Waiting for the Jamboree: Time Escapists

This will be the last one of my "Waiting for the Jamboree" posts, as tomorrow's the day: the 10th edition of the Summer Jamboree is here!

Ten days of fun dedicated to the culture of late 40s and 50s. Beautiful and "refreshing" indeed, before coming back to the everyday routine!
But for a growing number of people "escaping" from the 21th century, retreating into the past is not only a part-time fun occupation but a way of life.


In 2008 the British Channel 4 aired Time Warp Wives *, a very controversial documentary by Sally Hewitt, featuring Debbie, Diane, Joanne and Sammi, four women that live every detail of their every day life like they're in a past era.

For Joanne and Debbie it's the 50s, while Sammi and Diane are devoted to 40s and 30s, respectively (read interviews with three of them here ).


While this can be considered a bit creepy ( Pleasantville and the two movies about The Stepford Wives come to mind!) or depressing or utopic from certain points of wiev, I think it's also fascinating. I mean, it's not just about vintage dresses here and isn't certainly an easy thing to make this kind of choice in 2009 world without trapping yourself in a time capsule. I don't even know if this is possible without falling in continuous contradictions... It's not easy to recreate a perfectioned version of a bygone era just for you, while all the people around you are living in a contemporary world and probably would not understand what you're doing. It requires talent, patiente, personal balance and cold blood. Cynically - and just for a second- I wonder if this also requires a pinch of hypocrisy...

Is this the pursuit of happiness? Is it just a palliative for our need of living in a perfect world, built around a stereotypical idea of old times - styled from movies and tv, skipping troubles and bitterness? Is it a way to live according to your own values and psychology, without facing the judgement of others?


I really don't know what it is, but in the end I think it's all up to people and it's not fair to simplify and standardize personal experiences. Some of the women in the documentary have then declared they felt misrepresented by the film, so there's probably a lot more to see and to know. We already knew it indeed...


All in all it's not important why people make a certain choice. The point is that people CAN make that choice and if someone feel confortable and happy with something without hurting anyone, than it's ok.

As for me, I totally don't feel the urge to live 100% in the past (is it possible withouth owning a time travel machine, anyway?) but I'm happy with the opportunity of being just a "part-time time traveler", like I wrote in my profile, and have fun without all the confusion!


* At the moment you can have a look at Warp Time Wives documentary here although - and weirdly enough - it works just if you're in UK...!!