Loki’s looking back
DARREN McGARVEY’S CLASS WARS
BBC Scotland 10pm SOCIAL activist and Record columnist Darren McGarvey’s thought-provoking and entertaining look at social class in the 21st century comes to a close and a conclusion.
In the final episode of Darren McGarvey’s Class Wars, the focus becomes very personal in this examination of class.
Titled Rear-View Mirror, he wonders if we can overthrow its lasting legacy on all our lives and Darren – who is also known as street rapper Loki – takes a trip back home to his childhood in Glasgow’s Pollok and visits his old further education college to give a masterclass which soon becomes something far more.
He also takes a sidestep from his own experience to look at what it means for the BAME community in Scotland, going to Springburn in Glasgow with Councillor Graham Campbell to meet some people involved in the recent Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020.
He meets Caitlin, a young traveller, who has chosen “freedom” on the road in a Bedford van older than she is. Keen to experience what life might be like in the past, Darren also tries his hand at being a butler with a man that has served everyone from royalty and politicians, to opera singers and Russian oligarchs.
As with other meetings throughout the series, these encounters fuel thoughts about perceptions of class and whether there can ever be any freedom from it, could it ever be consigned to the dustbin of history. In this, the most personal episode of the series, Darren examines his own social mobility, questioning whether he can ever fully migrate from his working class roots to the middle-class lifestyle he currently enjoys and should it matter where he is from. And crucially, does his past continue to impact his present?
An encounter with pigeon fanciers in Elgin prompts him to reflect directly on his own position: “Is it OK for me to change? Is it OK for me to make money?”, asking himself whether changes in lifestyle or his perspective are “evidence of maturity or of me selling out a bit”.
Coming full circle, Darren returns home to see his dad to try to find out if the rear-view mirror can ever be ignored.