was swinging Britain a myth for many young people in the 60's?

Was swinging Britain a myth for many young people in the 60's?

Many people believe that the swinging 60's was a big myth, i'm going to look at Georgie girl and Up the junction which are two films made in the 60's that showed the 60's and also it's problems.

In up the junction we are introduced to a jolly girl named Polly who is shown to discover and convert to the 60's look after she moves. She changes her hair and style to almost fit in with everyone around her and she seemed very happy to do this. The bright clothing shows a positive impact of the 60's and how woman were becoming more independent and able to do more with their future and lives and also gives a positive representation of the working class with woman shown to be happy and men getting around.
However a certain scene that shows that the swinging 60's was a myth is in the abortion scene. This is where a character named Rube becomes too involved with a boy and doesnt take precaution and becomes pregnant and with her being 17 this would ruin her reputation. In this scene we see Rube and Polly go into a shop which is also an abortionists at the back. The room has very low key lighting with out of date food and rubbish dropped with no care which disgusts the two and shows what some back street abortions are like and that if the abortionists cant keep their own shop clean then how can the abortion be safe for the young woman. This scene gives the audience a glimps at what some back street abortions looked like with infection and death a big worry for many young pregnant woman during this time.

Once Polly goes for a walk, she comes back seeing Rube pale white and looking extremely weak which frightens Polly. At first Rube was worried of her mum finding out which is why she got a backstreet abortion however once she felt weak she straight away wanted her mum to help her as death was a big fear for Rube throughout this whole scene. The audience can only hear not see the pain that Rube is going through and can only think about it and picture what could be happening which also enhances the pain that Rube is going through to the audience and the emotions they feel.
These scenes show that the myth of freedom and more sex was not always considered great to many young oman and sometimes even with men which is also shown in up the junction with Rube's boyfriend finding out when visiting and finding out that his own child is no longer alive and that he had no choice in this.

In Georgie girl however, Georgie's house friend Meredith is shown to have an easy life during the 60's with her character being introduced with her going around in different mens cars and laughing about life to Georgie, yet she has a boyfriend which confuses the audience. This shows how far woman had become independent throughout the 60's and usually the man would cheat yet now more and more woman were cheating and taking advantage of their new freedom in life. This could show that maybe the myth was not true and that some young people enjoyed their new freedom of job choices, where they live and what they do in life which is what started to change society and how people thought about everything. Although not all of the characters had a happy life in the 60's. Georgie is shown at the beginning of the film to be walking around the town window shopping and seeing the new fashion that was introduced of bright colours and patterns. We see Georgie go into the hair dressers to have her hair done which represents the pressure that many young people had to live up to, to belong in the 60's and with Georgie being old fashioned she was faced with a big change and did not keep up with it as straight after she ran to wash her hair.

Overall the 60's put alot of pressure on the new young generation to make a change in their looks and opinions which would have shocked the older generation with how open their children were becoming. This did however help the future with many woman and men being able to do the jobs that they want. The 60's however was a myth overall with deaths and high emotion in young people's lives especially with abortion and money saving.