Spare the rod and spoil the pervert: Corporal punishment and the nineteenth century in popular culture | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture
  4. Volume 12, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 12, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2045-5852
  • E-ISSN: 2045-5860

Abstract

This article compares corporal punishment in nineteenth-century fiction with corporal punishment in the fictional recreation of the nineteenth century in twentieth-century film and television. It locates in the literature of the actual nineteenth century two creative impulses influencing the dramatic representation of Victorian schooling in modern adaptations. One is the evocation of schools in Victorian works of fiction, which became television and film adaptations. Another impulse is the subversive and covert flagellation literature of the . Both the respectable and the illicit literatures adduce core elements of corporal punishment: the formation of tableaux of bodies; the importance of access to the body; the subversion of what should be an act of correction because the subversion becomes permanent; and the way the restorative becomes aberrant. This article proposes that the popular culture of the twentieth century made overt what had been covert in the nineteenth century. Surveying period drama on British television and film using the 1971 adaptation of as a focal point, this article proposes the fusion of the overt and covert of the preceding century. Close readings of popular culture productions show, as do the reactions of contemporary viewers, that they presented corporal punishment which subverted rather than chastised and which perverted rather than restored. These twentieth-century evocations of the previous century were contiguous with debate on the use and abolition of corporal punishment in modern schools. This article weaves together the past and the present, suggesting that classic works made by modern interpreters evoked the past in ways that subverted the present.

© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00077_1
2024-03-14
2024-05-03
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aldrich, Richard (1995), School and Society in Victorian Britain: Joseph Payne and the New World of Education, New York: Garland Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Alt Film Guide (2019), ‘Jimmy Edwards’, https://www.altfg.com/film/jimmy-edwards/. Accessed 31 August 2023.
  3. Anderson, Lindsay (dir.) (1968), If…, Britain: Paramount Pictures.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Anon. (1995a), Frank and I: A Study in Flagellation, Ware: Wordsworth Editions.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Anon. (1995b), Sadopaedeia: Being the Experiences of Cecil Prendergast Undergraduate of the University of Oxford Shewing How He Was Led through the Pleasant Paths of Masochism to the Supreme Joys of Sadism, Ware: Wordsworth Editions.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Anon. (1995c), The Yellow Room, Ware: Wordsworth Editions.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Anon. (1995d), The Whippingham Papers, Ware: Wordsworth Editions.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bates, Frank (1982), ‘Corporal punishment in legal, historical and social context’, Manitoba Law Journal, 12, pp. 337–55.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Birmingham Daily Post (1885), 11 May, p. 5.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bitensky, Susan (2006), Corporal Punishment of Children: A Human Rights Violation, Leiden: Brill.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Burchell, Andrew (2018), ‘In loco parentis, corporal punishment and the moral economy of discipline in English schools, 1945–1986’, Cultural and Social History, 15:4, pp. 551–70.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Burke, Peter (1994), Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, 3rd ed., Aldershot: Ashgate.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Capili, Caroline J. (2022), ‘Corporal punishment in the United States: Abolishment under the civil rights act of 1964’, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy, 36, pp. 293–314.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Central Somerset Gazette (1971), 17 December, p. 9.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Cleland, John (1993), Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Ware: Wordsworth Classics.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Cohen, Cynthia Price (1984), ‘Freedom from corporal punishment: One of the human rights of children’, New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, 2, pp. 95–130.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Dalton, Mary M. (2010), The Hollywood Curriculum: Teachers in the Movies, Lausanne: Peter Lang.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Dalton, Mary M. (1995), ‘The Hollywood curriculum: Who is the “Good” teacher?’, Curriculum Studies, 3:1, pp. 23–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. David Copperfield (1974, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Dishon, Gideon (2017), ‘Games of character: Team sports, games, and character development in Victorian public schools, 1850–1900’, Paedagogica Historica, 53:4, pp. 364–80.