THE CURSE OF THE CRINGE STRIKES AGAIN
Amid rows over production quotas and visitor centre closures, the Government has to start showing pride in our culture and tourism sectors
SCOTLAND has no sooner taken a confident step into a brighter future than bad news is announced which seems specifically designed to undermine that progress. Take the country’s recent successes in the world of film and television. The number of major movies to be filmed here seems to be forever on the rise.
Since hordes of crazed zombies were shown crawling all over George Square in World War Z, that city and this country have gained starring roles in an ever-lengthening list of blockbusters. That was rammed home to me when
I was watching the recent bigscreen version of The Flash on a flight only to see Glasgow once again provide a spectacular backdrop to the superhero’s high-speed shenanigans. That followed the city’s Necropolis and other locations featuring in the newest incarnation of the caped crusader, The Batman, Edinburgh standing in for Wanda and Vision’s hideaway in Avengers: Infinity War, St Abbs as Thor’s New Asgard in Avengers Endgame, Glencoe adding its air of impending doom to Bond’s Skyfall, Glasgow (again) standing in for 1960s New York in last year’s Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny.
That’s not all. Sometimes it feels like you can’t walk into a cinema before you are immersed in a Scottish landscape or the gritty urban realism of a Scottish city. It’s usually pretending to be somewhere else, of course, but you can’t have everything.
And it’s the same on television, particularly since Outlander captivated so many American hearts, with its impending prequel Blood Of My Blood set to pull off the same trick when it hits our screens at some so far undetermined time in the future.
So with the popularity of Scotland skyrocketing among the film community, you would expect the country to be the scene of an increasing number of homegrown productions too.
You would be wrong. Instead, Scottish production companies are up in arms over Channel 4’s plans to limit its spend outside England to just 9%. That’s just 9% for all of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. No wonder that’s sparked so much anger.
The National reported earlier this week that David Smith, the director of Screen Scotland, had wanted to see 8% spent in Scotland alone and another 8% going to Wales and Northern Ireland. According to Alan Clements, managing director of the Glasgow-based production company Two Rivers Media, an 8% spend in Scotland would be “transformational”.
Clements and Smith are mostly concerned about the effect of increased spending on jobs and training north of the Border but it would also bring other benefits. Think of the impact on Scotland’s self-confidence if it more regularly saw itself portrayed in a good light in locally-based dramas.
That was no doubt why thenprime minister David Cameron was so worried about Outlander being screened before the independence referendum in 2014 that he met Sony bosses to try and prevent it. He certainly didn’t want that vote to take place as Scotland became more proud of its past and more optimistic about its future.
The Scottish Government’s Culture Secretary Angus Robertson has described Channel 4’s 9% budget allocation to Scotland, Ireland and Wales as an outrage. He’s met Channel 4 bosses and their response is the usual bland assurances saying nothing at all.
But this looks to me like another attempt by national TV companies not to allow Scotland to get too big for its boots. The BBC spends a bigger percentage of its budget in Scotland but is still determined to keep BBC Scotland firmly in its subsidiary place.
There was a recurring debate over BBC Scotland’s news broadcasts which has still not been resolved by the creation of a separate Scottish channel which broadcasts exclusively Scottish content each evening. This was the BBC’s response to a campaign for a separate Scottish peak-time news show at 6pm every night.
That show would have been edited in Scotland and would have featured the big Scottish stories of the day alongside the big UK and international stories, rather than in a more parochial addon “news where you are” section at the end of the main news show.
THE new channel broadcasts a Scottish-only news show The Nine (also known as The Seven at weekends). Despite its relatively high quality it has struggled to build the size of audience it deserves.
It’s not just Scottish television programmes which find it hard to find their proper place on the main channels. Scottish culture rarely gets a place in the mainstream spotlight reserved for UK national culture.
The transformational power of Scottish music, literature, theatre
and art has been grasped by Believe in Scotland’s plans to harness it in its campaigning for Scottish independence.
As its founder, Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp explained: “The pre-2014 National Conversation on independence was a cultural engagement, not a political consultation, and as such laid the groundwork for the increase in independence support that we have struggled to maintain through the wilderness years.’’
You’ll see the first effects of that organisation’s change in focus at its festival of independence march and rally in Glasgow on Saturday, April 20. As well as First Minister Humza Yousaf, speakers include The National’s cultural commentator, Hue and Cry singer Pat Kane, and singer Iona Fyfe.
It’s a smart move. Scotland’s cultural contribution to the world is significant but it’s often overshadowed in the UK context and our own cultural cringe prevents us from shouting about it. In the most recent example, look at all of the fuss over the awards haul won by Poor Things – the outpouring of love doesn’t seem to have reached the author of the book, Alasdair Gray. Nor for that matter the central role Glasgow played in the book, only to be entirely excised from the movie.
Scotland’s one-step-forward-twosteps-backward curse does not only afflict its cultural recognition. This week it spread to the tourism boom driven by the popularity of all those big-screen appearances.
Tourists may be attracted to the scenic landscapes depicted by Outlander but when they get here they are as likely to find a tourist information office as they are to catch a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster. Visit-Scotland in its infinite wisdom has decided to shut every one of its 25 tourism offices over the next two years.
It’s just the latest in a long line of casualties of the dreaded phrase “digital first”, a policy which has laid waste to our high streets and to entire industries sacrificed on the altar of cost-cutting.
The internet could have transformed our lives for the better, giving us extra time to spend with our friends and families and bringing us the ability to order essential supplies simply by logging on. And there are no doubt benefits to be had.
But capitalism has inflicted a high price. The line between work and home is increasingly blurred. Internet shopping has made town and city centres grim places where visitors are met with boarded-up stores.
As usual those in charge of businesses have prioritised profits over wellbeing and it will be the same with tourists who will be deprived of information being provided by a friendly, knowledgeable face and forced to wander around aimlessly looking for something recommended by an app.
This issue is complicated by the fact that the VisitScotland digitisation is supported by the Scottish Government and opposed by the UK Government, which is exactly the opposite situation to the one I’m normally comfortable with. Nevertheless even a stopped watch is right twice a day.
VisitScotland wheeled out their normal brand of technobabble to justify their decision. Lots of “impactful roles”, “models of information”, “activities that will accelerate sustainable growth”, and “prioritising the activities that will deliver for our industry and for Scotland”.
That’s all backed up by the Scottish Government uncharacteristically arguing that bringing Scotland into line with VisitEngland and Visit Wales will be a good thing.
None of this hides the fact that Scotland’s tourism offering will be reduced for no other reason than to look “cooler” at a time when TV spend on a resurgent Scottish culture sector is going nowhere.
Believe in Scotland is getting behind Scottish culture’s ability to win hearts and minds to the cause of independence. Isn’t it time the Scottish Government did the same?
Tourists are as likely to find an information office as they are to catch a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster