Weird Britannia: Pop Culture and Spaced

The release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in the summer of 1999 drew many a harsh critic but none more so than Tim Bisley of Spaced (1999-2001). Within the show, his disdain for George Lucas’ latest offering at the time is indeed a recurring theme. Still, it is portrayed in the most dramatic fashion possible: Tim’s breakup bonfire over George Lucas, his retreat into the films of the original trilogy, and being fired from his job for screaming at a child wishing to buy a Jar Jar Binks doll, are only the most striking examples.

Nevertheless, Star Wars is foundational to Spaced. Presented through both visual and dialogue references, the two are almost intertwined. But Star Wars is simply the most prominent of a whole series of pop cultural references throughout the show, holding the key to truly understanding the show’s strangeness.

If you can think of any notable film or franchise of the mid-late nineties, then chances are at some point it featured in Spaced. A remarkable feat considering its relatively short run.

Take, for instance, arguably the biggest film of 1999 (not The Phantom Menace), The Matrix: not only does the series feature a dreamlike cutaway to Mike, Tim, and Tyres storming the building like Neo and Trinity in the film’s third act, but an entire episode centred around Daisy being pursued by Matrix-style agents, one of which portrayed is by Mark Gatiss of The League of Gentlemen.

Others, however, are a bit harder to find, and to the untrained eye can often go unnoticed. Nonetheless, this constant barrage of pop culture referencing is an essential part of the visual language of the show. It also serves as its most striking feature alongside the early directorial talents of Edgar Wright who would go on to direct the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, amongst other films.

If references make Spaced what it is, then they also make the series’ characters who they are. True, it’s certainly fun to pinpoint each reference like Leonardo Dicaprio in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (you know the meme). However, they also serve the purpose of allowing the audience to see the world through the eyes of the protagonists. And, as you might think, this was all intentional.

As it stands, Spaced is almost the perfect reaction to the typical sitcom of the Nineties. Sitcoms of the time, most prominently Friends, demonstrated an obsession with the lives of the typical twenty-something and their tedious love-lives. If you rewatch Friends in this light, it does become increasingly apparent just how odd (and fairly boring) this dynamic is between supposed ‘friends’.

Spaced also takes the twenty-something approach, focusing on the aimless Tim and Daisy, and their gang of oddball friends. Yet, their characterisation goes beyond the surface level. Sure, Tim is the typical geek, Daisy the half-bored ‘writer’, Mike the weapons expert, Brian the artist-type, and Twist the shallow fashion afficionado. Admittedly, they’re painted in broad strokes.

However, they still feel effortlessly relatable, in large part due to their presentation. In the club episode from series 1, the opening consists of a flashback to the 1980s where Brian gets into a fight after knocking another bloke’s drink over, all the while Come on Eileen plays in the background. Then he wakes up in the present day…

It’s a short moment but it sets up Brian’s reluctance to go clubbing later in the episode. More importantly though, despite its brevity, it’s a moment like this that really fleshes out a smaller character like Brian. It acts as a literal window into his head and his thought processes that helps us, the audience to get to know him inside out.

In many ways, Spaced plays out like this: a series of dreams and daydreams. The frequent strays into the hyperreal and the surreal are streamed direct from the heads of its principle characters and reveal everything we need to know about them.

As one of the two main characters then, it is no surprise that the majority of the show consists of pop culture references, when it’s a merely a projection of Tim’s geeky obsessions, as well as Mike, Daisy, and even the collective group. As pop culture exists as a point of reference for the majority of us viewers, we therefore have a life like Tim’s, where Star Wars acts as a principle point of reference.

This may be strange viewing for some as a result. Spaced might follow a linear structure but it does randomly and frequently cut to its many referenced IPs with little to no warning. The pace of the show can similarly be described as frenetic and as having little room to breathe.

Still, isn’t this how everyone experiences the world? If Spaced is defined by a serious lack of attention span, it is only the same that the majority of people would be guilty of. Despite its general absurdity then, Spaced is perhaps the most realistic of sitcoms, especially compared to the shallow attempts at capturing the 1990’s generation that either preceded or followed. It might feel like one big, strange dream, but in the end it’s still one that is so easy to come back to.