hugh Grant as a local bookshop owner and Julia Roberts as a
Hollywood star, we are introduced to a Notting Hill which is now one of the trendiest
and sought after residential areas in the capital.
It is a far cry from the rundown and derelict housing available to most of the early
immigrants who were forced to pay exorbitant rents for overcrowded, substandard
properties (often just a single room for an entire family), owned by unscrupulous
landlords, such as the infamous property racketeer Peter Rachman. Because of
racism in other, more affordable parts of the city, where boarding house windows
often featured 'No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish', most immigrants had little choice over
where they lived.
The conditions that many Caribbean immigrants found themselves in the late 1950s
is touched upon in other films, such as Basil Dearden's thriller Sapphire (1959, UK)
but is best exemplified in a scene from Flame in the Streets when the character
Kathie Palmer (Sylvia Syms), a white school teacher, goes looking for her Jamaican
boyfriend, Peter Lincoln (Johnny Sekka), at his lodgings. Every room in the
ramshackle house is occupied by at least one person, in loud overbearing conditions,
which spill out on to the stairwells and landings, fostering tensions that eventually
erupted into racial conflict in the surrounding streets.
More than two decades after the production of Flame in the Streets and the Notting
Hill race riots, Pressure and later Burning an Illusion show that much, but not all, of
the urban squalor of the immediate post-Windrush era had been bulldozed. In its
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place an epidemic of high rise blocks of flats swept across the area along with the
imposing and defining structure of the (A40) Westway flyover.
Indeed the architecture and topography of the surrounding areas feature strongly in
both films and can be read as integral components of their narratives. For instance,
in Pressure, Tony's parents, despite his father's lamentations about the quality of life
he once had as an accountant in Trinidad, and Colin's protestations about selling out,
are proprietors of their own shop and have a comfortable middle-class life style, in
contrast to some of Tony's friends' who seem to live an almost feral existence in
abject squalor. Nevertheless, we see a marked shift between the world of Flame in
the Streets and Pressure, indicating the social changes that had taken place in
London between the 1950s and 1970s.
Pressure
In Pressure, despite the evident racism, the ownership of the shop by Tony's parents
represents that assimilation and progress are possible, if at a 'cost'. However, more
importantly, it also represents the difference in attitude between the Windrush and
post-Windrush generations, as the hope and endeavour of the Caribbean immigrants
is contrasted with the increasing sense of alienation and disenfranchisement of black
British youth. Tony is shown to be caught between theses two worlds, initially clinging
to the aspirational dreams of his parents, particularly his mother, but slowly becoming
aware that the cosseted world of his immediate domestic environment does not hold
true for the majority of his peers and, ultimately, him.
The distance between his parent's and his friends' worlds is poignantly highlighted
when, after escaping from the failed supermarket raid and taking refuge in a house,
Tony has to be reassured by his friends that he is 'still in the Grove' (Ladbroke
Grove), their local area and only a stone's throw away from the safety of his own
home. However, he is a million miles away from any understanding of his situation.
The house in which the boys take harbour is in itself interesting. It represents the kind
of property that later, through institutions like the Notting Hill Housing Trust, marked
the transition between the near slums rented by Rachman and the luxury housing
that now dominates the area. Indeed the social housing policy implemented by the
Trust, which bought and renovated property, allowed many working-class and
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immigrant residents to stay in the area, despite the rapid gentrification in recent
years. It set and tried to maintain affordable rents, which in turn helped to nurture the
community spirit, and set the scene for expressions of cultural vitality, such as the
Notting Hill Carnival.
The impact of architecture, as emblematic of status and belonging, is further explored
in Pressure when Tony arrives for an interview and in the foyer of the office block, the
previously dormant security guard, springs to life at the sight of a young black man
'being where he should not be'.
Likewise, the police raid of the activist meeting (filmed on location at a community
centre on Acklam Road) foreshadows many of the conflicts between the police and
young blacks that were to follow, culminating in the uprising during the Notting Hill
carnival in 1976, and the long running conflict between the police and Frank
Critchlow, owner of the now (in)famous Mangrove Club on All Saints Road.
The penultimate scene in Pressure again draws upon an architectural theme to
emphasise its point. In this dream sequence, Tony, now radicalised through his own
experiences at the hands of the police, approaches a large mansion house
somewhere in the British countryside. Before entering the house, he strips naked and
then goes up to one of the bedrooms, where a figure is covered by a silken sheet.
