2012年6月21日 星期四

The Cardboard Box - The Unsung Hero of Fiction and Film


We all take cardboard boxes for granted. And why wouldn't we? These unremarkable cuboid containers, often coloured pale beige have no intention of standing out from the crowd. Yet in spite of their seemingly characterless existence, cardboard boxes do crop up more often than one would expect in fiction, film and television. Most obviously, the humble box, or more accurately, a sizeable team of boxes were often cast as a crash mat on to which a character, usually a baddie falls. Many children's TV programmes and films, most notably those produced by the UK's Children's Film Foundation gave these cardboard boxes centre stage as they actively thwarted the dastardly activities of many a bad guy. However outside of children's film and television, these boxes were often out of shot, making us believe a character had in fact fallen to their death.

Another popular role for many boxes was to be mercilessly driven through in episodes of the A-Team, Starsky & Hutch and other action shows of the 1970's and 1980's. This was particularly humiliating as this casting trend happened at a time when their role in the stunt world was being superseded by the air-bag which replaced the box based crash mat. It's a sad fact that cardboard boxes weren't, and still aren't permitted to become members of Equity. Their roles often went uncredited and even unpaid in many cases. For many, their acting career was short as they seldom finished filming unscathed. And with so many up and coming boxes ready to fill their shoes, the future is bleak for the majority of 'used' boxes.

Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, writer and creator of super sleuth Sherlock Holmes quickly realised the potential of the cardboard box and penned The Adventure of the box, the second short story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published in 1892. Despite of having a major place in the stories title, the box featured little after the opening chapters of the story, as even the nation's favourite super sleuth focused more on the contents of the box rather than the box itself. There is only one television adaptation of this story, being the final episode of ITV The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series which ran from 1985 to 1994. The box which sensitively portrayed the fictional box narrowly missed a BAFTA nomination in favour of Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Holmes himself.

Probably the most famous cardboard box featured on Jasper Carrot's 'Carrot's Lib' comedy show aired in the early 1980's. Dave, The Box featured in numerous sketches which depicted the day to day living of a plain brown box. This documentary, narrated by Rik Mayall (presumably David Attenborough had other engagements) showed the reality of life of an everyday box both at work and play. The show charted Dave's unsuccessful foray into stand up comedy, his failed relationships and his eventual demise into alcoholism. Dave spent much of the 1980's and 1990's as a recluse and very little is known of his whereabouts today.

These days, the vast majority of boxes find employment in the packaging industry; a far cry from the dizzy heights of television and film stardom. It seems a shame that these unsung heroes seldom gain the recognition they truly deserve.




Carl Liver

If you are looking for a cardboard box such as eBay boxes then visit ASC Direct





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