Film Review: Tramps!

The natural reaction to a conservative era is to reject it, subvert it entirely and aim higher. So it was with the “New Romantics”, the movement which gave us Boy George, Michael Clark, Duran Duran, Leigh Bowery, Marilyn, Visage and Spandau Ballet. These stylish, freaky rebels were part of a loose “family” of club kids who emerged at the arse end of punk in the UK.

This vivid, fun but poignant documentary by Kevin Hegge focuses on the lesser-known of the group, mostly based around London and the Blitz club (as well as smaller queer clubs) and is more interesting for it. It’s all about Scarlett Cannon; Princess Julia, Les Child,Andrew Logan and John Maybury, among others.

Obviously, there is a strong political undertow here. They lived in squats, and made their meagre money from grants or initially lived on the dole money from the hated Thatcher Tory government and created their fiercely individual looks on a budget. And all the aforementioned went on to do something creative: Cannon presented arts TV show ‘Alter Image’; Julia is a DJ, Child is a choregrapher, Logan founded ‘The Alternative Miss World’, Maybury is a film maker. These were people of substance, not just poseurs.

Their glamour was a reaction to the bombed out city streets. But it was mostly forged from the queer scene, a reaction to the homophobic, reactionary government with its outdated, regressive laws.

Sadly, Hegge also acknowledges the AIDS crisis and pays tribute to those lost too young to the terrible disease. As with Russell T Davies recent drama series It’s A Sin, the party ended on a tragedy. But for a brief moment, these strange and beautiful peacocks burned brightly, and they changed the world. The survivors are still out there too, with something to say.

Available to stream and download online.