The Up Series

The Up Series

At age 22, as a researcher for Granada Television, Michael Apted was charged with finding participants for a documentary project that, unbeknownst to him, would become his life's work. The project, Seven Up, was originally meant to stand alone, with its subjects – 7-year-old children from upper-, middle-, and lower-class areas of England, both urban and rural – offering opinions on education, marriage, fighting, playing, and, most noticeably, money. "When you look at Seven Up, you can see that it's a barely disguised political diatribe against the class system," says Apted, who produced and directed the 1964 documentary's five (so far) follow-up films, 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up, 28 Up, and so forth. Apted goes on to explain in 42 Up's commentary track (the only especially special special feature of the Up Series box set) how he has realized that the series' power comes from its "humanistic" value rather than any commentary on class. And he's right. If there's anything bad at all about the Up Series, it's the feeling you get that an agenda was imposed upon these children when they were 7 and has caught up with them again every seven years since. Yet, however sympathetic you might feel toward people who, for the greater good, repeatedly allow themselves to be held accountable for the things they said when they were kids ("I don't know anybody who's colored, and I don't want to know anybody who's colored, thank you very much") or, perhaps worse, for the things they wore in 1985, the result is worth it. Simply put, it's just mesmerizing to watch people age – especially in dog years, which is why the Up films make a particularly good box set. Each new disc provides such alarming juxtapositions (the confident, engaging child is suddenly a sullen, contemptuous teenager, or a bright, articulate 14-year-old slides into homelessness by 28) that it's difficult to resist devouring all five in one sitting, not to mention rewatching your favorites. There is just no limit to the number of times you can listen to a 7-year-old explain, in his distinctly upper-class accent, why he reads The Observer and The Financial Times. Thanks to reality TV, we've all grown accustomed to watching ordinary people talk about themselves on camera, but the refreshing innocence of the Up Series subjects, interviewed since the much less media-savvy time of the Sixties, makes this familiar formula new again.

---

Also Out Now

The Office: The Complete Collection: For more musings on class in British society, this popular faux-documentary series is now available in full, featuring both seasons as well as The Office Special, which picks up three years after the last episode leaves off – sort of like a mock Three Up.

Quantum Leap: The Complete Second Season: Forget the Brits altogether, leave their pesky time constraints behind, and join Scott Bakula in correcting history's grievous mistakes.

---

Upcoming

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Collector's Edition: Would that you could forget life's more painful episodes. Michel Gondry's meditation on literally erasing them from the mind is out on two extras-heavy discs on Jan. 4.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason: Bridget Jones tips the scales toward the British female perspective, compensating for the Sixties-rooted Up Series' lack thereof, and instead of aging its hero by seven years, The Edge of Reason, coming out March 22, finds Bridget merely four weeks older than in her last cinematic outing.