More 18th Century Thirst Traps Please

The Rio Tape/Slide Archive Book

Radical Community Photography in Hackney in the 1980s

In the 1980s, Hackney was one of the most deprived parts of the UK, ignored by Margeret Thatcher’s new vision of Britain. But at Dalston’s Rio – London’s oldest community-run cinema – the Tape/Slide Newsreel Group was giving unemployed local young people a voice. It taught photography and sound-recording skills, and championed an alternative perspective on Hackney life. In 2016, thousands of slides were found in a filing cabinet in the Rio’s basement, a legacy of this groundbreaking project. They document vibrant communities, street scenes, markets and social events. They also report on the social problems of a corner of London left behind, and on local activism against racism, police brutality, deportations, AIDS, the miners’ strike and nuclear weapons. This book collects images and oral history. It is a story of community, resistance and hope, told by the people who lived it. 

Our 20 forever ❤️

You mean I haven’t convinced you already?!? 😮 *looks mournfully at my AO3 and screams like Russell Crowe in Gladiator*

Lmao I kid, I kid. Thank you for the ask 🥰

Anyhoo, here’s some brief propaganda, lest this turn into a ship manifesto:

• James with major daddy issues/praise kink/his massive imposter syndrome. He’s barely a frigging inch away from Sir John at all times in the first three eps. Like, Sir John can’t take a step without stepping on James. And neither of them seem to mind that at all. Like, at no point does Sir John seem annoyed or perturbed by James being metaphorically up his arse. And he’s like a little rabid Jack Russell or something when it comes to that old man - he’s jumping in there to defend him and to carry out his orders, making sure the lieutenants are following suit, barking and bristling at Francis when he thinks he’s overstepped the mark.

• THE DESPERATE CORNER SEAT AT DINNER IN THE WARDROOM. Squashed up there right in the corner and watching Sir John eat. Biting his frigging lip. He’s thirsty af.

• Weirdly intimate and borderline inappropriate dynamic between them in general. “I’ll not let Francis’s melancholy touch you. I won’t have it.” And Sir John doesn’t take him to task for that. Doesn’t give him a ‘cherish that man’ speech. He was proper eyeing James up in that scene too.

• All the cosy date nights in together. James is sitting there like a smug cat at the window seat when Sir John’s writing the daily log. For no reason whatsoever. He’s just there lmao, chilling with his man, and seems perfectly happy with his lot. They had a least one little dinner date together too.

• THEY’RE ALWAYS LOOKING AT EACH OTHER. Like, it’s been said before, but Ciarán and Tobias love looking at each other in their projects. Sir John gives him that weirdly lingering look when he makes that crack about rowing drakkars.

• Just soooo many instances of them looking at each other. James is always looking. Literally. Even when Sir John turns away, James is LOOKING. And he’s always so fucking soft, when he’s looking at Sir John. Soft and glowing, all baby girl for that old man. And again, standing soooo close together. Full on frotting on deck.

• JAMES’S ABSOLUTE MELTDOWN IN EP3. HUSBANDLESS BEHAVIOUR. He’s a broken man.

• The frigging dress. Leave it to you, Sir John.

• There’s soooo much content just in those three episodes. Not helped by historical James and Sir John having been seemingly very close - if you read the letters etc. James had a serious hero worship crush going on there. Idk lmao I just bloody love themmmm.

• I could post so many pics, but like - if you follow me you’ll have seen them all a million times 😛 but seriously, I only just clocked this scene last night when I was rewatching and having a cheeky little glass of wine after work. This is the scene where they’re talking to Hodge after he comes back from looking for leads. LOOK AT JAMES. Baby. BABY. He’s pining so hard.

• THE FICS. Omg so many amazing fics out there, and some great art too - I’m not even talking about mine lol, mine are just overly smutty self-indulgences I have to write to purge these two out of my system on a semiregular basis. But the FitzFranklin tag on AO3 is gold, I stg. EVERYONE READ CLAUDE’S GIFTFIC HE DID FOR ME BTW. It is amazing 👌🏼

• I could also recommend a shit ton of songs that remind me of them but The Night We Met by Lord Huron is probably the most fitting. Like, listen to that and read some FitzFranklin, think about those episodes, and it just all makes so much sense lmao 🤣 I do have a full playlist that I listen to when I’m writing, it’s literally like 500+ songs at this point. FEVER DREAM by Alex Warren is another good one. I Don’t Care by Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran (not my usual cup of tea but that is a banger of a FitzFranklin song). Me and My Husband by Mitzski - there’s a great Terror edit of them with that song somewhere on here. Soooo many Lana songs lol - Young and Beautiful, Say Yes to Heaven etc etc. I could go on for hours 🤣 Also Whatever It Takes by Imagine Dragons is James’s song, I will die on this hill. SOMEONE MORE TALENTED THAN ME PLS MAKE AN EDIT.

• PLUS IT’S CIARÁN AND TOBIAS. Ugh. They look so frigging good together I stg 🙏

The Kisvárda Aquacinema park where they have the HMS Erebus (/Terror) prop is open!!!!!!!!!

Would anyone be interested in going together?

The Kisvárda Aquacinema park where they have the HMS Erebus (/Terror) prop is open!!!!!!!!!

Would anyone be interested in going together?