TV series

DO TV SERIES REWRITE THE PAST 

OR ARE THEY ACCURATE HISTORICAL RESSOURCES?

I - Peaky Blinders

1/ Understanding the context

 Opening Title Sequence of Peaky Blinders season 1

WATCH AND DESCRIBE : Watch the video and pick up as many details/information as possible that can help understand the story. FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN SEE . Try to define who the Peaky Blinders and the protagonist (Thomas Shelby) may be and to find information about the social and historical context.

Protagonists : 

Setting :

Atmosphere :

2/ Location : Were does it take place? 

In 2013, Tommy Shelby and the Peaky Blinders burst onto our screens, bringing interwar Birmingham to our living rooms. Since then, Peaky Blinders has gained fans worldwide and season 5 will see its BBC1 debut. Over 75,000 people applied for tickets to the world premiere of this series, which took place in Birmingham Town Hall last month; a record-breaking number.

This is despite the fact that, while set in Birmingham, Peaky Blinders has been largely filmed around Leeds, Liverpool and wider Yorkshire.  Screen Yorkshire's significant financial investment has resulted in an understandable regional pride in Peaky Blinders, and the region has benefited from location tours and themed pubs. Nonetheless, creator Steven Knight, whose parents grew up in Small Heath, has vowed to film more of future series in Birmingham, which would provide a boost to the local industry. Even without significant on-location filming here to date, however, the West Midlands is profiting from its Peaky connection.

What we see from the case of Peaky Blinders is that value of successful screen brands can be widespread. But, the fact is, Peaky Blinders is cool. It's lauded for its stylish cinematography, excellent soundtrack and has sparked fashion trends including a collaboration with David Beckham's clothing line.

The desire for fans to immerse themselves in all things Peaky has led to the establishment of history tours around Digbeth and the Black Country Living Museum's sell-out themed evenings. The two-day festival in September (following an unofficial event last year) will take place in Digbeth, an industrial area of Birmingham that trades on its reputation for being somewhat gritty and alternative.

As the fifth series commences, it seems Birmingham can only continue to capitalise on the uniquely Peaky brand that mythologises an era of the city's history. Flat caps are back in style and there is no shortage of Peaky themed experiences on offer. As we follow Tommy Shelby back into the urban jungle of 1920s Small Heath, should we also pause to consider what it means for Birmingham to build on a brand that, despite its panache, is rooted in narratives of violence?

by Jemma Saunders, Department of Film and Creative Writing  https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/ 

a - Locate the town of Birmingham on England's map.

b - Explain the consequences of the series "Peaky Blinders" towards the city of Birmingham.

c - What has the town done to capitalise on the fame's series?

Grammar tool : Find in this text the verbs at the present perfect. 

Why are they writen this way?

3/ Gangs, Crime and History: The Story behind the 'Peaky Blinders' 

How historically accurate is the hit television series? 

Set in the fog of post-war Birmingham, the series follows the story of Thomas Shelby and his notorious family in their criminal disputes and back-handed business in the aftermath of the First World War. The series highlights the lives of the working-class in an interwar era that is largely under-represented in popular culture. While mostly historically accurate, like any period drama there are over exaggerations and unrealistic images of the past created for entertainment purposes. However, the series does very well to place certain historic events into the narrative timeline to frame the plot contextually for the viewer. Historian Carl Chinn of the University of Birmingham has done some extensive research on the real Peaky Blinders, who in fact were first mentioned in the 1890s and not in the 1920s as the TV series suggests. We can see the series positively engaging with history; bringing forward previously untold stories and making them accessible to a wider audience. Historical facts have been pieced together to create a dramatic reconstruction of the 1920s; although it is important not to run away with the idea that every day life in Birmingham was ridden with mafia-style gangs and warfare. As well as being based on a real-life gang, Peaky Blinders engages with multiple significant historical events to serve as major elements in driving the narrative. The return of shell-shocked soldiers after World War One, is one of topics that the series uses to contextualise and frame the carefully thought-out narrative. This influences our historical understanding as these representations of shell-shocked and traumatised soldiers ensure that they are solidified in our collective memory of the war and not just forgotten. Therefore, Peaky Blinders is an exciting and complex representation of the interwar years that presents a narrative of Birmingham that usually the public would not hear about. It offers a popular portrayal of the British working class, who are often under-represented in film and television. Georgina Lea, Medium, 4 December 2019

Written comprehension guidelines: 

1) Identify the words in the text that help you to understand basic information about the series ( who? Where? When? What?) 

2) Spot elements from the text which show the tv series corresponds to historical reality. 

3) Detect elements which show the series does not always correspond to historical reality. 

4) Find elements which show the tv series allows its audience to have a better understanding of this 1920's. 

Vocabulary

Back-handed business= leurs affaires louches  

To frame= encadrer 

To bring forward= mettre en avant 

To piece together= assembler, reconstituer 

Dramatic= ici, spectaculaire 

To drive the narrative= faire advancer l'intrigue 

To be shell-shocked= être en état de choc

To take place in/ To be set in 

To deal with/to be about to focus on 

The plot= the story 

The audience= viewers 

To emphasize= to highlight=to stress= to bring forward 

To be true to History= to be faithful to History= to correspond to reality 

To differ from reality= to stray from historical facts= to take liberties with reality 

To shed a new light on= to offer a new view on 

To allow the audience to= to enable viewers to 

4/ The Shelby Family's story

Small Heath, Birmingham, 1919. Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy, Inception) and his family run the most feared and powerful local gang, the Peaky Blinders. Named for their practice of sewing razor blades into the peaks of their caps, they make money from illegal betting, protection and the black market.

But Tommy's ambitions go beyond running the streets, and when a crate of guns goes missing from an arms factory, he recognises an opportunity to move up in the world. As rival gangs, Communist revolutionaries and IRA Fenians descend on Small Heath in pursuit of the weapons; Winston Churchill dispatches a ruthless police chief from Belfast to impose order on an increasingly lawless city and recover the guns."

https://peakyblinders.tv/about/

a/ Family tree

The Shelby Family is a small and wealthy family of Irish-Traveller descent originating from Birmingham, England. While being a small family, their influence is large and extends over a large portion of Birmingham and London. The Shelby Family run the Peaky Blinders and their own company, Shelby Company Limited.

As a wealthy family, the Shelby's own many cars, homes and properties such as the Garrison, the local public house in Small Heath. Through the marriage of John Shelby and Esme Shelby, the Shelby Family are closely linked with the Romany-Gypsy Lee Family.

b/ The story

Series 1 · 1919

The Peaky Blinders begin to expand following 1919 and, when they are offered security jobs by Billy Kimber, the company is set up in order to keep their profits legal and above board. Under Shelby Company, the Peaky Blinders receive their first legal racetrack pitch from Kimber.

Series 2 · 1922

At a Shelby family meeting, John Shelby reveals that the company is very successful: making €150 pounds a day (Equivalent of £6,000 today) on average. Despite this success, Thomas has greater plans for it, and expands it southward to London, England.

Thomas Shelby writes a letter to Winston Churchill, asking for help with his business in exchange for carrying out an assassination. In the letter, he asks for the Colonial Office to grant him an Empire Export Licence, covering India, Malay Peninsula, Canada and Russia. He states that he plans to transport certain manufactured goods from Birmingham to the Poplar Docks.

These manufactured goods are part of an export drive idea created by Thomas. Secure passage to a warehouse in Camden Town and secure passage to the Poplar Docks allow the Shelby Company to send out export crate of Riley Motorcar spares, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Hidden in the packing of these car spares will be 500 bottles of single malt Scotch Whiskey, to be sold. Meanwhile, the export licence prevents their crates from being searched, thanks to the prohibition laws in North America.

Series 3 · 1924

During 1922, Shelby Company grows, becoming more successful than ever before, perhaps due to the downfall of Kimber and the Peaky Blinders take-over of London and surrounding areas. The company also enjoys a stable cash flow from Winston Churchill. By the end of 1922, Ada Thorne has become more interested in Shelby Company business and takes up a job offer to act as Head of Property and Acquisitions at the company's Boston office.

By the end of 1922, Michael Gray has settled into his position of head accountant and is making generous sums of money. Furthermore, the company becomes somewhat fully legal, with most Peaky cash flowing through the business in some form or another.

Compréhension orale : évaluation

5/ Soundtrack.

The eerie opening theme song to Peaky Blinders is called Red Right Hand, written by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds more than 25 years ago. The phrase is actually from the John Milton poem Paradise Lost. The "Red Right Hand" could also be a metaphor describing the crime, violence, and overall corruption that takes place. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds appear on the soundtrack with numerous other songs, and several partial remixes and cover versions of "Red Right Hand" are used throughout the show-another reason why it is now connected to Peaky Blinders forever. The soundtrack also features artists like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, who definitely will harness an older crowd of viewers. There are several scenes where Tommy is sitting at his desk, smoking a cigarette and sipping whiskey, as he seems to be struggling with internal conflict and thinking about his lack of self-love. In these, there will be much slower songs with melancholy lyrics of remorse and dismay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnRXp2_3c-g

What is the purpose of  a TV series' sound track ? 

6/Actress Charlie Murphy as Jessie Eden in Peaky Blinders

In the series, she is associated to the Shelby family when she leads the Shelby women to join her and demonstrate for better working conditions for women. She will then bravely confront Thomas Shelby about the treatmen t of women in his factories, warning him about her capacity to bring out people on strike.

A. Look at the picture and read the text on the right. Describe: What may be happening in the scene illustrated in the picture?

Grammar rule : make suppositions about something which is happening:

SUJET+ MIGHT/MAY/MUST + BE +V ing

B. Read and find information about the real Jessie Eden .

C. Details about Jessie Eden 's life ( dates, events).

Reasons why she was made to appear in Peaky Blinders :

Effect of the Tv series :

Use these elements to recap ( write a paragraph in your own words ! ).

7/ Final task : FICTION AND REALITY - Writing

Netflix is inviting people to take part in a creative writing competition. Imagine and write the pitch of a series based on historical events and/or characters.

Contents:

Explain the historical context, the place and the characters. What's the main storyline?

Justify your different choices. How historically accurate do you want to be? Why? If your story is set in the future, what aspect do you want to illustrate?

You can show a few pictures in your document to illustrate the atmosphere of the series.

Vous devrez :

Présenter un personnage

• Donne des informations biographiques: A war hero - A cop from Northern Ireland

• Utilise le présent de narration: He wants to turn his family's gang into...... He is also the leader of......

• Utilise des adjectifs variés et des relatives : Shelby's beautiful moodiness - His striking eyes - A war-hero who wants to ......

Décrire une atmosphère

• Pose le décors avec précision: On a slum street of Birmingham - Past the square, past the bridge

• Mets les personnages en retrait avec la forme passive : Their lives were burdened - The rules are being broken.

Définir une bande sonore

Il vous faut convaincre le jury que les abonnés vont adorer votre série en utilisant le vocabulaire d'expression du goût.

Grammar tool : L'expression du goût.

GRILLE D'ÉVALUATION : 

- Originalité de la proposition /2

- Réalisation de la tâche / 9

Respect de la consigne /3

Développement, richesse des idées, justifications soignées /3

Soin apporté au document de présentation /3

- Compétence linguistique /9

Respect des structures grammaticale /3

Richesse du vocabulaire /3

Utilisation de connecteurs logiques /3