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Fisher, Roy, Harris, Ann and Jarvis, Christine (2008), Education in Popular Culture: Telling Tales on Teachers and Learners, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Foucault, Michel (1990), History of Sexuality I (trans. R. Hurley), Harmondsworth: Penguin.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Freeman, C. B. (1966), ‘The children’s petition of 1669 and its sequel’, British Journal of Educational Studies, 14:2, pp. 216–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Gibson, Ian (1978), The English Vice: Beating, Sex and Shame in Victorian England and After, London: Duckworth.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Gibbs, Amy Vergon and Wright, Dickinson (2012), ‘Point’, in S. E. Eckes and C. J. Russo (eds), School Discipline and Safety, vol. 5 of Debating Issues in American Education, Sage Publications, pp. 109–14.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Gillies, Charles (1971), ‘Mrs Whitehouse, Casanova, and Tom Brown’s schooldays’, Glasgow Herald, 8 December, p. 8, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19711208&id=x9A9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=E0gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4726,1519880. Accessed 31 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Grange Hill (1978–2008, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  28. The Graphic (1883), 27 October, p. 407.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Harmes, Barbara (1999), ‘Fin de Siecle: Sexual crisis and social disorder’, Ph.D. thesis, Toowoomba: University of Southern Queensland.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Harper, Sue (2011), British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Hilliard, Christopher (2023), A Matter of Obscenity: The Politics of Censorship in Modern England, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Hutchings, William (1987), ‘“If”… Then- “And” now: Lindsay Anderson’s “If”… and the schoolboy rebels of fact, fiction, and film’, Papers on Language and Literature, 23:2, pp. 192–217.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Huttenback, Robert A. (1965), ‘G. A. Henty and the imperial stereotype’, Huntington Library Quarterly, 29:1, pp. 63–75.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Islington Times (1874), 24 November, p. 3.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Jane Eyre (1983, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Kalvert, Scott (1995), The Basketball Diaries, USA: Island Pictures.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Kamm, Josephine (1958), How Different from Us: A Biography of Miss Buss and Miss Beale, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Kanievska, Marek (dir.) (1984), Another Country, Britain: 20th Century Fox.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Kelly, Sean and Caughlan, Samantha (2011), ‘The Hollywood teachers’ perspective on authority’, Pedagogies: An International Journal, 6:1, pp. 46–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Liverpool Echo (1985), 11 January, p. 15.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Loach, Ken (dir.) (1969), Kes, Britain: United Artists.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Mackay, D. P. Leinster (1977), ‘Regina v Hopley: Some historical reflections on corporal punishment’, Journal of Educational Administration and History, 9:1, pp. 1–6.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Marcus, Stephen (1967), The Other Victorians: A Study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. McDermott, Emily A. (2008), ‘Playing for his side: Kipling’s “Regulus,” corporal punishment, and classical education’, International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 15:3, pp. 369–92.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Middleton, Jacob (2008), ‘The experience of corporal punishment in schools, 1890–1940’, History of Education, 37:2, pp. 253–75.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Monk, Claire (2014), ‘Pageantry and populism, democratization and dissent: The forgotten 1970s’, in J. Leggott and J. Taddeo (eds), Upstairs and Downstairs: British Costume Drama Television from The Forsyte Saga to Downton Abbey, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 3–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Moore, Dave (dir.) (2005), Tom Brown’s School Days, London: ITV.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Morning Chronicle (1857), 23 December, p. 9.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Nardinelli, Clark (1982), ‘Corporal punishment and children’s wages in nineteenth century Britain’, Explorations in Economic History, 19:3, pp. 283–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Neddam, Fabrice (2004), ‘Constructing masculinities under Thomas Arnold of Rugby (1828–1842): Gender, educational policy and school life in an early-Victorian public school’, Gender and Education, 16:3, pp. 303–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Nevill, Ralph (1911), Floreat Etona: Anecdotes and Memories of Eton College, London: MacMillan and Co.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Nicholas Nickleby (1977, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Number 10: Bloodline (1983, Britain: Yorkshire Television).
