Margaret Thatcher’s Britain: Bridging the Gap Between 1980’s British Culture and Harold Shand

Margaret Thatcher’s Britain:

Bridging the Gap Between 1980’s British Culture and Harold Shand

Perhaps one of the most provocative and grittiest films of its time, John Mackenzie’s The Long Good Friday excels in its ability to reveal and explore different aspects of 1980’s British culture within its duration. Expertly crafted, the plot centralizes around Harold Shand and his entanglement with the IRA, but it is the cultural, economical, and social implications that the audience can infer that make this film a true gem in British cinema. As the plot is unraveled, the parallels with Margaret Thatcher and her governing authority run all throughout the movie. When taken a deeper look at, the film does a brilliant job in exploring the changing times in Britain. With the implementation of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister, it correlates her struggles with character struggles, and her vision of Britain lined up with the vision of the protagonist, Harold Shand. As a beautifully twisted representation of Thatcheristic ideals, The Long Good Friday depicts Harold Shand as an anti-heroic symbol of British culture who encompasses three major aspects of society: religion, government and economical change.

At the turn of the decade as the 1980’s came rolling around, the era of Thatcherism began its journey in making an everlasting mark on the English economy. Led by the fearless Margaret Thatcher, this movement aimed to re-establish England as a dominant force in the global market. In The Long Good Friday, Harold Shand and his business represent a microcosm of this British Economy and Society. Harold Shand is a perfect example of Thatcheristic ideology, as he is a man who started dirt poor with nothing, and worked his way up to success; regardless of what he had to and who he had to hurt. In Ms. Thatcher’s reign, her public fondness and similar styles as Ronald Reagan influenced “a set of ideas that inspired policies to free markets from government interference” (Skidelsky) Perhaps this example of Shand’s rise to glory, from rags to riches, resembles a familiar theme of the American Dream. The background of his life and where he came from before the film even begins is vital in understanding Shand’s symbolism of Thatcherism as it becomes obvious that he has the wealth of the upper class, but has pride in his roots of the working class. This is evident through his pride, sometimes overbearing, in all that he has accomplished,

While this positive representation of Thatcherism is inferred from the film, a sharp antagonizing force presents itself in the majority of the movie, displaying the negative perspectives of the Thatcher revolution. The IRA is designated as the provocative force within the plot of the actual film, but also as a literal representation of the antagonizing force of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. The group wreaks havoc on New Britain,