Don't Dream It - See It (1978)

“However threatening Middle England may have found Punk at the time, one of the films’ most interesting features today is their resemblance to other home movies.” Moving History, www.movinghistory.ac.uk Although it deals with very similar material to the slightly earlier Death Is Their Destiny (1978), this ‘Video Trip’ from ‘Captain Zip’ – the pseudonym of amateur filmmaker Phil Munnoch – differs in several ways. First, it’s totally silent, reflecting the way it was originally shot. Second, the focus has broadened from Chelsea’s King’s Road to cover other locations, such as Downing Street, Horse Guards Parade and Munnoch’s own flat. As in Munnoch’s other films, his subjects are encouraged to play up for the camera, in the process undermining the popular misconception that punk was a violent and nihilistic movement. In an interview with Michelle Dee, Munnoch later pointed out that since many of his subjects were unemployed and dependent on the state, their pretensions towards overthrowing it were pretty half-hearted.  Captain Zip’s other Video Trips were The Last Resort, In the Gutter (both 1978), We’re No Angels, The Battle of Beaufort Market (both 1979), Brains in Frames (1980) and Citizens Banned (1981).