Scarfolk is a fictional
northwestern English town created by writer and designer Richard Littler, who is sometimes identified as the town mayor, L. Ritter. It is trapped in a
time loop
The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes u ...
set in the 1970s, and its culture, parodying that of Britain at the time, features elements of the absurd and the macabre. First published as a blog of fake historical documents parodying British
public information
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
posters of the 1970s, a collected book was published in 2014, and the ''Scarfolk Annual'' was released in 2019.
Scarfolk is depicted as a bleak, post-industrial landscape through unsettling images of urban life; Littler's output belongs to the genres of
hauntology
Hauntology (a portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words and
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n satire; his psychologically disturbing form of humour has been likened to the writings of
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalita ...
and
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass me ...
.
Description
Scarfolk, which is forever locked in the 1970s, is a satire not only on that decade but also on contemporary events. It touches on themes of totalitarianism, suburban life, occultism and religion, school and childhood, as well as social attitudes such as racism and sexism.
Scarfolk was initially presented as a fake blog which purportedly releases artefacts from archive of the fictional
town council
A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions.
Republic of Ireland
Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second t ...
, Scarfolk Council. Artefacts include public information literature, out-of-print books, record and cassette sleeves, advertisements, television programme screenshots, household products, and audio and video, many of which suggest brands and imagery recognisable from the period. Additionally, artefacts are usually accompanied by short fictional vignettes that are also presented as factual and that introduce the town's residents. The public information literature often ends with the strapline: "For more information please reread."
Aesthetic
The aesthetic is utilitarian, inspired by public sector materials in the United Kingdom such as
public information film
Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...
s and posters issued by the
Central Office of Information
The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a t ...
and
British Transport Films
British Transport Films was an organisation set up in 1949 to make documentary films on the general subject of British transport. Its work included internal training films, travelogues (extolling the virtues of places that could be visited via th ...
during the 1970s.
Digitally altered photographs and illustrations parody publicity campaigns of the period such as ''
Protect and Survive
''Protect and Survive'' was a public information campaign on civil defence. Produced by the British government between 1974 and 1980, it intended to advise the public on how to protect themselves during a nuclear attack. The campaign compris ...
'', ''
Charley Says
Charley Says is a series of short cut-out animated cartoon public information films for children, produced by the British government's Central Office of Information and broadcast in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and 1980s. Six films we ...
'' and ''
The Finishing Line
''The Finishing Line'' is a short film produced in 1977 by British Transport Films, warning about the dangers children face on railway lines. Although it is not strictly a public information film, it is often considered to be so by fans of the ...
'', as well as contemporary
Penguin
Penguins ( order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapt ...
and
Pelican
Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...
paperback book covers and children's toys, such as
Action Man
Action Man is an action figure launched in Britain in 1966 by Palitoy as a licensed copy of Hasbro's American "movable fighting man", G.I. Joe.
Action Man was originally produced and sold in the United Kingdom and Australia by Palitoy Ltd of ...
. Images are altered to convey a sinister or potentially violent message and are deliberately
distressed to appear worn and
dog-eared.
Writing in ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' author Richard Littler stated that his Scarfolk style was the product of several influences, including
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalita ...
, television programmes such as ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became know ...
'' and ''
The League of Gentlemen
''The League of Gentlemen'' is a surreal British comedy horror sitcom that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England, originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the live ...
'', satirist
Chris Morris, and the work of cartoonists
Gerald Scarfe
Gerald Anthony Scarfe (born 1 June 1936) is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He has worked as editorial cartoonist for ''The Sunday Times'' and illustrator for ''The New Yorker''.
His other work includes graphics for rock group Pink Flo ...
and
Ralph Steadman
Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration and friendship with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture b ...
. Littler considers Scarfolk as part
hauntology
Hauntology (a portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words , an aesthetic movement that draws on "the darker aspects of the 1970s".
Littler also drew on the satirical 2002 television science series ''
Look Around You
''Look Around You'' is a comedic parody of British science television shows, devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown ...
''.
Littler has said "I was always scared as a kid, always frightened of what I was faced with. … You’d walk into
WHSmith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...
... and see horror books with people’s faces melting. Kids’ TV included things like ''
Children of the Stones
''Children of the Stones'' is a British television fantasy drama serial for children, produced by HTV in 1976 and broadcast on the United Kingdom's ITV network in January and February 1977. The serial was produced by Peter Graham Scott, with P ...
'', a very odd series you just wouldn’t get today. I remember
a public information film made by some train organisation in which a children’s sports day was held on train tracks and, one by one, they were killed. It was insane. … I’m just taking it to the next logical step."
Media controversies
In January 2014, the ''
London Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
'' published an article by
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi (; ar, تشارلز ساعتجي; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest ...
, which accidentally included the cover of a Scarfolk book called ''Eating Children: Population Control & The Food Crisis'' instead of the intended
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, ...
publication ''
A Modest Proposal
''A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick'', commonly referred to as ''A Modest Proposal'', is a Juvenalian satirical essay wr ...
'' (
1729
Events
January–March
* January 8 – Frederick, the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain is made Prince of Wales at the age of 21, a few months after he comes to Britain for the first time after growing up in Hanov ...