Taking a knife Tony proceeds to frantically stab the figure before pulling back the
sheet, revealing the carcase of a pig. This creates a surreal polar opposition,
between the silk sheet and the pig, finally symbolising Tony's disenfranchisement
from the mainstream culture he once sought to be a part of. The scene is the only
non-urban setting in the film and stylistically it draws upon Ové's interest in avant-
garde European film movements , particularly Italian Neo-Realism and French
Surrealism, providing a surreal interlude in an otherwise social realist film.
The final scene is in careful juxtaposition with the dream sequence, in that it presents
Tony, in the real world, legally protesting outside the law courts. However,
psychologically he is simmering with anger, ready to resort to violence as a response
to violence.
Hair and fashion
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Both films use hair and fashion to signify how their protagonists' identities change
and develop over the course of the narrative.
Compared to architecture and food, hair and fashion in the mise en scène can
provide a much more specific reading of temporal placement. Despite the drastic
changes that parts of London have undergone in the past three decades, much of the
architecture in films such as Pressure and Burning an Illusion differ only marginally
from that in Notting Hill.
However the frequency with which hairstyles and fashion trends change allow for a
more culturally specific reading of temporal placement. The distinctive hairstyles and
fashions of the 1960s are clearly definable in Scandal (Michael Caton-Jones, 1989,
UK) and even more pronounced in Julien Temple's musical Absolute Beginners
(1986, UK), an extremely stylised look at youth culture, fashion and racial tensions at
the time of the Notting Hill race riots. Both films were produced in the late 1980s, and
there is clearly an element of nostalgia for a bygone era reflected in the set and
costume designs.
Neither Pressure nor Burning an Illusion are retrospective films. Instead, they are
firmly grounded in their present day and actively draw upon contemporary issues and
themes for the central focus of their narratives, reflected in their naturalistic use of
'costume'. Additionally, the relatively short span of time between the two films serves
to provide a useful barometer of how various stylistic influences and changes impact
upon black British culture and allow us to read the slightest nuances in juxtaposition
to one another.
In the pre-globalist world of the 1970s, and before the homogenous, label-obsessed
influences of hip-hop on international youth culture, the very distinctive dress sense
of black British youth is in clear evidence throughout both films, yet within varying
degrees of its evolution. Trainers and sports wear had not yet become the norm and
amidst the insipient punk rock scene that was about to impact on mainstream British
youth, a distinctly conservative tone still dominated black street style in Britain.
It is noticeable that in both Pressure and Burning an Illusion the variety of hairstyles
and fashions are not as diverse as one would find amongst black communities today.
Most tellingly, none of the major characters in either of the films have their hair in
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dreadlocks, a style that has particular resonance within Caribbean culture,
specifically reggae and Rastafarianism, and has since become an almost universal
emblem for protest groups around the globe, not just an expression of black identity.
Pressure
Tony in leather jacket and cap
In Pressure Tony's attire, initially, swings between what seems to be a school uniform
and his Sunday best, a clear binary to the combat jacket and Africana that Colin
wears throughout the film and the more considered outfits worn by some of his peers.
Colin's combat jacket draws heavily on US counter-culture aesthetics from which he
derives much of his political rhetoric (radio broadcast about the Vietnam war are
heard several times in the film), while the trench coats, checked sports blazers and
hats worn by some of Tony's friends hint at the beginnings of the 'casual' movement
that would soon evolve around the reggae scene in the mid-1970s. By the early
1980s, this fashion was already on the wane amongst Del and his friends in Burning
an Illusion.
Indeed it is, symbolically, in Tony's attire that the viewer can first witness his state of
flux. Attending his first activist meeting Tony sports a peaked cap and a light sports
jacket, much to the interest of his friends. The hat (this is the first time he is seen
wearing one) automatically links him, stylistically, to many of the other attendees. In
the eclectic gathering, many of the men are wearing hats of one kind or another,
such as traditional Scottish tams or knitted woollens, very popular styles amongst the
Afro-Caribbean community at the time. Though such headwear may seem dated to
modern audiences, they quickly became signifiers, unceremoniously dubbed 'tea
cosies' by the mainstream, of black popular culture, much like the baseball cap or
'hoodie' today.
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This style further symbolises Tony's relationship with an increasingly radical
sensibility after he and his brother have been arrested and after Tony has left home.
At the house, where he is now an active member of a militant group, making placards
for a forthcoming demonstration Tony is surrounded by Afro wearing, dashiki clad
'brothers' full of revolutionary zeal and rhetoric. Interestingly Tony, despite his recent
traumas, still views the situation with a degree of hope and does not see his
treatment at the hands of racist police as indicative of society as a whole, unlike the
nihilistic opinions shared around the table. Also for the first time, Tony's opinions
begin to hold sway amongst others and fittingly, his image is subtly, yet deliberately,
constructed to mark him out as an individual within the group, somewhere between
the pan-African dress and the militant all black leather of the various group members.
