The document discusses the social, cultural, and historical contexts reflected in the 1960s British television series The Avengers. It explores several key contexts, including the swinging 1960s culture in Britain; themes of music, drug use, feminism, and sexuality during that era; the Cold War fear of Russian spies; representations of ethnicity in largely white 1960s Britain; and changing gender roles in the 1960s prior to second-wave feminism. These contexts are reflected in episodes of The Avengers, such as in the characters of Steed and Emma Peel and the threats they encounter, and provide important background for understanding the series and its place in British popular culture during that transformative decade.

1. Social, Historical, Cultural Contexts
→ 1960’s & The Avengers

2. Social, Cultural, Historical Contexts
● Social Context – how media products reflect the society in which they are
produced and that of their target audience.
What are they?!
■ Cultural Context – how media products reflect the arts and culture, including
popular culture, of their time.
■ Historical Context – how media products reflect events from the past and social
changes.
■ Contexts will overlap one another.
For example - the ways in which language is used in Media products to reflect the
period in which it was written, relates to all three contexts.

3. Why so important?
● The Avengers as a distinctive generic identity that is
rooted in British popular culture.
● Television drew upon this tradition while at the same
time responding to the social and cultural changes of the
1960s.
● Spy Thriller – Sub genre!

4. The Avengers
● Series 4, Episode 1
‘The Town of No Return”
● Brief Summary
Steed and Emma, are on the trail of several murdered
agents. They visit Little Bazeley by the Sea, a town that
strangers rarely leave alive—and discover it is being
secretly infiltrated (invaded) by enemy agents.

5. The Swinging 60’s!
● London had transformed from the bleak, conservative
city, only just beginning to forget the troubles of the
Second World War, into the capital of the world, full of
freedom, hope and promise
● Young people were given a choice!
● Parents of the Sixties teenage generation had spent
their own teenage years fighting for their lives in
the Second World War and wanted their own children
to enjoy their youth and be able to have more fun and
freedom.
● People had fought for and what we take for granted
nowadays.

6. What contexts are explored in The Avengers?
● Music
● Drug Culture
● Feminism
● Sexuality
● Russian Spies
● Ethnicities
● Gender

7. MUSIC in the 60’s!
It wasn’t until the early Sixties and the appearance of
‘British Invasion’ groups like The Beatles, that music truly
began its ground-breaking changes.
The Beatles are an excellent example of how music
influenced the lives of young Britons. → “Sgt Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band”
They experimented with new sounds and developed
innovative pieces of music. Their later albums included
lyrics encouraging rebellion against the authorities, as seen
in ‘Revolution’.
Young people began to stand up for their beliefs and their
individuality.

8. DRUG CULTURE in the 60’s!
● Recreational drugs (drugs taken for
entertainment/enjoyment rather than medically) were at
their height in the Sixties and became more commonly used
in the latter part of the decade.
● Images of the Woodstock festival show people high on
marijuana and LSD, dancing in fields with paint on their face
and their hair flowing free.
● It was very difficult for anyone in show business to avoid
becoming involved in drugs in some way and as easily
influenced young people looking for fun, many were
encouraged to follow their idols and take hallucinogenic
drugs. LSD made people feel happy and optimistic and
helped bring about the ‘hippie’ movement.
● The effects of these drugs were also reflected in psychedelic
art, music and films.

9. FEMINISM: the influence of patriarchy and feminism
representations in The Avengers
● 1960’s – The Feminist Movement
● Protests, women’s liberations groups
● 1965 → Use of contraceptives/safe birth
control. This changed the relationships
attitudes of many young women to sex and
sexuality.
● Lawsuits for equal pay -> women were paid
significantly less (60%) than men
● Fighting for reproductive freedom – Women’s
abortion rights
● Women’s rights in the workplace → women
had lower salaries and worked in ‘pink collar’
jobs such as secretaries , not professional
‘white collar’ jobs such as lawyers/doctors.

10. How is feminism represented in The Avengers?
● Seen as Steed’s professional equal → Inspired by James Bond.
INTERTEXTUALITY. Bond and M (played on the name Emma Peel)
relationship.
● Will they/HAVE they sexual tension → Peel & Steed
● Clothes of Peel & fighting ability → this demonstrated modern liberated
femininity. She embodies the new international fashion in women who
like to dress and fight like men. Slightly ahead of fashion at the time.
● Leather outfit (originally designed for freedom of movement) added to
the highly fetishistic dimension, which was far removed from the ‘girl-
next-door’ image that was represented in TV during the 50’s → a social,
cultural change in society.
● A spited heroine of the 60’s.
● Leather boots was not lost on the audience → ‘The leather pin-up’ of the
60’s.
FEMINISM: the influence of patriarchy and feminism
representations in The Avengers
Emma Peel (played
by Diana Rigg)

11. SEXUALITY: The illegality of male gay sex in the
early 60’s
● In 1963, The Minorities Research Group (MRG) became the UK's first lesbian social and
political organisation. They went on to publish their own lesbian magazine called ’Arena
Three’
● A UK opinion poll finds that 93% of respondents see homosexuality as a form of illness
requiring medical treatment.
● In 1966, Humphry Berkeley introduce a law to legalise male homosexual relations. He lost his
seat in Parliament due to his actions to legalise gay sex.
● Gay men who were publically gay, were either sent to prison and put into mental institution.
● If men were sent to mental institutions, they endured experimentation, torture, pain-causing
drugs and electroshock therapy as a cure for homosexuality.
● Mid 60’s, gay activists became increasingly aware of the threat of prison.

