Falling
Apart and Coming Together (On a Shag Rug) in the Seventies
Thomas
Hine
Sarah
Crichton Books 2007
Hine was the author of the ever popular
volume Populuxe which covered the changes which took place between 1954-'64.
Hine believes that while the Sixties were seen as the age of great tumultuous
social change, it was in the Seventies that the significant changes were
actually implemented which have created the present world as we know it.
While this book certainly explores the
weirdness and eccentricity of the Seventies from polyester leisure suits to
streaking, pet rocks to flairs, it also takes seriously the changes that were
taking place on the social front. The development of women’s liberation and gay
rights, radical spirituality and the embracing of diversity and
multiculturalism.
The Great Funk is a strange mixture of
eccentric encyclopaedia and social criticism, on one hand it covers a
bewildering away of Seventies strangeness in many cases fairly
superficially. On the other Hine tries
to connect the various trends and experiences in a coherent and intelligent way
to write a true history of what he sees as a maligned decade. For example he
relates the evolution of “shag pile” carpet to the ability of people to “sit,
sprawl or snuggle” on the floor and do away with the formality of traditional
lounge design.
One reviewer said that this volume was
more evocative than analytical and I think that is a fair evaluation, Hine is
the man House & Garden has called “America’s sharpest design critic” and
hence this book reflects his personal vision of the Seventies rather than an
academic treatise. He brings together a diverse range of subjects in a
beautifully presented volume filled with nostalgia but also interesting
reflections on their significance.
The best way to describe The Great Funk
is an informed coffee table book !
This review will appear in Volume 2:1
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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