GANGSTERS ON THE SCREEN

Peaky Blinders

Gangsters on screen

Fiction and reality

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How does the series Peaky Blinders measure up to British history?

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When fiction unravels real issues

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Final task

An urban setting

A real-life heroine, Jessie Eden

A historical drama

reality vs fiction

Women’s strike

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Country ? Date ? Story ? Atmosphere?

A historical drama

Blade: lame 2. seams: coutures 3. union: syndicat 4. Javert:famous policeman in Les Misérables 5. bookmaking: des paris 6. zealotry: Fanaticism

Mike Hale, nytimes.com, Sept. 2014

A historical drama : Peaky Blinders

In early-20th-century Birmingham, England, apparently, the term “Peaky Blinders” referred to peaked caps worn by gang members that had razor blades sewn into the seams. [...] The show’s creator, Steven Knight, has been primarily a feature-film guy and perhaps he was afraid of running out of story, because he overstuffs “Peaky Blinders.” In addition to several warring gangs, he gives us the Irish Republican Army and Communist union organizers, all of them operating in the shadow of the recently concluded First World War. The brutal but sensitive protagonist is Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), a war hero with battlefield flashbacks who wants to turn his family’s gang into a legitimate business. His primary opponent is Campbell (Sam Neill), a Javert-like cop from Northern Ireland. There’s lots of plot, involving stolen guns and bookmaking operations and ill-fated romance, but the show is mostly about Shelby’s beautiful moodiness (Mr. Murphy’s famously striking eyes do most of the work here) versus Campbell’s moralistic zealotry.

1. Meaning of the title: the term referred to peaked caps worn by gang members that had razor blades sewn into the seams; creator: Steve Knight; setting: early-20th-century Birmingham, England after the First World War. 2. The show includes references to real-life people or events (the famous gang members, the Irish Republican Army and Communist union organizers, post-war trauma) from the relevant time period (after the First World War) but also include fictionalized elements, such as gang warfare, the protagonist Tommy Shelby and his opponent Campbell, and romance. 3. The author thinks that the show is thematically rich (“he overstuffs ‘Peaky Blinders’”; “There’s lots of plot”) and that the story is compelling (“beautiful moodiness”) mostly thanks to the interpretation of the actor Cillian Murphy in the role of the main protagonist Tommy Shelby.

Correction A historical drama

reality vs fiction

Pick out the common points and the differences between reality and fiction.

Article from https://www.birminghammail.co.uk ›

Peaky blinders: this is the truth behind BBC show - and what's not.

Peaky Blinders is currently enjoying its fourth series on BBC Two. The show has been a hit ever since it debuted back in 2013. The Birmingham-based drama, set in Small Heath, has a mythical pedigree among viewers. We all know the Shelby family and Peaky Blinders are based on a real gang. But what is - and what is not - the truth behind the much-loved series? We've spoken to historian Carl Chinn about the city’s real Peaky Blinders. Carl has researched the real story behind the glamorous series – and admits he’s impressed by how much good the programme has done for his beloved hometown. This is what we know was real - and what has enjoyed creative licence: Was there a Shelby family? “It’s really interesting to look back at the mythologized version of the story and the reality,” says Carl, who has written a new book called The Real Peaky Blinders. “There was no real To mmy Shelby and the Peaky Blinders were around in the 1890s and yet the series is set in the 1920s." But the Peaky Blinders existed, right?! Carl, who began researching these notorious Birmingham gangs back in the 1980s, says: "Fashionably dressed, the Peaky Blinders in the show were named after the weapon they used in fights: the peaks of their flat caps into which had been sewn safety razors and which were slashed across the foreheads of their opponents, causing blood to pour down into their eyes and blind them.” Carl’s research has shown it is highly unlikely these gangsters ever used razor blades in their caps and that the name probably just came from the peaked hats they chose to wear. “The razor blades were only beginning to come in from the 1890s and were a luxury item, much too expensive for the Peaky Blinders to have used. “And any hard man would tell you it would be very difficult to get direction and power with a razor blade sewn into the soft part of a cap. It was a romantic notion brought about in John Douglas’s novel, A Walk Down Summer Lane. “But I can understand why the series producers used the name because it’s infused with gangsterdom.[...]”

