BBC Britain "needs to weaponise Warhammer"

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

https://unherd.com/2024/04/britain-needs-to-deploy-warhammer/

 

Thanks to BL writer Justin Hill (Autor of several novels about Imperial Guard...oh sorry, Astra Militarum)I found in Twitter this article. How to weaponise the BBC Britain needs to harness its soft power

And my first thought was: "Whoa! What the...this is quite insane!".

 

But after think it a bit more, and recognised that my experience and knowledge about actual BBC shows and British TV broadcasts in general is not very, lets say ,wide (Just because I try to avoid watching TV as much as I can, british,Icelandic, spanish or whatever. I made mine this Groucho Marx quote: "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."), so I feel quite curious, and I want to know more options,specially from british people.

 

Has the writer on that website gone too far with his statements or is he somewhat right, and in what way is he right?

Edited April 3 by Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf
Extra link

[ThePenitentOne]

I can't much about the BBC, except I love a good panel show- 8 out 10 Cats, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Big Fat Quiz... And I'll watch an episode of Corrie Street every now and again. Monty Python were, of course, geniuses.

 

But I will say that Warhammer IS soft power for the UK. Like, I'm a poor dude who doesn't vacation, and I've considered the pilgrimage to Warhammer World.

[Mandragola]

The awkward thing about the BBC is that it's not a commercial enterprise. It's paid for by a "license fee", which is effectively a compulsory subscription, without which you aren't allowed to watch terrestrial TV in the UK, or BBC content online.

 

There's content that the BBC does better than commercial broadcasters. It's probably the best respected news organisation globally, though currently that reputation is under attack from all sides.

 

It also produces the best wildlife programs. British people are raised watching incredible footage of the inside of termite colonies, fast-growing plants and orcas torturing seals to death, narrated by David Attenborough. Then we watch the "making of" bit where bearded men with massive cameras lie on mountainsides or crawl through jungles for months, waiting to shoot never before seen footage of rare animals. I'm not quite sure why they do this so well but they really do.

[Wormwoods]

1 hour ago, Mandragola said:

It's paid for by a "license fee", which is effectively a compulsory subscription, without which you aren't allowed to watch terrestrial TV in the UK, or BBC content online.

But you don't have to let us in (please let us in!)

 

 

[Remain_Indoors]

After the absolutely abysmal “adaptations” of ‘Guards! Guards!’ And ‘The War of the Worlds’, I don’t want the BBC touching Warhammer. 

[Xenith]

=][= Keep politics out of this one please, as far as we can, and keep discussion within the rules of the B&C, and be respectful of others opinions =][=

[VanDutch]

Soft power is about shaping other state’s social, cultural and political norms to match yours without the use of military or similar force.  Brit pop, the 2012 Olympics and the Premier League etc are all a reflection of the UK’s culture (for good or bad).
 

Is Warhammer? (or at least, is it anymore, given it was born out of a parody of the UK in the 80s).

 

So does the UK really want everyone thinking King Charles is a half dead demi god sat on a throne!?

Edited April 5 by VanDutch

[Lay]

"The Warhammer intellectual property has the potential to be a British Disney or Marvel”

 

That sounds like a cautionary warning

[Evil Eye]

 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

1 hour ago, VanDutch said:

Soft power is about shaping other state’s social, cultural and political norms to match yours without the use of military or similar force.  Brit pop, the 2012 Olympics and the Premier League etc are all a reflection of the UK’s culture (for good or bad).
 

Is Warhammer? (or at least, is it anymore, given it was born out of a parody of the UK in the 80s).

 

So does the UK really want everyone thinking King Charles is a half dead demi god sat on a throne!?

Don´t sell the British pantheon short. You also have the revenant banshee Queen Elizabeth 2 and her two vicious undead Pembroke Welsh corgis who guard the gates to the Underworld. And to counter the misdeeds of the aforementioned deity you have the benevolent saint Princess Diana who is said to still roam the Earth in order to make it a better place.

[Marshal Rohr]

Letting Henry Cavill run the whole thing makes it much better and much Britisher. 

