Abstract
This paper explores the ideas of heroism as depicted in the film Testament of Youth directed by James Kent and the play Mary’s Wedding written by Stephen Massicotte. Both pieces take place during the events prior, during and after World War I. This paper discusses specific scenes that demonstrate each work’s concept of a hero before examining the specific techniques used in each medium. The paper also weighs the similarities and differences between each piece in terms of heroism.
Over the course of time, people have created and done remarkable acts. From the conception of written language to the building of massive monuments, people have played a part in each phenomenon, including the creation of war. In the film Testament of Youth directed by James Kent and the play Mary’s Wedding written by Stephen Massicotte, the experiences of people who lived through one of the most pivotal points in human history, World War I. Both works explore the truth about heroism through techniques specific to each medium and convey a similar message: the traditional heroes championed in Western society are less grandiose in reality and true heroes are the most unassuming people.
Vera, a young British woman with very independent ideas, falls in love with her brother’s friend, Roland, an aspiring poet. Unfortunately, their lives were forever changed. Director James Kent portrays this tale of people facing the terrors of WWI in his adaptation of Vera Brittain’s memoirs. After Roland unexpectedly returns from the battle front, Vera, her brother, and their friends go to see their dear friend at his home. Vera, thrilled and excited to finally see the man she loves again, rushes to the lookout point by the ocean to find her love, huddled on the ground in a sad mess with a look of dread across his face. Roland stares out into the waters and whispers, “I have to go back in three days.” The energy of the scene abruptly shifts as the others catch up and Roland stands, laughing, to greet everyone. Roland becomes animated and boasts about his bravery in the adrenaline inducing experiences he’s had out on the front lines. One friend adds, “If I could get out there, I don’t think I’d want to come back.” While seated on a rock, Vera immediately begins to ridicule their noble notions of war. Roland scolds Vera, “That was unnecessary,” before storming off to join the others (Kent, 2015).
Through this scene, Kent delivers to the audience the reality of heroism in war. In Western societies, the traditional hero is a man who journeys to a distant land to defeat an enemy and is honored as a legend if he returns, beaming with pride over his accomplishment. Stories of heroes never recall the amount of fear, violence or trauma one must face. In most cases, these “heroes” often feel ashamed of showing any signs of weakness and is exemplified through the abrupt changes of energy in the scene. When Vera finds Roland, he is on the ground and Vera, in an attempt to comfort his pain, gently kneels down to listen to him. Kent uses the dynamics of each actor’s body position to show the audience the vulnerability and insecurity of a hero. Roland, as the hero, is shattered and can’t even manage to greet his love due to the looming threat of returning to the traumas of his heroism in battle. When the others arrive, Roland immediately jumps to his feet, arms wide open and laughing. Here, Kent demonstrates to the audience the façade of the hero; a man unfazed by the enemy and bloodshed, triumphantly detailing his feats of bravery. When the others leave after Vera dismissed their glorified ideas of war, Roland glares across at a seated Vera before hastily following the others. Kent closes the scene by placing the hero in a high energy position, shunning help from his love and physically choosing to follow along with his heroic guise. By altering who stands and who is seated in the scene, Kent drives forward the unwillingness of a person to break his heroic image at the cost of being true to his emotional well-being. A hero is only a hero if he can fake his bravery then be proud of it.
While Kent details the reality of heroism through characters’ physical positions on screen, Stephen Massicotte depicts the same idea through different means in his play, Mary’s Wedding. The play takes place the night before the main female role, Mary’s, wedding and slowly unravels through a series of dream sequences. In one scene, Charlie, the Canadian farm boy in love with Mary, confronts Mary about his decision to enlist and become a hero. He references a poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tenyson and recites the lines, “When can their glory fade?/Honor the charge they made.” Mary rebukes him, “That’s poetry Charlie, not real life!” (Massicotte, 2002). This same poem is referenced to at specific points through the script, when Charlie and Mary first meet, when they must part, when Charlie finally abandons his notions of playing hero and longs to come home to Mary.