).
In July 2018, a parody Scarfolk poster was mistakenly featured in the UK government's in-house magazine ''Civil Service Quarterly'' as part of a serious article about the history of government communications. The inclusion of the poster, which bore the slogan "If you suspect your child has RABIES, don't hesitate to SHOOT", attracted some media attention. A planned Scarfolk television program, mentioned in contemporary media coverage, was never produced.
Reception
Scarfolk has received positive reactions from the public and media in the United Kingdom and abroad. ''
GQ Magazine
''GQ'' (formerly ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and ''Apparel Arts'') is an American international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though articles on ...
'' called it one of "The 100 Funniest Things in the History of the Internet". Reviews and interviews with Littler have appeared in publications such as ''
Creative Review
''Creative Review'' is a bimonthly print magazine and website. The magazine focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film, and gaming. The magazine is published bimonthly in print and ...
'', ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'',
''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'', ''
Stylenoir ''Stylenoir'' is a British magazine published since 2013. The magazine had been online based since 2008, but launched print issues in May 2013. The magazine regularly features art, culture, and the darker aesthetics of fashion.
History
''Stylenoi ...
'', and ''
The Honest Ulsterman
''The Honest Ulsterman'' is a long-running Northern Ireland literary magazine that was established by James Simmons in 1968. It was then edited for twenty years by Frank Ormsby. It has returned as an online publication from 2014 onwards.
Edito ...
'', and have been featured by popular online sites such as ''
Boing Boing
''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice ...
'' and ''Dangerous Minds''.
''
Design Week
''Design Week'' is a UK-based website, formerly a magazine for the design industry. It was first published in October 1986 by Centaur Communications. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations primary circulation for 2007 was 8,074. In 201 ...
'' called ''Scarfolk'' "a queasy, unsettling provincial place".
Publications
''Discovering Scarfolk''
A book called ''Discovering Scarfolk'', which tells the story of a family trapped in the town, was published in October 2014 by
Ebury Press
Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Ce ...
.
It is a guide to all aspects of Scarfolk and covers the "frenzied archive of Daniel Bush, whose sons 'disappeared' in Scarfolk in 1970."
Littler has said that the book "attempts to guide you through the darkness by making light of the contradictions and it promises not to unnerve you. Well, not too much anyway."
''
Boing Boing
''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice ...
''
's co-editor
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog '' Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent o ...
said "
'Discovering Scarfolk''looks to be absolutely genius." ''Digital Arts'' reviewed ''Discovering Scarfolk'' favorably with "We've seen so many blogs turned into books that it should probably be its own genre, but ''Discovering Scarfolk'' is one of the few to stand on its own and deserve to be more than a
icill-conceived Christmas present."
''
Starburst
MicroPro International Corporation was an American software company founded in 1978 in San Rafael, California. They are best known as the publisher of WordStar, a popular early word processor for personal computers.
History Founding and early su ...
'' gave ''Discovering Scarfolk'' nine out of ten stars, calling it "a hilarious novel filled with so-creepy-it’s funny illustrations and a relentlessly silly back story."
In his review of
The Advisory Circle
The Advisory Circle is an alias of English electronic musician Cate Brooks (formerly known as Jon Brooks) along with King of Woolworths. Her releases as The Advisory Circle are on the Ghost Box Music label.
The Advisory Circle's first relea ...
s ''
From Out Here
''From Out Here'' is a 2014 album by Cate Brooks, under the pseudonym of The Advisory Circle. It was released on 5 December 2014 by independent record label Ghost Box Music on CD, online download, and 12" vinyl record. The album cover art was de ...
'' (
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
), musician
DJ Food
DJ Food is an electronic music project currently headed by Kevin Foakes (also known as "Strictly Kev"). Originally conceived by the members of Coldcut on the Ninja Tune independent record label, the project started in 1990 on the premise of pro ...
remarked both ''From Out Here'' and ''Discovering Scarfolk'' define "a good portion of the visual stimulus associated with the hauntological genre."
''Scarfolk Annual''
A follow-up book to ''Discovering Scarfolk'' entitled ''Scarfolk Annual'' was published by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...
on 17 October 2019. It satirises the British
comic annual
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...
format and the cover resembles the
BBC Publications #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
annual based on the children's TV show ''
Play School
Play School or Playschool may refer to:
Television
* ''Play School'' (British TV series), a BBC production aimed at preschool children
* ''Play School'' (Australian TV series), an Australian Broadcasting Corporation production based on the Briti ...
''.
''Scarfolk & Environs: Road & Leisure Map For Uninvited Tourists''
A folded map entitled ''Scarfolk & Environs: Road & Leisure Map for Uninvited Tourists'' was published by Herb Lester Associates Ltd on 2 November 2020.
See also
*
Welcome to Night Vale
''Welcome to Night Vale'' is a podcast presented as a radio show for the fictional town of Night Vale, reporting on the strange events that occur within it. The series was created in 2012 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Published by Night Vale ...
References
External links
* {{Official, scarfolk.blogspot.com
Scarfolkon YouTube
2014 books
2019 books
British satirical websites
Dystopian fiction
Fictional populated places in England
Hauntology
Works set in the 1970s