An urban setting

An urban setting

1. crackling with nerves: full of tension 2. strewn: éparpillés 3. grim: without hope 4. related to drunken debauchery 5. Interruption

radiotimes.com, 2019

An urban setting

Post-war Britain in the spotlight :Peaky Blinders opens on a slum street of Birmingham. The year is 1919. The atmosphere is febrile, smoky and crackling with nerves. It’s the most distinctive-looking British drama you could conceive of. The society the Shelbys lived in had been racked by the war, leaving profoundly damaged men strewn across every class and community; revolution was in the air, and the Government was terrified of it; and the Peaky Blinders aren’t remotely fictional. […] The gang’s control in Birmingham has a Wild West quality, where the violence is instrumental and strategic, never savage or incidental, and the rules of society are being broken and remade in front of you. But their lives are burdened by far more than the pressures of self-interest. The casualties of the First World War are everywhere. […] The war and its aftermath are dealt with in an original and oblique way, as a hangover that nobody would acknowledge, but everybody had. As grim as the period must have been, from the distance of decades this is a transfixing time, decadent and bacchanalian4, traumatised and anti-authoritarian, deeply political, desperate for things to be different, but petrified of change. “I think there was a loss of faith in technology: before the war, there was this belief that every new discovery meant more progress,” says Knight. Alongside that anarchic hatred of authority there was a real hunger for change, a genuine Communist movement, and the authorities were terrified. During this hiatus5 of property, of rules, lives were ruined, but fortunes were made as well, and we meet the Peaky Blinders on the up, able to take on everything.

Correction: An urban setting

1. Peaky Blinders deals with the heavy weight brought by WWI without over-dramatizing it. First, the show evokes the atmosphere of sadness and despair that prevailed at the time. Secondly, it shows how the Great War completely upended British society to the point that people had no faith in authority and technology anymore. The ensuing decadence of the “Roaring Twenties” is depicted as a way to cope with the trauma of the war. Last but not least, Peaky Blinders portrays post-war Britain as being in the grip of a political unrest that threatened social order. 2. The dark setting and the grim atmosphere created in the series largely contribute to heightening people’s sadness and despair (“a slum street”, “smoky”, “grim”, “as a hangover”) as well as their desire for change (“crackling with nerves”) at the time. 3. The Shelby family uses the social and political unrest that prevailed at the time to commit criminal acts and impose their own rules on the city of Birmingham. Crime and violence become the Shelby’s weapons for social mobility. Last paragraph: “During this hiatus5 of property, of rules, lives were ruined, but fortunes were made as well, and we meet the Peaky Blinders on the up, able to take on everything.” 4. The verb form used here is the passive voice. Other examples: “had been racked by the war” (l.7-8), “the Government was terrified of it” (l.11-12), “their lives are burdened” (l.20), “The War and its a"ermath are dealt with” (l.23-24), “lives were ruined, but fortunes were made as well” (l.44-45). The use of the passive voice highlights the damages brought by the war and conveys the idea of a society which is out of control.

Women’s strike

→ Jessie Eden : the lady shop steward ( = délégué syndical) at the Lucas Factory in Sparkhill. She is taking all the women out on strike for the day. → The reasons why women are taking action: protest to work on a Holy Day, poor conditions, lack of holidays, unsanitary lavatory provisions, lower pay for female workers. → The way the Shelby women are depicted at the end of the scene: they seem to be determined, ready to fight for women. They look like a gang.

Correction : women strike.

A real-life heroine, Jessie Eden

1. Firebrand (n.) = agitator 2. Strike (n.) : grève 3. A household name (exp.) = a person well-known by the public

A real-life heroine, Jessie Eden

Steven Knight is talking to a journalist about season 6. In this season, he tells us more about the rise of nationalism, facism and racism in the 1930s. This echoes today's environment. He thinks people should be careful about the consequences of the spreading of these ideas since it lead to WWII 9 years later.

When fiction unravels real issues

• The creator of Peaky Blinders Steven Knight is interviewed by a journalist about the issues tackled in seasons 5 and 6 of the series.

• Season 5 takes places in the 1930s during the rise of fascism, nationalism and racism. Season 6 focuses on the year 1934 and the growing tensions leading to World War II.

• There are huge parallels with” – “they are resonant of”.

• According to Steven Knight, the series echoes the rise of nationalism that’s going in the world today. He explains that racist and nationalistic ideas now and then may be appealing to people because they are simple ideas conveyed by attractive individuals but he warns the audience about the fact that history may repeat itself if the world does not learn from the past.

When fiction unravels real issues

• 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. Présenter un personnage
• Donne des informations biographiques: A war hero - A cop from Northern Ireland • Utilise le present 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 ……

final task

Downton Abbey Oswall Mosley

I) Rendez compte en français ou en anglais, du point de vue de Dr Matt Cole, historien, sur la série Peaky Blinders.

II) Answer this question in English. Does the series "Peaky Blinders" measure up to history? Write 120 words

THANKS!