09.03
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I studied “The Bawdy” as part of my PhD many years ago. The Bawdy goes back a long time through the millennia, to the likes of erotic mosaics in ancient Roman buildings; and beyond. My PhD focus was on Francois Rabelais’ bawdy 16th Century rantings in his classic “Gargantua and Pantagruel.” See also Mikhail Bakhtin’s critique “Rabelais and His World,” if you wish to research it, and delve deeper. It is a big topic, and to me, an important one. The Bawdy’s echoes permeated the Victorian era, with both working class and upper crust punters taking weekend visits to the seaside piers to enjoy the crude and rude innuendos of blue comedians and naughty postcards.
The Bawdy later reared its head in the groan-worthy British Carry On movies of the 1960s, and the TV shows of Benny Hill. Influenced by English comedy via his Liverpudlian dad, Mike Myers also carried on the tradition in some of his Austin Powers movies, and injected some wholesome British smut into the American psyche. The list goes on.
In Rabelais’ time (16th Century), The Bawdy (along with the “Carnivale” – see Bakhtin’s tome, mentioned above) was a safety valve for the sanity of puritanical, Church-controlled societies.
Here it is again. A footpath in the Gold Coast suburb of Labrador (Queensland, Australia). The Bawdy is alive and well, and etched in concrete. Made my day. You just can’t keep it down.