[phandaal]

51 minutes ago, Lay said:

"The Warhammer intellectual property has the potential to be a British Disney or Marvel”

 

That sounds like a cautionary warning

 

Considering how poorly Dr Who has been doing in recent years, the best outcome for Warhammer is probably to not be associated with any of those companies.

 

Amazon at least sometimes makes good adaptations.

[Lexington]

How do people write this much about truly nothing at all?

[Scribe]

4 minutes ago, Lexington said:

How do people write this much about truly nothing at all?

 

I have almost 10K posts here, let alone my wider decades long internet footprint.

 

Just saying. :)

[Doghouse]

I think it would be a terrible idea.

 

Any true citizen of the Imperium should be content enough to sit by the glow their Administratum approved single heater unit, listening to their designated Vox chant prayers of holy worship to Him on Terra as we settle down to a nice bowl of Corpse Starch and sip on a small glass of rationed Amasec.

 

We have no need for traitorous propaganda and moving pictures with talk of weaponizing the hobbies of good hard working loyal citizens for personal political advancement of blasphemous unsanctioned ideology. That is the way of the Xenos, the Traitor and the Heretic!

 

Besides GW prices are bad enough as it is without having to pay for a tv license to enjoy the hobby on top of that.

 

 

[N1SB]

On 4/3/2024 at 7:43 AM, Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf said:

And my first thought was: "Whoa! What the...this is quite insane!"

 

Brother, I think your initial impression is correct.  IMHO this is clearly a late April Fool's assignment, or maybe it was intended to be by the writer...yet his editor thought they'll just hold onto it for 1 more day before publishing to ride the hype around Warhammer.  And he's not having a laugh at The Hobby, he's laughing at the BBC.

 

Disclaimer: I'm from a former British colony when it was such, sent to its boarding school as a scholarship boy.  This system was for when there WAS a British Empire, and its main export was British gentlemen schooled in philosophy, language, etc., to manage its holdings abroad.  I was meant as a cog of their soft power...that's clearly gone rogue.

 

There are lines that are clearly coded tongue-in-cheek, but there are certain shibboleths immediately recognised by their own but foreign to all others:

 

Quote

The bulk of the BBC’s programming can be characterised as Blue Peter for adults, whose presenters address the audience with the cheerily patronising, dead-eyed bonhomie of staff in a nursing home.

 

On the BBC, Blue Peter was a children's variety show; you would ONLY know it if you grew up in the UK, because it's so boring no one else would watch it.  It was a government-funded kid's show, which meant it is the safest, tamest, most milquetoast show there is.  It's like Sesame Street with no puppets, purely educational.

 

(Example - when recycling 1st became a thing, it was Blue Peter that taught us to check if their cans are recyclable aluminium with a fridge magnet.)

 

"Blue Peter" for adults is the most hilarious line I've read in awhile.  The whole article is full of things that only ppl from the UK would get, like Marmite.

 

 

+++++

 

 

This article is like a writing exercise in irony.  It talks about a stagnating empire holding onto its power by, well, exporting Space Marines with Henry Cavill.  Warhammer IS about a stagnant Imperium holding onto its powers by sending out Primaris with Roboute Guilliman!  It is worthy to be in The Regimental Standard.

 

But more importantly, Warhammer was (to some of us, still is) a dark satire making fun of EXACTLY this type of jingoistic thinking.

 

I mean, this is a brilliantly hilarious, beautifully written, piece of poetry in prose about how an empire could demonstrate its true GREATness...with little toy soldiers.  The ONLY way it could be even funnier is if he was actually serious.  My only nitpick: this writer never mentioned which faction he collected.  I bet he plays Orks.

Edited April 6 by N1SB

[Marshal Rohr]

I don’t think it inherently wrong for the UK to embrace Warhammer as something quintessentially British. It very much is, that’s why so many people love it. There is, however, something twisted about cynically using something that was scorned and derided for decades as juvenile to bolster a flagging economic situation. Warhammer is now as much American, and German, and French, and any country that has access to it as it is British. 1/3 of sales are Mexico, US, and Canada alone. If anything Warhammer has become a global phenomenon because it reached all of us nerds, no matter where we were, and gave us a reason to talk to each other about big burly men in armor. It isn’t it’s Britishness that United all of us, it is how cool dystopia is in media. I met my oldest friend  (@Tyrannicide) right here on this forum almost twenty years ago talking about something Bryan Ansell devised to sell more miniatures. Most of my childhood memories are shooting the [redacted] about this universe. Yes, the UK should embrace Warhammer but not because it will fix a decade of bad leadership but because it bring the anglosphere and English speakers together in a love of hanging out and painting or playing in a way that video games and social media never could. 

