My girlfriend and I were talking about Jane Austen novels the other day (I think it was shortly after our conversation about Star Warsdont get the idea that its all high culture around our place) and she noted how boring the lives of the main characters seemed.
One of the main diversions of young women at a small party, for instance, was to get up and take a turn about the room with someone else.
That is, they would walk. Around the room. And then maybe do that again.
This was what passed for entertainment in the Regency era, apparently. Its hard to imagine anyone being entranced with this activity.
And this is the south-west corner of the room! Oh my, Mr. Darcy, look at the wallpaper! And now the south-east corner! Oh, so much excitement, I may have to take to my bed and die of happiness and/or consumption!
In a typical upper class Regency household, your forms of entertainment were as follows: conversation, reading, playing music for each other, cards and gambling, putting on plays or tableaux vivants for friends, and, for some people, seducing the neighbours or servants.
So entertainment was pretty much DIY for much of even the upper classes. If you lived in London or Paris, you could go to plays, opera, and concerts, but that was still the exception.
For the other 90 per cent of the population, entertainment was even more limited. You had conversation, scratching pictures in the dirt floor of your hovel with a stick, joining the army to be shot at by the French, or starving to death.
Less than 50 years later, the entertainment revolution began, and its taken off like a rocket. First you had the invention of the art of photography, and the spread of the institution of the lending library. Images and words could reach more people than ever before.
Meanwhile, people were getting slightly less wretchedly poor than they had been, because of two linked social forces. First, technology changed to allow mass production and cheaper goods. Second, early unions and social radicals fought for the 10 hour and then the eight hour work day, and for the five day work week. That gave those labouring poor both more money and more free time, which they could fill with entertainment, from magic lantern shows to roller skating rink trips.
Then the phonograph came along, and the dawn of the 20th century saw the pace of entertainment accelerate. Silent films, talkies, colour films. Radio, record players, the rock and roll single. TV, VCRs, DVD players, PVRs, Netflix, YouTube. Pong, the Nintendo 64, Xbox 360. And the Internet, which encompasses, contains, and delivers every form of entertainment on this list.
Except for taking a turn about the room. Oh, Mr. Pentium, how droll do you find this wainscotting!
Were now drowning in entertainment. Its possible for someone working an average job to go home at the end of the day and spend every remaining waking moment of the day passively consuming. If I sat down and watched every movie and TV show I personally own on DVD back to back, it would take me well, Id probably have to take a few weeks off work.
And while the image of the thoroughly passive couch potato endures, the Regency DIY attitude is coming back. We dont just surf the net, we take our own pictures, post our own videos, songs, podcasts. Heck, one of the reasons we can passively consume (if we choose) is because of the army of DIY folks, putting on a show for their friends.
Visit Matthew Claxtons blog, Evolving Langley, at langleyadvance.com.
