Welsh Valley Cinema 1930s

 

Theme:

 

The theme of the poem is escapism, and using the film to visualise an ideal lifestyle compared to the poor area they live in. Dreams, ideals and memories becomes important in the poem, the illusions of a better life.

 

Content:

 

The persona reminises about a trip to the cinema, describing it to a beautiful escapism to watch a film and become involved with the film but has to return to his mundane life when the film ends.

Analysis:

• 'The Palace of the slums', 'pit' 'darkness' all suggest that this beautiful cinema has been placed in a run-down, unattractive area.
• 'The thrill' - excited, so excited to visit something different and interesting. This could be because they live in poverty, and something as simplistic as a cinema amazes them.
• 'It rose', 'boasting' '- the cinema stands above everything else, bold and strong against its 'slum' surrounding.
• 'Gaudy-bright, changing colours' - lights and bright sounds and new technology are magical and enchanting to him so much it takes his breathe away with 'musical asthma'.
• 'When the Broadway Baby Says Goodnight it's Early in the Morning' - a quote from the Gold Diggers of 1935, these are lyrics from a song called Lullaby of Broadway.
• 'Sank to disappear, a dream underground' - the reality of these people's lives sink and disappear when they watch the film but also the dreams of these people disappear when they finish the film and have to return to reality. The cinema is a dream underground, and the people find their hidden dreams when they visit it.
• '(Shoeless feet on a mecca carpet)', observed a miracle - suggests that these people are so poor to afford shoes, and that the cinema has become a place of worship for people, a religious paradise, their ideal life is being seen as a dream.
• 'Poor ragged Goldilocks dab away her glycerine tears' - there's something fake about the tears, not quite genuine, but also fairytales were introduced in the cinema which makes their dreams more fake
• '(No flies on Cary. No holes in his socks)' - Cary is a famous early cinema actor, the persona could be jealous/envy of him, that he isn't poor.
• 'Woodbine smoke swirled' - very visual imagery, the smoke is quite abstract and may be suggesting the same thing about the film
• 'till THE END - of course, upbeat' - the people watching the film are happy and content with what they see, a distraction from their miserable lives. The End is how most early films finished and now the film has ended so has their dreams. From this point on in the poem the voice of the poem becomes negative
• 'Damned fall', 'glum' 'trauma of paradox' - the people watching the film now become miserable and sad, reality has hit them and they were fooled by this paradox to think that their lives could be what was in the film
• 'Familiar malice of the dreary' - the cinema is an escape, and now he must return to his mundane life