[StratoKhan]

In general terms, and without going into too much detail:

Video games have gone from being nerdy pastimes to having mass appeal. 6th gen consoles were pretty important in that evolution.

D&D was given more mainstream exposure by Stranger Things.

Mainstream attitudes to the Warhammer hobby have probably changed somewhat since I started in the 90s and PC game licensing has helped spread awareness -  but the hobby hasn’t had a breakout mainstream moment or accelerator yet.

 

A state investing resources to try and boost an industry such as tourism can definitely work, I guess I don’t quite have the vision myself to see what investment the UK could put into Warhammer that would be beneficial to both parties.

 

If the Amazon show is good, then this ‘soft power’ effect will happen anyways. Tbf if the content is bad, the resulting memes might nonetheless still be epic.

[lansalt]

7 hours ago, Marshal Rohr said:

Warhammer is now as much American, and German, and French, and any country that has access to it as it is British

Indeed, and add Spain to that list. 40k and WHFB were a huge success here before even 2nd ed. in the 90s and I think that was the big reason behind the success of our own miniature industry ecosystem: Vallejo, Green Stuff World, Corvus Belli, the many spanish artists working at GW and other mini companies over the years...
 

[Jolemai]

12 hours ago, Scribe said:

 

I have almost 10K posts here, let alone my wider decades long internet footprint.

 

Just saying. :)

 

Still under 10k? You need to get those rookie numbers up 

[phandaal]

12 hours ago, N1SB said:

My only nitpick: this writer never mentioned which faction he collected.  I bet he plays Orks.

 

My money is on Genestealer Cults. Spread the message - Warhammer's Day of Ascension approaches!

[TheArtilleryman]

I agree that the BBC’s output is mostly dreadful, apart from the nature stuff as someone already said. I rarely ever watch TV anymore because it’s so bad. It’s also not known for the quality of its special effects or ability to create epic stuff, which Warhammer would need to be.

 

I do think Warhammer has the potential to be HUGE. However, I just don’t know where you’d even start. The whole universe and timeline is so unimaginably vast as to eclipse any other mainstream franchise you could name. Plus it also has the potential to be so bad. So, so bad. I can just see it dissolving into a monstrous ball of cheese.

[conscriptboris]

Yes, UK gov is terrible at protecting British Interest and always has. Where the French/Italian's have their cheeses and wines protected, Cornish Pasties, Types of Pies, Haggis etc hasn't been protected in the same way. 

 

A large corporation could buy up and gut GW. Someone like Disney, if they wished. The UK Gov wouldn't bat an eye. I am happy GW has gone from strength to strength. However, that will also be its undoing. And the gov wont even notice.

 

You only need to look at the Tolkien Estates and the Middle Earth licences to know.

 

Conscriptboris

Edited April 6 by conscriptboris

[Magos Takatus]

10 hours ago, lansalt said:

Indeed, and add Spain to that list. 40k and WHFB were a huge success here before even 2nd ed. in the 90s and I think that was the big reason behind the success of our own miniature industry ecosystem: Vallejo, Green Stuff World, Corvus Belli, the many spanish artists working at GW and other mini companies over the years...
 

Yes, while growing up I'd see the Spanish entries for Golden Daemon over there. I swear there's something in the water, those guys are incredible.

[Sergeant Bastone]

On 4/5/2024 at 2:54 PM, VanDutch said:

Soft power is about shaping other state’s social, cultural and political norms to match yours without the use of military or similar force.  Brit pop, the 2012 Olympics and the Premier League etc are all a reflection of the UK’s culture (for good or bad).
 

Is Warhammer? (or at least, is it anymore, given it was born out of a parody of the UK in the 80s).

 

So does the UK really want everyone thinking King Charles is a half dead demi god sat on a throne!?

Reminds me of my favorite Lord Solar proxy: