Key Stage 4 Media Studies

Key Stage Four Media Studies

Resources • Nella Last, diarist 5353 – SxMOA26/6/7. • Nella Last’s War edited by Richard Broad and Suzie Fleming (Profile Books,

2006) – SxRefLibrary/3/113. • Housewife, 49 ITV adaptation. • Diarist 5098 – SxMOA1/4/19 • Diarist 5331 – SxMOA1/4/24/2

Teachers’ Notes

The evolution of Nella Last’s wartime experience from Mass Observation diary to written publication and ITV adaptation

Nella Last sent in regular diary entries for the Mass Observation Archive from 1939-1965. During this period, Nella penned roughly 2 million words for the Mass Observation Archive. She lived, as the title of the ITV adaptation indicates, as a ‘Housewife, (aged) 49’ in Barrow-in-Furness with her husband and two sons.

In 1981, Richard Broad and Suzie Fleming published a book bringing together Nella Last’s diary entries. The edition used here was published in 2006. The ITV adaptation, written by and starring Victoria Wood, was also created in 2006.

Research, Planning and Presentation task

Aims and Outcomes -To develop their understanding of the relationship between different media forms, and how this process evolves, through planning their own cross-media study. -To successfully research, plan and produce their own television adaptation or blog from the stimulus provided.

Task

Students may choose from the following:

1. Write a contemporary blog as Nella Last. Nella Last’s wartime experience has

evolved from original diary to publication to ITV adaptation. How would a 21st

century blog post from Nella read? Students must consider the conventions of blog writing and the intended audience of this media form when planning their blog post.

2. Select another Mass Observation diarist. Create a 10 minute television adaptation from their writings. Students must consider their purpose and intended audience, as well as the conventions of this media form.

Analytical task

Aims and Outcomes -To understand the relationship between different media forms and how the form influences the nature of the product. -To consider the interdependence of media texts and how producers seek to achieve synergy where a particular text appears on different media platforms.

Task

After examining the three different media forms, students should consider:

1. What are the similarities and differences between the original diary, the edited edition and the television adaptation?

2. Thinking closely about the purpose of the different media forms and their intended audience, why might this change and influence the finished product?

3. Write a 500-1000 word report analysing and explaining the similarities and difference between the three different media forms. Students should display an awareness of how the form influences the nature of the product.

Nella Last was a housewife who lived with her husband and two sons in Barrow-in-Furness. She began writing diary entries for the Mass Observation Archive in 1939 when the Mass Observation Archive, who were interested in the ordinary person’s experience of the war, advertised for people to write regular diaries for them. The technological military advances of the day meant that war had come to the Home Front through aerial bombing. The lives of ordinary people, especially women, were directly affected by the events of the war. From reading Nella’s diary, what can we determine about her character? For what purpose and what audience is Nella writing for?

Nella Last, diarist 5353- SxMOA26/6/7

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Transcription February 2nd Friday Today the sun shone like a promise & thawed snow a little on roof. I was glad I’d managed to jab at overhanging fall of snow & breaks pieces off for there was not the weight to hang on eaves. Its odd the way it drifted – every other house in street has gutter off on it snow has piled on alternate houses. My husband says he would price of old iron of fallen … in town. Baby’s Gran died in the night & her other daughter from Ireland arrived in time. She called this afternoon & seemed in rather a ‘character’. She stood looking down at baby & then said very candidly “what a God-awful looking child – but then our Cassie never did finish anything she started – never from a child!” She has had a dreadful journey & it took her four days to do what she should have done in about 38 hours. She says baby’s mother is a little better for her chest is not quite as congested.

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Nella Last, diarist 5353- SxMOA26/6/7

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Transcription

March 1st To wild a day & I felt so tired I did very little housework & sat sewing & dressed two dollies this afternoon – a sailor & a red brown mouse. The woman who ordered the sailor said ‘make it as like my boy as you can- won’t you!’ I felt surprised and laughingly said ‘you must think I’m clever to do that’ & got the annoying answer, ‘well we have remarked after ‘how like’ the buyer the dolls were! Coincidence mostly no doubt- but- when I looked at my simpering … of a Red brown mouse I did see a resemblance to buyer that made me chuckle. Mrs Bush-Garriford is a woman who has always got enjoyment out of life as an army man’s wife with a private income & has the ‘assurance’ that she will always have it. She is a dear little thing though – even if a bit envious of her ‘hyphen’! It was light until nearly 7 o’clock & made me think of light ‘gardening’ evenings. There are snowdrops out in the garden& soon the crocuses will come up in my crazy paved paths. I felt very guilty the year I planted 41 of crocus bulbs…

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Nella Last, diarist 5353- SxMOA26/6/7

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Transcription July 4th It was my fortnightly trip to hairdressers this morning & I got-up early. Made chicken & ham breakfast & intended to vac but something seems a little out of order and it had no ‘pick up’. The pipe is clear but the motor ‘runs hot’ and I’ll have to have it seen to. When I went down to hairdressers I was struck by the absence of neat maids sweeping side walks & cleaning windows. In their place worried & generally elderly women in ‘smart’ dresses & inadequate little apron were busy. It makes me thankful for my small modern house in these labour short days. Queues were already forming for pork sausage, tomatoes &oranges, and either or both cake & meat-pies. My hairdressers place is the only house in a fairly long street that is fit to enter &she only uses two downstairs rooms. As more unsafe house ‘come down’ it makes it different each time I go ‘off the beaten tracks’. The town was thronged with women after oranges & tomatoes for huge lorry loads have been brought by road into town. I went into a greengrocers to avoid ‘ordinary’ customers waiting…

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Nella Last, diarist 5353- SxMOA26/6/7

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November 7th

Its been a tiresome irritating day from getting up in morning to bed. Cliff wrote to say he was coming home &bringing George Dinnis & I don’t feel very sociable toward that one & there is not the same pleasure inviting strangers when our house is ‘packed up’ & my husband will not hear of me impacting the lounge as he says ‘why bother when anything could happen at any moment & anyway its all work for you!’ Canteen today was all ‘on edge’ – the committees have been making fresh rules & there is such a dreadfully firm system of buying & there is always a shortage of something & I’m sure its more the fault of Mrs Thompson the head than the tradesman.

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Nella Last’s War is a publication of Nella’s diary entries, edited by Richard Broad and Suzie Fleming. Richard Broad is a retired television director and producer. He has made over 90 documentaries on historical and social subjects, including a seven-part series Home Front, which used the Mass Observation Archive extensively. Suzie Fleming is a historian of the women’s movement and particularly focuses upon the contribution of mothers to the creation of the welfare state. Within the preface they claim that they attempted to keep their publication true to the original, adding editorial notes only where necessary. How might the editors’ own agendas and professional backgrounds affect the media form and what is selected?

(Editorial note) Early on 7 May, the surrender of Norway was announced. Three

days later, German troops drove into Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg,

threatening France. In Britain, the Chamberlain government was about to be

replaced by a coalition government led by Winston Churchill.

Tuesday, 7 May, 1940

I have a great weariness tonight. But as it has been a showery day with a cold

wind that made my cough bad, and I coughed till I felt too sick to eat any lunch,

and only had a handful of Vita Wheat and was on my feet from 7.30 when I got up

till 5.30 when I had my tea at home, it’s only to be expected. There were not many

people at the Centre, and for the first time there was talk of war everywhere- and

what would happen in Parliament. Some thought that it would mean the

resignation of Mr. Chamberlain, but the majority seemed to think Norway had

caused her own trouble through being too neutral. One woman said, ‘This will

encourage Mussolini to come in, and once that happens my husband says Japan

will strike in the East. I said, ‘Don’t you think Japan has enough on with China,

and do you think the USA will stand for any monkey shines by Japan? Her friend

spoke up and said in a flat yet curiously excited tone, ‘It’s quite true – it is the end

of everything.’ It was only 2.30, but I went and started to get the cups of tea ready,

and we served it by three instead of four. Mrs Waite says, if there’s ever an air-

raid, she sees me making tea and going round with my bottle of aspirin as soon as

the all-clear sounds.

Friday, 10 May, 1940

This morning I was asleep when my husband got up, and was wakened by him

saying, ‘I have brought you a cup of tea.’ I looked up and then sprang upright in

bed and said, ‘What-ever has happened?’ for he looked like death itself. He said,

‘You are right, the war will be fought in Belgium again, and Holland as well this

time.’ Arthur got up and we listened to the eight o’clock news. Strange we should

have been together when war was declared. I went down to the hairdresser’s, and

the few I met on the way seemed as stunned as we all did last September. After a

cold meat and salad lunch, Arthur and I went over to Walney as we had planned to

do, but instead of reading we sat and talked and looked at the water…

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Saturday, 11 May 1940

Arthur was surprised that Hore-Belisha was not in the new Cabinet. He said that

he was not very impressed with the result of the Coalition, and chuckled when he

heard Lloyd George was not mentioned. I said, ‘Poor old man, what would he do?’

and Arthur said, ‘Oh, I don’t know, but his vitriolic sense of duty might goad

someone into anger that might have good results.’