Along with the costumes, hairstyles can play an important role in helping to define
character identity and traits. For example, in Spike Lee's School Daze (1988, US), a
musical about intra-racial tension on a university campus, one of the song and dance
routines, entitled 'Good and Bad Hair' is set inside a hair salon. Similarly in Jack
Starrett's black exploitation film Cleopatra Jones (1973, US) one character,
Doodlebug Simkins, is so obsessed with his Afro that his last act before dying is to
make sure it looks neat. This scene is later parodied in Robert Townsend's
Hollywood Shuffle (1987, US), where Townsend's hardboiled detective extracts
information from a suspect by withholding his curl activator.
From the 1960s onward, the Afro had become a symbol of black political radicalism
and militancy, worn by revolutionary activists such as Angela Davis. Originally know
as the 'natural' due to the rejection of short groomed or straightened styles that
radicals considered as appeasing to the mainstream; nevertheless, like most stylistic
conventions, it became quickly absorbed into the very establishment it sought to
distance itself from.
While the Afro has a mutely played out role in one scene in Pressure, hairstyles are
used to make a profound statement about the position many blacks living in Britain
found, and to a certain extent still find, themselves in. For example, when Tony
returns home from the police station, he arrives to find the house ransacked by the
police and his parents distraught for 'bringing down shame on them'. Amid the
ensuing argument Tony finally dispels their cosy dream and tears his mother's wig of
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false, straightened hair from her head, a clear sign that he has rejected her middle-
class, assimilationist values once and for all.
Language
Language is an important indicator of cultural value and identity. The visual language
of Pat's evolution has a parallel in the development of a specific black British verbal
dialect, that draws upon, yet is significantly different from, the various island patois' of
the Caribbean and traditional British vernaculars of the time (themselves in a
constant state of flux). As Pat becomes immersed in a black British environment in
the course of the film it is possible to perceive the importance of language as a
signifier of black identity. When she hears in court that Del has been refused parole,
her outcry is far from the middle-class tongue we hear from her at the start of the film.
A comparison between Pressure and Burning an Illusion highlights this shift in clear
and unequivocal terms. In Pressure Colin makes no bones about the fact that he is
from Trinidad and speaks in a manner that distinguishes him as such. This is in
complete contrast to Tony's 'middle-class' British accent which not only separates
him from Colin and his own black friends but also from his white friends, such as
Sheila, who speaks with a more pronounced working-class accent. Throughout
Pressure the nuances between various aspects of black language and dialect can be
identified and located. They signify several strata, compromising the pan-Caribbean
first generation immigrants, an incipient black British vernacular and a heavy,
American-influenced political rhetoric as spoken with revolutionary zeal by the activist
'Sister Louise'.
In Pressure the language spoken by many of the characters, particularly from the
immigrant generation, identifies them as coming from different Caribbean Islands,
though many of these dialects are less familiar to contemporary viewers.
Furthermore, much of the slang used at the time is no longer in vogue and even
when recognisable, maybe seen as kitsch by a younger generation. When Colin says
to Sister Louise 'you come hard', commending her on her tough attitude, he is using
a term that had a very narrow field of usage within the Caribbean, let alone in Britain,
holding virtually no resonance for contemporary viewers, black or white. Similarly,
when Bopsie berates Tony's father and brother for putting 'Goat mout' (mouth) on de
boy' (a phrase used widely in Trinidad) and not wishing him luck for his interview,
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16. Pressure and Burnning an Illusion
Ové is again employing language to mark a clear distinction between the
generations, and between the Caribbean and Britain. Other common slang words like
'fuzz' and 'pig', employed frequently to describe the police, or the term 'birds' to
describe women have also slipped from popular usage but command a much
broader cultural reference point, that many people can still easily tap into, viewed
almost as a kitsch remnants of 1960s counter culture.
Less than a decade separated the release of Pressure and Burning an Illusion, yet in
that time the development of what some people now describe as a 'London patois'
has already been moulded. Gone are the distinct island variations and in their place
is a more homogenous British construction (drawing predominantly from Jamaica,
which constituted the largest Caribbean population in Britain). It is from this linguistic
standpoint that Del and to a lesser extent Pat, like so many of their generation,
initially start to create the foundations of their identities - what it meant to be black
and British in the melting pot of 1980s Britain. Ironically, over 20 years later, 'black
English', has now been adopted, like so many aspects of black popular culture, by
many in the mainstream in their never-ending pursuit of cool.
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