David Birch

December 2011

Far from decorous

Instead of a conscience Catherine and Heathcliff have instinct. They are not overthrown by passion, there is nothing so transcendent as that. What they are to each other is a matter of survival, it is hell without the glamour. Their play is mixed with violence and their tenderness touches on savagery. There is no drama to their desire.

Film
November 2011

The middle of nowhere

Towers are monuments to our uncertainties. When Johnson talks with hopeful vagueness of the ‘mythic’ nature of towers, the word he is really after is ‘magic.’ The Orbit was designed to make the Olympic Park a ‘must see’ destination; the Orbit, that is to say, is a coercion; all towers are. Towers attempt to convince us that they, and by extension we, stand at the centre of things.

Last time on Culture Wars


Chinese whispers
Controversy at the London Book Fair, and Globe to Globe
8 May 2012

Culture Wars has been included in creativetourists’ Top 25 UK Arts & Culture Blogs.



Like what you see? - keep it that way, support Culture Wars online review.



Sign up to arts, politics and culture - CW monthly dispatches dropped direct to your inbox.