Scarfolk is a fictional northwestern English town created by writer and designer Richard Littler, who is sometimes identified as the town mayor, L. Ritter. It is trapped in a time loop set in the 1970s, and its culture, parodying that of Britain at the time, features elements of the absurd and the macabre. It was first released as a blog of fake historical documents parodying British public information posters of the 1970s, and a collected book was published in 2014, and the Scarfolk Annual was released in 2019.[1] Scarfolk is depicted as a bleak, post-industrial landscape through unsettling images of urban life; Littler's output belongs to the genres of hauntology and dystopian satire; his psychologically disturbing form of humour has been likened to the writings of George Orwell and J. G. Ballard.[2][3]
Description
Scarfolk, which is forever locked in the 1970s, is a satire not only on that decade but also on contemporary events. It touches on themes of totalitarianism, suburban life, occultism and religion, school and childhood, as well as social attitudes such as racism and sexism.
Scarfolk was initially presented as a fake blog which purportedly releases artefacts from archive of the fictional town council, Scarfolk Council. 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 that are also presented as factual and that introduce the town's residents. The public information literature often ends with the strapline: "For more information please reread."
Littler has said "I was always scared as a kid, always frightened of what I was faced with. … You’d walk into WHSmith... and see horror books with people’s faces melting. Kids’ TV included things like Children of the Stones, a very odd series you just wouldn’t get today. I remember a public information film made by some train organisation in which a children’s sports day was held on train tracks and, one by one, they were killed. It was insane. … I’m just taking it to the next logical step."[6]
In July 2018, a parody Scarfolk poster was mistakenly featured in the UK government's in-house magazine Civil Service Quarterly as part of a serious article about the history of government communications. The inclusion of the poster, which bore the slogan "If you suspect your child has RABIES, don't hesitate to SHOOT", attracted some media attention.[8][9]
A book called Discovering Scarfolk, which tells the story of a family trapped in the town, was published in October 2014 by Ebury Press.[18][19] It is a guide to all aspects of Scarfolk and covers the "frenzied archive of Daniel Bush, whose sons 'disappeared' in Scarfolk in 1970."[18] Littler has said that the book "attempts to guide you through the darkness by making light of the contradictions and it promises not to unnerve you. Well, not too much anyway."[3]
Boing Boing's co-editor Cory Doctorow said "[Discovering Scarfolk] looks to be absolutely genius."[20][21]Digital Arts reviewed Discovering Scarfolk favorably with "We've seen so many blogs turned into books that it should probably be its own genre, but Discovering Scarfolk is one of the few to stand on its own and deserve to be more than a [sic] ill-conceived Christmas present."[19]Starburst gave Discovering Scarfolk nine out of ten stars, calling it "a hilarious novel filled with so-creepy-it’s funny illustrations and a relentlessly silly back story."[22]
In his review of The Advisory Circle's From Out Here (2014), musician DJ Food remarked both From Out Here and Discovering Scarfolk define "a good portion of the visual stimulus associated with the hauntological genre."[23]
A follow-up book to Discovering Scarfolk entitled Scarfolk Annual was published by HarperCollins on 17 October 2019. It satirises the British comic annual format and the cover resembles the BBC Publications annual based on the children's TV show Play School.[5]
Scarfolk & Environs: Road & Leisure Map For Uninvited Tourists
Scarfolk & Environs: Road & Leisure Map For Uninvited Tourists
A folded map entitled Scarfolk & Environs: Road & Leisure Map for Uninvited Tourists was published by Herb Lester Associates Ltd on 2 November 2020.
Unproduced television series
A Scarfolk television series, co-written by English writer and comedian Will Smith, was described as "in the works" in 2018,[9] but ultimately did not enter production.[27]
