Having recognised a phenomenon of British 1970s television texts drawing upon folklore and contemporary legend, this study combines the disciplines of folklore studies and screen studies to examine the on-screen representation of these themes.
Using original interviews with creators of film and television (older participants having worked in the 1970s and younger participants working in present-day media) alongside archive material, this study draws out influential examples from the study period that affected those continuing to make film and television today. Employing the notion of mass-mediated ostension as an approach unique to folklore studies, this study examines how folklore and contemporary legend are communicated on-screen. Studying the cultural context of 1970s television helps to account for its impact upon audiences with regards to unsettling, supernatural and extra-terrestrial stories and for the emergence of the ‘folk horror’ genre.
The importance of children’s television in this context is also emphasised. This study considers the resurgence of folk horror in the post-2000 period, particularly in the work of Generation X creatives, and sets out defining characteristics of folk horror, ‘hauntological’ and ‘wyrd’ texts. Supernatural folklore is situated as central to such texts, which are discussed in terms of programme makers’ reproduction and reinterpretations of folklore and contemporary legend, and how such stories are made to seem plausible for an audience. The work of Nigel Kneale is highlighted as having been especially influential in this regard.
Screen studies analysis is applied to paradigm examples of television programmes (notably Quatermass, 1979, and Children of the Stones, 1977) to assess formal methods and techniques used to represent folkloric and contemporary legend motifs on-screen. In conclusion, this thesis reflects upon the continuing influence of 1970s folkloric television texts: how this remains manifest in British media and how this shapes the communication of folklore and the future of the folk horror genre itself.
