Unit 28. One foot in the grave (Film)

Watch the film carefully, take notes of the language and cultural information in it. Make up your own exercises to check comprehension, explain and practise the cultural things and idiom. There should be at least 5 exercises with 3–5 points each. Do your observations support or disprove the points made in the previous chapter?

Unit 29. East-enders (Film)

Exercise 1.Watch the film closely and notice the way the characters talk, behave and relate to one another. Use their behaviour, conversation, appearance and terms of address to trace any possible social and cultural differences between them and see how they support or disprove the points made in the previous chapters.

Exercise 2.Prepare to talk about the cultural things, cultural information, the idiom (including noises) and stereotypes reflected in the film.

Unit 30. The final solution: or, whatreally counts

BRIT-THINK: If there’s one thing that True Brits have, it’s a sense of priorities. When all is said and done, onlytwo things really count; and – singly or together – they are the quintessence of Brit-life:

1. The Royal Family

... beloved of everyone – even the long-term unemployed and Scargillian socialists, who would gladly smash the system, but leave intact every hair and ostrich feather on the Queen’s head. The Royals are Britain. They’re WHAT WE’RE ABOUT, and DUTY, and HOW WE DO THINGS and WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY ... a diamond-studded bulwark against any form of social change. Ever.

They are contentment ... human incarnations of qualities and spiritual values which transcend hard cash. Royals inhabit a Higher Plane, since they are so rich that they need never concern themselves about money. Brits draw comfort from that.

2. The Pub

... focal point of Brit-life, the Great Leveller (the only leveller) which unites dustmen and kings. Pubs are comfortable and comforting – places where average Brits can rehearse cosy thoughts and attitudes, sure of endorsement and a sympathetic hearing from others too smashed to notice.

Brits only make it through a working morning by looking forward to drinking lunch in the nearest pub, then remain groggy for most of the working afternoon, surfacing just in time to grab a ‘quick one’ at 6 p.m. before starting for home and an evening’s telly, followed by a nip down to the local for ‘last orders’ at 11.00 ... which ensures the residual hang-over which dulls work-performance the next morning until it’s time to break for a pub lunch – and so on.

In pubs, Brits put problems to rights, re-assure everyone about everything, blow all surplus cash, and escape the pressures of family life for a glorious hour or two. Pubs are ‘public’ in the true sense of the word, since women on their own, or gaggles of ‘girl-friends’, or OAPs are welcome, as long as they all agree to abandon children on the doorstep.

Having attracted said custom, the average neighbourhood pub sets about withdrawing all services – i.e., warm drinks, no selection, no ice, no hot drinks, no acceptable food, nowhere to sit and unspeakable wallpaper. This makes patrons feel right at home; and they get on with the serious business of doing what they do best in pubs. Being British.