Scooby Buffy Summers
pinderpanda
Which we just don't
have over here - on a list of things the Union Jack symbolises, it symbolises the far right much more than it does the actual country.
Or Ginger Spice. She wore a Union Jack and there is no way that anyone in porn star heels like those is all right wingy and hating on melanin.
If you start to smell something in a few days, I totally just went and found a dark corner to curl up and die in after saying that.
Like I said, 'the actual country' and 'the far right' are both things that'd go on a list of things the flag symbolises. The cultural, musical and fashion meanings you mention would be other things on that list.
Those meanings are inextricably bound up with Britshness, but they're not the
same thing as 'Britain', any more than this symbol...
...seen on a Lambretta means that the vehicle belongs to the Royal Air Force.
Geri's dress is an interesting example.
When she wore it in 1997 it was part of a very specific cultural moment. Labour had
just kicked the Tories out after eighteen years. The most important thing in art was the YBA movement. The most important thing in music was BritPop. The people in all three spheres were doing coke together. Out of this was born the 'Cool Britannia' idea and Blair's "This is a Young Country" speech
(which Cornell so loves he's based one whole novel and one whole miniseries around it). The dress had something to say about all that. It had nothing to say about 1707's Acts of Union.
The proof of this came in 2007 when she wore it again. First time around the dress didn't signify Britain, but
did signify certain specific trends in cultural history that couldn't be seperated from ideas of Britishness. Second time around it doesn't even signify that. It just asks, "Remember the '90's, eh? What the ******** was all that about?" and, "How do I look for my age?"
There
are a couple of brief moments when the flag becomes a symbol of British patriotism - like the Last Night of the Proms, or when Britain does well in the Olympics or some other rare sporting endevour in which we compete
as Britain rather than as the UK's constituent nations.
The rest of the time then the English get patriotic over this...
The Scottish over this...
And the Welsh over this...
...which is obviously best. We've got a MONSTER on it!
kissmekillme
Although I feel obliged to note that it's only a Union Jack when flown at sea.
S'true. But the only context in which you'll ever
really hear someone call it the Union Flag is when someone's pointing out the flown at sea thing as an interesting bit of "Did you Know...?"
