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groundcracksandfracturesinthesocialbedrocksurfacedastremorsand
shiftingground.UntilthatyearBritainhad,mostly,expendeditsenergyrecover-
ingfromthefinancialandphysicalcostsofthewar;now,throughaseriesof
abrupt,painfultransformations,anewmoodarose.
Oneindicatorofthisnewmoodwasthedistrust,evenoutrightrejection,of
politicalleaders:aresultoftheSovietinvasionofHungary,nuclearweapons
tests,PrimeMinisterAnthonyEden’sdisastroushandlingoftheSuezCanal
crisis.Suchbitter,partisanoppositionswerepartofBritain’sColdWarandalso
ofdecolonization.America’sincreasingpresenceprovokedsimilarsplitsof
opinioninpolitics,butalsoontheBritishartsscene.Manyskepticalcriticsand
artists,previouslyfearfulofwhattheysawasvulgar“Americanization”were
wonover,forexample,bytheTateGallery’sModernArtintheUnitedStates
exhibition,whichhighlightedthenewworkoftheAbstractExpressionists.
AdorationandexecrationfollowedtoofromElvis’sentryintothemusiccharts,
fromthescreeningsofRebelWithoutaCauseorRockAroundtheClock.
Therock‘n’rollriotsthatattendedthescreeningsofBillHaley’sfilminsome
Britishtownswere,inthisrespect,partofanincreasingpost-warresponsiveness
acrossthecountrytooutsidetrends:thecoffeebarcraze,Frenchexistentialism,
Italianmotorscooters.Inthefinearts,JacksonPollockhadstruckachord
becausehewascommittedtoamodernist,existentialaesthetic.Onthedomestic
scenetoonewinterestswerevoicedmoreloudlyandinsistently.TheStIves
schoolartistswereperhapsclosestintheirmoodtothecontinentalEuropean
influences,butRichardHamiltonandothermembersoftheIndependentGroup,
orevenasupposedrealistlikeJohnBratbyalsoidentifiedwiththenewsensibil-
ity.Therewasalsoamoredirect,similarlyurgentcompulsiontorepresent
contemporaryeverydayexperience,seenintheRoyalCourtproductionofLook
BackinAngerorMommaDon’tAllow.Thelatter,asemi-documentaryshort
filmwasshownattheBritishFilmInstitute’sfirstscreeningofFreeCinemain
1956.Twofirst-timedirectors,KarelReiszandTonyRichardson,madethefilm,
andbothwentontocreateinfluentialdocumentaryandfeaturefilmsoverthe
nextfewyears.
Fromthesesmallbeginnings,firstmanifestedin1956,anewpolitical,socialand
artisticagendagraduallyarose,carryingwithitfiguressuchasHamiltonand
Richardson.AmericanandEuropeaninfluenceswerecreativelyreworked–
oftenunintentionally–withintheBritishculturalmilieu;classandpopular
culturewerescrutinizedwithanewseriousness;the“anti-establishment”mood
graduallygrewinitsforceandscope,spreadingintoeverydaylanguageandTV
satireshows.
DavidBailey’sevocationoftheculturalshiftwithinBritainthroughthelate
1950sandearly1960sstressesthevisual,andthisledaswelltoanewaware-
ness,andconsideration,ofthechangingcitylandscapesandsocialenviron-
