The more things change…
I have a fondness for old time radio podcasts. Indeed, one of the big advantages of the iPod is that it created a whole slew of opportunities for those of us who want to listen to such things.
One of my discoveries was a podcast of the Avengers radio show. Yes, there was one, although it didn’t really come from the Golden Age of radio, rather being adapted from the TV show. Nonetheless, listening to episodes of the Avengers pointed up four very important points:
- Russian accents are only the second most villainous sounding accents. British accents are the most villainous, probably because they always sound like they have anti-social personality disorder.
- British accents also sound heroic.
- Old time commercials in a British accent sound like something out of Monty Python.
- When word “helpless” is said immediately before “Emma Peel” you know someone is in for a very nasty surprise.
I’m not entirely sure what this means, although the first might reflect my image of Boris Badenov as the quintessential Russian villain. Since this year is the 50th anniversary of Rocky and Bullwinkle, perhaps Russian accented villains will make a comeback. I’ll leave that to James Bond (or Moose and Squirrel).
What has, apparently, made a comeback is a modern “duck and cover.” Remember that? When I was a kid, we had atomic bomb drills and went to the special basement hallway with the yellow atomic stickers. I didn’t really understand why that particular hallway was better than any other, but it was on the way to the school library.
Attending my son’s kindy orientation today, I’d just finished listening to a cold war episode of the Avengers, and thus nearly choked when they said that they do lock-downs and that when that happens they “hide under the tables.”
What I find interesting is how this “duck and cover” mindset, and the belief that somehow it’s safer to hide under a table, is still around. I guess we all did it and we won the cold war, so it must be useful :). Cultural memes stick around and they come back in the oddest and most unexpected places. Somewhere, at some time, the idea of hiding under large pieces of furniture became associated with safety, and now it emerges as a stress reaction when danger threatens… even when it doesn’t actually help.
I wonder what John Steed and Emma Peel would do… (or maybe Rocky & Bullwinkle would be a better bet).
