Ice, Sea, Coal - Uncommon Subjects, Common Themes: Interpreting the Cultural Representations of Scott, Dunkirk and Durham Coal Miners in the Context of Decline

Ice, Sea, Coal - Uncommon Subjects: Common Themes: interpreting the cultural representations of Scott, Dunkirk and coal miners in Durham in the context of declinism.

This thesis will test the hypothesis: ‘To what extent do twentieth century cultural representations in Britain reflect prevalent ideas and experiences of decline and declinism?’ The concept behind this thesis is that the cultural representations of the case studies illustrate reflections of their contemporary times, which have altered as social and cultural circumstances have changed. One of the key components to recognising this change in the cultural representations is to understand how the narratives of the case studies have changed to reflect contemporary Britain, which in this thesis is described as their myth.

The relationship all of the cultural representations to the case studies will be considered in the context of decline. In order to fully appreciate this relationship the themes of gender, class and community and science and progress will also be considered for their relationships to the case studies and decline. All of the cultural representations for each of the case studies will be considered which will comprise not only of monuments but also of films and television programmes, museums, anniversary celebrations and fiction and non-fiction books.

This is an area of original research not only in its use of three diverse case studies with their ‘uncommon themes’, but its addition to the limited empirical research of declinism in cultural history and furthermore has specific notable new ideas presented in the research chapters. The research presented shows the common themes of the cultural representations to the case studies, not only in the context of decline but in the broader themes of gender, class and community and science and progress.