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Observer (1973), 19 January, p. 22.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Oxford University Herald (1858), 14 August, p. 8.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Parker, Alan (dir.) (1982), The Wall, Britain: MGM.
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Parker-Jenkins, Marie (1998), ‘Sparing the rod: Schools, discipline and children’s rights in multicultural Britain’, European Journal for Education Law and Policy, 2, pp. 145–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Parry, Gordon (dir.) (1951), Tom Brown’s School Days, USA: United Artists.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Pearsall, Ronald (1993), The Worm in the Bud: The World of Victorian Sexuality, London: Pimlico.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Prestidge, Jessica (2019), ‘Housewives having a go: Margaret Thatcher, Mary Whitehouse and the appeal of the right wing woman in late twentieth-century Britain’, Women’s History Review, 28:2, pp. 277–96.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Proverbs 23: 13–14 (1954), The Bible: Authorized Version, London: The British and Foreign Bible Society.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Puccio, P. M. (1995), ‘At the heart of “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”: Thomas Arnold and Christian Friendship’, Modern Language Studies, 25:4, pp. 57–74.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Roberts, Nickie (1993), Whores in History: Prostitution in Western Society, London: HarperCollins.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Reed, John R. (1974), ‘The public schools in Victorian literature’, Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 29:1, pp. 58–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Richards, Jeffrey (1988), Happiest Days: The Public Schools in English Fiction, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Rowbotham, Judith (2017), ‘When to spare the rod? Legal reactions and popular attitudes towards the (in) appropriate chastisement of children, 1850–1910’, Law, Crime & History, 7:1, pp. 98–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Sandberg, Eric (2018), ‘The double nostalgia of literature’, Once Upon a Time: Nostalgic Narratives in Transition, pp. 114–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Sandbrook, Dominic (2015), The Great British Dream Factory: The Strange History of Our National Imagination, London: Allen Lane and Penguin UK.
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Schaverien, Joy (2004), ‘Boarding school: The trauma of the “Privileged child”’, The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 49:5, pp. 683–705.
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Stevenson, Robert (dir.) (1940), Tom Brown’s School Days, USA: RKO Pictures.
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Stewart, W. (1989), Higher Education in Post-war Great Britain, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Sullivan, Kevin (dir.) (1985), Anne of Green Gables, Canada: CBC.
     [Google Scholar]
  73. Sunderland Echo (1943), 17 February, p. 4.
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Swindon Advertiser (1894), 1 December, p. 149.
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Thomas, Donald (1979), Swinburne: The Poet in His World, New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  76. Tiwari, Ashwini (2019), ‘The corporal punishment ban in schools: Teachers’ attitudes and classroom practices’, Educational Studies, 45:3, pp. 271–84.
     [Google Scholar]
  77. Tom Brown’s School Days (1971, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Tom Jones (1997, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  79. ‘Walter’ (1995), My Secret Life, London: Wordsworth Editions.
     [Google Scholar]
  80. Whack O! (1956–60, Britain: BBC).
     [Google Scholar]
  81. Weir, Peter (1989), Dead Poet’s Society, USA: Touchstone Pictures.
     [Google Scholar]
  82. Wilkinson, Rupert H. (1963), ‘The gentleman ideal and the maintenance of a political elite: Two case studies: Confucian education in the Tang, Sung, Ming and Ching dynasties; and the late Victorian public schools (1870–1914)’, Sociology of Education, 37:1, pp. 9–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  83. Wrexham Advertiser (1900) 17 February, p. 6.
     [Google Scholar]
  84. Zampi, Mario (dir.) (1960), Bottoms Up, Britain: Warner-Pathé Distributors.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/ajpc_00077_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): corporal punishment; flagellation; Hughes Arthur (author); My Secret Life; public schools; Tom Brown’s School Days

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error