12. The Avengers Cuffs
SEXUALITY: The assumption of heterosexuality in The Avengers episode
and compare to the leading gay character in Cuffs.
● WHAT CAN YOU
FIND?

13. SEXUALITY:
● How do the representations of sexualities reflect the
historical, contemporary, social and cultural contexts?
Use the notes from 1960’s/2010’s and everything we have
spoken about in relation to The Avengers & Cuffs.
In 1960 homosexuality was viewed as…. This affected TV
programmes such as The Avengers because…
This view of homosexuality differs to society in 2010’s as
gay marriage was leagalised in…. This is reflected in Cuffs
as…
Sentence
starters!

14. The fear of Russian spies in Cold War 1960s Britain
● After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were the world's
strongest nations.
● The Cold War (45-91) was a long period of tension between the democracies
of the Western World and the communist countries of Eastern Europe.
● There was great distrust between the Soviet Union and the rest of the Allies
● The West was led by the United States and Eastern Europe was led by the
Soviet Union. These two countries became known as superpowers
● Arms Race → Who had the better weapons?
● Space Race → Who could accomplish space races first?!
● The Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVqziNV7dGY

15. The fear of Russian spies in Cold War 1960s Britain
● Paranoia was common during the Cold War – due to
propaganda, ignorance, fear and secrecy
● The threat of replacement ‘insiders’ in The Avengers
reflects the paranoia generated by the Cold War,
compared to the more everyday threat of crime in Cuffs.

16. The fear of Russian spies in Cold War 1960s Britain
How is this context represented in The Avengers?
● It takes for granted the existence of a Russian spy ring in
Britain…
● Steed knows where their headquarters are. And this
episode aired at the time when the reality of Soviet
Unions were penetrating the British intelligence.
● English system is seen as an obstacle, preventing the
Russians from carrying out their plans.

17. ETHNICITIES: the assumption of a common ‘white’ culture in 1960s
Britain, despite presence of minorities
Let’s discuss…
● How many white characters in The Avengers?
● How many ethnic minorities?
a group within a community which has different national or cultural
traditions from the main population.

18. ETHNICITIES
●Compare the white representation in
The Avengers to the multi-culturalism of
Cuffs.
●How do the race and ethnicity
representations reflect the contexts?

19. GENDER: Exploring the changing gender roles in the 1960s (pre-
70’s feminism but post-‘sexual revolution’)
● Steed → Personified the traditional gentleman hero
● Peel → Combined femininity and modernity
Post-sexual revolution
The consequences of the pill being legalised
Women felt “free”
Highly sexual

20. GENDER: Exploring the changing gender roles in the 1960s (pre-
70’s feminism but post-‘sexual revolution’)
Changes in the 1960’s
Women VS Men!
● More females than ever were entering the paid workforce, and this increased
the dissatisfaction among women regarding huge gender differences in pay and
advancement and sexual harassment at the workplace.
● By the end of the Sixties, more than 80 percent of wives of childbearing age
were using contraception after the federal government in 1960 approved a
birth control pill → this provided women with a lot more freedom
● Basic goals of the Sixties feminists: equal pay for equal work, an end to
domestic violence, restricting severe limits on women in managerial jobs, an
end to sexual harassment, and sharing of responsibility for housework and
child upbringing.

21. GENDER: Exploring the changing gender roles in the 1960s (pre-
70’s feminism but post-‘sexual revolution’)
Changes in the 1960’s
Women VS Men!
● The mini was designed to be free and liberating for women, allowing them to
“run and jump”
● In 1968 at a Ford factory in Dagenham, 850 women went on strike, arguing for
equal pay with their male co-workers. This action resulted in the passing of the
Equal Pay Act of 1970
● Cigarette advertisements always featured attractive men, most often in suits,
but from the 1960s on, advertisements also showed rugged men in outdoor
settings.

22. GENDER:
● What are the gender differences in the roles of Steed
and Emma in The Avengers compared to gender roles in
Cuffs?
● How do the gender representations reflect the historical
and contemporary social and cultural contexts of the
time within both set products?

23. Photoshop Task
●Use Photoshop to create a mood board of
changing contexts from mid-1960s and
mid- 2010s. Compare and contrast set
texts.

24. Bring it all in!
● Consider the effect on difference audience expectations
of the 1960’s and the 2010’s. How might they interpret
the different representations?