When Mr Churchill was in Barrow to see the aircraft carrier launched, the men

in the Shipyard were very impressed by ‘something’ he had. One man had said,

‘To stand by him to feel as if he had more pulses than ordinary men’, and his

direct manner had appealed to. If I had to spend my whole life with a man, I’d

choose Mr Chamberlain, but I think I would sooner have Mr Churchill if there was

a storm and I was shipwrecked. He has a funny face, like a bulldog living in our

street who has done more to drive our unwanted dogs and cats that seemed to

come round than all the complaints of householders. A treat tonight to hear a

decent ‘Saturday Night Music Hall’ on the wireless, and not to have the brass-

lunged sergeant and the monkey-house atmosphere of ‘Garrison Theatre.’

(Editorial note) On 28 May, Belgium surrendered. The German army was

sweeping back the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F) towards the channel port

of Dunkirk, and the French army towards Paris. Troops stranded at Dunkirk

waited on the beaches to be evacuated.

Thursday, 28 May, 1940

A dreadful coldness seemed to grip me when I heard the one o’clock news, and

it was a big effort to get ready to go to the Centre. When I got in, it was to find the

room so full that every available seat was taken, and the two who serve out

bandages were dashing wildly round trying to get everyone a job. As I hung my

coat up, someone in the office said, ‘You look very tired, Mrs Last’, and I said,

‘Yes, I feel it. I’ve been cleaning out the garage this morning.’ I was totally

unprepared for an onslaught from Mrs. Waite. She rebuked and scolded me as if

I’d been a naughty child – asked me how I could do such a thing, didn’t I realise

that to come in tired was a crime, didn’t I realise the importance of cheerfulness,

of my gaiety, of the value of my saucy tongue, and so on? And to dare to tire

myself out with paltry housework! To add to things, Mrs. Mcgregor, who is my

partner in tea-making, did not come and, although I got two to help me make tea

and one to wash up, we did not do it any better or quicker than Mrs. Mac and I. I

bought biscuits and milk, but cleared 11s. and 9s 8d. from a raffle of a dozen eggs

and a lovely lavender sachet, so I felt it was worth being tired for. I noticed some

sad, withdrawn faces, but skimmed lightly over things, for I’d got to that stage

when to talk of Belgium’s capitulation have boys in France or on the sea, and I

know their hearts were heavy.

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Housewife, 49 was written and produced by Victoria Wood in 2006. Victoria Wood is an actress, screenwriter and director. Her portrayal of Nella Last won her two BAFTA awards. In 2013, a stage version of the adaptation was launched. Is Wood’s portrayal of Nella similar or different to Nella’s sense of character that is revealed within the original diary? How do the intended audience and media form impact what is selected to be portrayed?

Research, Planning and Presentation Task stimulus

SxMOA1/4/19

Diarist Number 5098 Gender Male Occupation Electricity Board Inspector Place of Residence London SE26

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Transcription

Several bombs were dropped in Sydenham yesterday while I was in the British museum, and one I notice has demolished the house next door to the cinema where W & I go on Saturday afternoons. Wardens were trying to clear up the mess when we passed there this afternoon and I noticed one of them handing domestic articles, which he had recovered from the wreckage, to two people who were evidently the late occupiers. That cinema has had several narrow escapes, but the last one was the nearest to a hit. If Jerry meant this bomb for the gas works he made a very bad shot, but if he meant it for the cinema it was a very good shot, but the wrong day of the week, because the place only opens on Saturdays & Sundays. Another bomb fell close to the garage where W gets petrol; just across a narrow street, where it seems to have uprooted an Anderson shelter as it fell within a couple of yards of it. I have not heard whether anyone was hurt there.

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SxMOA1/4/19

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Transcription

Dear C I heard a siren more than once last night and planes were flying over most of the time while I was awake, but nothing out-of-the-ordinary occurred near here as far as I can find out. Roma, the young girl who stays here with Nora, must be a little mad I think. I talked to her on Saturday morning and she seemed all right, but I have not seen her since; she and Nora have had a row and now she is sulking in her room which is in the roof of the bungalow and she has stayed there, as far as we know, all the time, though of course she may have gone out while we were picnicking on Sunday.

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SxMOA1/4/19

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Dear C This evening we went to Mylor Creek going through the woods at Pennan Wharf and (…) Bridge and then on to Flushing where W was anxious to have a tea with cakes etc as it was D’s birthday. However, we could not find a place open anywhere. We stood awhile near the Ferry at Flushing, and talked to a couple of native inhabitants of the village. Apparently the old house which are built near the water are flooded at spring tides and the main street is impassable for the greater part of its length. Flushing is said to be the warmest village in England, protected as it is by hills on the north and east, but the flooding takes most of the gilt off the gingerbread when the water oozes up through the drains. That is what I gathered from the men we talked to near the ‘Seven stars’ Inn. We had hopes of getting some tea at the ‘Royal Standard’ but no-one was at home.

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SxMOA1/4/24/2

Diarist Number 5331 Gender Female Occupation Shop Assistant Place of Residence Dewsbury, Yorkshire

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Transcription

I help my brother-in-law, Ben his grocer’s and general shop. Our household consists of my brother-in-law, my sister, who does the housework, my mother who does the cooking and helps generally, and myself. The shop which stands in a good position at the edge of a large housing estate (chiefly slum clearance) was in a poor state and very dirty when we took it 6 months ago, but we have doubled the trade and expect to have a great increase in registered customers this re-registration period. Our customers are all “working class” and most of them wear…

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SxMOA1/4/24/2

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Transcription Spent the afternoon on Heath Common where soldiers were practising trick motor-cycling, riding on one another’s shoulders, between obstacles and being pulled in little trucks. H & B were with us. We had lemon cheese made from the four little lemons A had given M. There was no one else on the Common. A had succeeded in getting us tickets for a bus for B’pool on the 11th and return for me for the Sunday. M said she would not go by train from (….) at 8.15 in the morning. I think we are neither of us keen after the fearsome stories in the press but if we get there. I will book us (we hope) and we also hope the room will not be required for soldiers. One traveller said he would not go away on any account, another that he would & blow Hitler, he was called up in December anyway & meant to have his holiday. Mr F. said that Mr Churchill’s speech was curious. Did he mean invasion here as in France when he warned us to be ready? Russia had done far better than anyone had hoped. Miss P says her sister in Somerset thinks we shan’t have to black out this winter- all will be over. P says she can hardly believe that. I said that if that was the case Hitler would have now, & she went out exclaiming “we mustn’t allow that” with her hands above her head. 31st July 1941 Mr D. says the war will be over next week, on my looking incredulous, he said ‘well, anyway, this winter. Look how t’ Russians is sticking up to ‘em & pummelling ‘em. They’re beaten already.’ Strange how little reference is made to the war, directly or indirectly, though there is plenty of talk about food. Practically everyone who can remember say the food situation is not so bad as “last time”. We have had nothing but potatoes this week, no tomatoes or peas, at all! 1st August 1941 Gave our customers a treat to-day to celebrate the meat rationing period. Fruit salad (from the juice) baked beans & sultanas for everyone.

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SxMOA1/4/24/2

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2nd Aug 1941 Just heard the B.B.C. blandly announcing that the Aug ration of eggs ran out at 3 per reg, customers, a decrease on the 5 to 7 they should have had in July. The wireless crackled loudly as if saying ‘Gotcha!’ B & I exchanged glances but were speechless. We have allowed our customers one egg each member of family and no prospect of any next week. This week the Co-op has none. Now (….) what about it? A certain salesman in D market has been fined for selling perfectly fresh eggs at 3d each, £50. He said he was selling at a loss then. We sell ours, at the controlled price of 2 ½ d for best eggs. I blush as I hand them over. They stink through the shells. We have only had one returned & no one grumbles but if the subject of eggs is raised they say what bad eggs they have had from us lately. One woman said she would have no more, her last pudding cost her 10d for an egg. Now where is the sense of fining a man for selling a fresh egg at 3d & legalising the sale of bad eggs sold as fresh at 2 ½ d? Regarding the number, did your spokesman mean 5 to 7 per reg customer or per reg family? Later. Went to Mansfield to fetch Ma home. Things were quiet since Mr D. has given up retailing. He has nothing to do but wait for the eggs to be collected.

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