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I am in the midst of seeing the movie The Pebble and the Boy.

While going through the IMDb synopsis, it says something about mod and scooter. Can somebody tell me what this is about, or is this some British esotericism at work?

The story follows John Parker, a 19 year old from Manchester who embarks on a journey to Brighton, the spiritual home of the Mods, on an old Lambretta scooter left to him by his father. The film is a celebration of Mod culture and fashion and features music by Paul Weller and The Jam.

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    What research did you take to try to find an answer yourself before asking? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mod_(subculture)
    – curiousdannii
    Nov 17, 2021 at 1:01
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    Having just read the synopsis on IMDb I would think that 1. Understanding of the film hinges on understanding what a mod is. It isn’t just a passing reference and 2. I would think it’s implied pretty clearly by the narrative of the plot simply because of point 1.
    – Darren
    Nov 17, 2021 at 3:28
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    @curiousdannii I don't come from UK but from India and here modding is only in technical terms. For e.g. to mod your computer, but this seems to be something else, something much different from what I knew about. And also didn't know the history about it, so thank you for sharing that.
    – shirish
    Nov 17, 2021 at 5:23
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    ProTip™: I'm American, but I watch a fair bit of British TV and British coverage of F1 races and BTCC. When they say something that I know is "British" but doesn't make sense to me as an American, I pick up my phone, pull up a browser, hit my favorite search engine and search for "british slang <confusing word or phrase>" and get a good explanation darn near every time. It saves asking embarrassing questions in public. ;)
    – FreeMan
    Nov 17, 2021 at 13:01
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    There's nothing embarrassing about not knowing stuff, and asking stuff on Stack Exchange makes it easier for other searchers to find good, up-to-date answers.
    – Paul D. Waite
    Nov 17, 2021 at 17:01

1 Answer 1

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'Mods' were a youth subculture in the 1960's and 1970's in the UK, who were often portrayed as in conflict with 'Rockers'. Often referred to as a pair of conflicting and competing subcultures (Mods and Rockers). This competition was mostly in terms of fashions and musical taste, but famously degenerated into physical violence between gangs.

Mods (from Modernist) had a distinctive fashion style, often rode Italian scooters rather than motorbikes and were associated with 1960's rock bands like The Who, and later with Ska and Soul music, whereas Rockers were more associated with 1950's rock and roll.

Looking at the Pebble and the Boy poster, the imagery of the scooters, the RAF Roundel and the arrow on the 'b' speak to me of Mod symbolism, which somewhat lingered-on with some people when I was in high school in the 80s.

The location in Brighton refers to famous clashes between gangs on the beach of that town in 1964.

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    Even without seeing the movie, you are bang on.
    – shirish
    Nov 16, 2021 at 6:41
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    See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrophenia_(film)
    – Jon Custer
    Nov 16, 2021 at 14:20
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    By "See also," I'm pretty sure that @JonCuster means "When you're done watching The Pebble and the Boy, be sure to watch Quadrophenia , turn the sound up, and clear a space to play your air guitar."
    – shoover
    Nov 16, 2021 at 23:38
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    Pretty appropriate that this question was answered by a Mod(erator).
    – Rand al'Thor
    Nov 17, 2021 at 11:01

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