Scarfolk
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 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (June 2014) |
| Created by | Richard Littler |
|---|---|
| URL | www |
Scarfolk is a fictional northern English town created by writer and designer Richard Littler, who is sometimes identified as the town mayor.
Description
Scarfolk "a queasy, unsettling provincial place".[1], which is forever locked in the 1970s, is a satire not only of that decade but also, by extension, contemporary events. It touches on themes of totalitarianism, suburban life, occultism & religion, school & childhood, as well as social attitudes such as racism and sexism, and it frequently blurs the lines between fact and fiction, horror and comedy.
Scarfolk was initially presented as a fake blog which purportedly releases artefacts from town council's archive. Artefacts include public information literature, out-of-print books, record and cassette sleeves, advertisements, television programme screenshots, household products, and audio and video, many of which suggest brands and imagery recognisable from the period. Additionally, artefacts are usually accompanied by short fictional vignettes which are also presented as factual and introduce residents of Scarfolk. The public information literature often contains what has become something of a catchphrase: "For more information please reread."
A book called "Discovering Scarfolk," which tells the story of a family trapped in the town, is due for publication in October 2014 by Ebury Press.[2]
Reception
Scarfolk has a cult following and has received positive reactions from the public and media in the United Kingdom and abroad.
GQ Magazine called it one of "The 100 Funniest Things in the History of the Internet".[3]
By the summer of 2014, the site had received 1 million page views since its launch in early 2013.[citation needed] Scarfolk reviews and interviews with Littler have appeared in publications such as Creative Review,[4] The Independent,[5] The Telegraph,[6] Stylenoir, and The Honest Ulsterman[7] and have been featured by popular online sites such as Boing Boing[8] and Dangerous Minds.[9]
Scarfolk artefacts have been praised for their true-to-life detail, and several images, including a faux Penguin Books publication called 'Children & Hallucinogens: The Future of Discipline',[10] went viral, believed by some to be genuine. On 31 January 2014 the newspaper London Evening Standard published an article[11] by Charles Saatchi which accidentally included the cover of a Scarfolk book called "Eating Children: Population Control & The Food Crisis" instead of the intended Jonathan Swift publication, "A Modest Proposal".
References
- ^ Angus Montgomery (06 October 2014). "We Like: Discovering Scarfolk". Design Week. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Caroline Carpenter (25 November 2013). "Ebury to publish Scarfolk story". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
- ^ Jeff Johnson, David Roth, Drew Magary, Mark Byrne, Andrew Richdale, John Surico, Alex French, Jennifer Schwartz, and Lu Fong (May 2013). "The 100 Funniest Things in the History of the Internet". GQ Magazine. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Mark Sinclair (27 March 2013). "Creative Review - Have you been to Scarfolk?". Creative Review. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
- ^ Simon Usborne (17 April 2013). "How to wash a child's brain: Designer Richard Littler creates fictional world based on terrifying public service films - Features - Films - The Independent". The Independent. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
- ^ "It's time to toughen up kids. Start terrifying them 'Scarfolk' style". Beverley Turner, The Telegraph, 25 April 2013
- ^ "The Creeping Terror Of Childhood".Darran Anderson, The Honest Ulsterman, May 2014
- ^ "Wyndhamesque missives from Scarfolk, an English horror-town trapped in a 1969-79 loop". Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing, 23 April 2013
- ^ "Welcome to Scarfolk, the most twisted English village of the 1970s". Martin Schneider, Dangerous Minds, 25 April 2014
- ^ "Children & Hallucinogens: The Future of Discipline". Scarfolk Council, 4 February 2013
- ^ "Saatchi is Scarfolked". Imperica, 30 January 2014