Massicotte uses the fluidity of the stage to slowly reveal the fallacy of heroism. One dream sequence flows into another as the play progresses but the poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, is used as a focal point for the audience. The first mention allows the audience, as well as Charlie, to draw inspiration from the glorified heroes in the poem. The second mention forces the audience, again similar to Charlie, to face fighting for those championed ideas the heroes represent. The final mention draws from the audience defeated whispers as Charlie finally sees beyond the rush of being labeled a hero. In essence, Massicotte accentuates preconceived concepts of heroism then punctures that imagery through Charlie’s gradual development. The same deflation of the definition of a hero is experienced through Kent’s depiction of Roland. Both Charlie and Roland enlist. They play into the romanticized depictions of heroes in poetry, legend and songs. Both Kent and Massicotte disillusioned audiences of heroism through characters who showed fear and remorse instead of bouts of bravery and pride.
While both Kent and Massicotte sought to remove traditional portrayals of heroes through their characterization of Roland and Charlie, a unique alternative to the real heroes of war was suggested by each. According to Kent, the people who worked along-side soldiers and tirelessly gave support to those effected by the Great War are true heroes. The nurses who volunteered to tend to the horrible wombs and work through wave after wave of men covered in blood, missing limbs, and looks of horror as death approached are the people who should be celebrated for their acts of bravery. Kent demonstrated the gravity of the situation through wide shots of the endless rows of fallen soldiers at the make shift hospitals near the battle grounds in France. By showing the sheer amount of bloodied men and the nurses who scurried around in chaos trying to save at least one life, Kent gave audiences a look into the reality of war and set up a new hero for people to cheer. Through the juxtaposition of Roland’s feeble attempt at heroism and Vera’s success at saving actual lives, Kent brings the traditional hero down to earth and constructs a new podium for the true unsung heroes of war to rise.
Unlike Kent, Massicotte instead chooses to champion the everyday people who live with the scars left by the terrors of WWI. While a traditional hero may live on through stories of his valor and honor, he no longer has to deal with the ramifications or consequences of war. In contrast, the people left behind after the fallen have left this world must continue to bear the guilt of endless possibilities. What if I had met him that night? What if we just ignored the war? What if I just didn’t let him go? One decision made by a person changes the lives of those involved and Massicotte manifests this rippling effect through the character Mary. The audience learns towards the end of the performance of Charlie’s final moments and the new man Mary has agreed to marry. Despite not playing a direct hand in Charlie’s death, Mary couldn’t forgive herself and is imprisoned by the countless what ifs. By choosing the eve of her wedding night as the setting of the play, Massicotte brings full circle how the most unassuming of people who continue to live life despite the downfalls of war are the real heroes.
Through film, Kent characterizes a true hero as not the fearless fighter on the lines, but the people who supported the wounded and saw death every day. Through theater, Massicotte sculpts heroism as living with the consequences and results of people’s actions, not the brave warriors in the fields. Both attribute real heroic acts to people who go against traditional depictions of heroes, who never do it for the glory, who dedicate their lives to saving people and continue to live alongside the scars. While both Kent and Massicotte speak to audiences on the reality of heroism, each work does so through different techniques. The film Testament of Youth uses dynamic movements of the characters to frame heroism whereas Mary’s Wedding does the same through the combination of fluid mobility in dramatic narrative in theater and reoccurrence of poetic prose to drive character development. Both techniques effectively communicate to the audience the writer’s thoughts on heroes and war. According to both works, heroes are created but never as a result of seeking fame. Instead heroism stems from the people who save lives through remembering the people taken by war.
References
Kent, J. (Director). (2015). Testament of Youth [Motion picture on Film seen in class]. UK: BBC Films.
Massicotte, S. (2002). Mary's wedding [Third edition]. Retrieved May 9, 2016, from http://www.playwrightscanada.com/index.php/mary-s-wedding-third-edition-ebook.html
Tennyson, A. L. (n.d.). The Charge of Light Brigade. Retrieved May 9, 2016, from http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html
