In Post 1998 Northern Irish, English and Irish Films
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A Troubled Lens? Analysis of cinematic representations of the “Troubles” in post 1998 Northern Irish, English and Irish films. MA Thesis in European Studies Graduate School for Humanities Universiteit van Amsterdam Isabel Pugh-Cook 12047287 Main Supervisor: Dr Alex Drace-Francis Second Supervisor: Dr Guido Snel Completed: 1 July 2019 Word Count: 22,911 Isabel Pugh-Cook Acknowledgements Sincere and grateful thanks is given to Dr Alex Drace-Francis whose attentive and meticulous comments and guidance have been invaluable, and to Dr Guido Snel in his role as secondary marker. Heartfelt appreciation is also given to my parents for their support and encouragement in this endeavour, as with all others; and to beloved friends for always providing crucial moments of humour and distraction from an oftentimes intense topic of research. - 2 - Isabel Pugh-Cook Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Understanding Irish and Northern Irish Cinema, and 13 Cinematic Theory - 2.1 An Introduction to Irish and Northern Irish Cinema 13 - 2.2 Postcolonialism and Irish Cinema 19 - 2.3 History in Film 23 - 2.4 Auteur Theory 27 3. The Chosen Films: Synopsises and Critical Reception 28 - 3.1 Silent Grace (Murphy, 2001) 28 - 3.2 Bloody Sunday (Greengrass, 2002) 31 - 3.3 Mickybo and Me (Loane, 2004) 36 4. Representations of Violence 40 5. Representations of Gender and Family 51 6. Representations of Landscape and Religion 60 7. Conclusion 67 Bibliography 72 - 3 - Isabel Pugh-Cook Abstract According to cinematic theory advanced by Pierre Sorlin (1980), historical films are most reflective of the time in which they were created. With this understanding, academics of Irish and Northern Irish cinema predicted that the period following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 would produce an array of more nuanced films about the euphemistically entitled “Troubles”, a devastating thirty-year period of sectarian military and paramilitary conflict. Previously released films about the Troubles were saturated with stereotypical tropes, images and characterisations of the Northern Irish people and region; Peace Process films (so called to reflect the then socio-political climate), were expected to advance cinematic representations with greater understanding and pedagogy of the conflict’s intricacy. Furthermore, through application of auteurship theory, the national or personal biases of a film’s auteur can be accounted for and the genuine cinematic progression of a genre be assessed. This paper argues that despite rational predictions made of Peace Process cinema, films about the Troubles and released after 1998, including those written and directed by indigenous filmmakers, have failed to transcend the archetypal, postcolonial-influenced stereotypes of the genre, and instead adhered to and exacerbated gendered, nationalist, sectarian and environmental tropes to a staggering degree. - 4 - Isabel Pugh-Cook 1. Introduction The euphemistically entitled “Troubles” were a period of intense paramilitary and military conflicts in Northern Ireland, officially from 1968 until the momentous signing of the peace treaty, known as the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement, in April 1998. Ostensibly between the Catholic Republicans and their demand for a united Ireland, and the majority Protestant population who (mostly) self-identify as British and Loyalists and determined to keep the six counties of Ulster a part of the United Kingdom1. The divisions between the communities are deep-rooted and based on ethno-nationalist perceptions of the appropriate future for the northern Irish peoples, an argument which has raged since the initial separation of the island in the 1920s with the Irish Free State; as McKittrick and McVea (2002:4) declare “Northern Ireland was born in violence”. Importantly, despite the grouping of the riven sides into ‘Catholic’ and ‘Protestant’, these titles delineate multiple identifications, not just religious: indeed, the Troubles were not a religious conflict. The terms ‘Protestant’ and ‘Catholic’ additionally indicate the long-standing political, cultural, historic and socio-economic differences, or perceived differences, between the tribal groupings. These labels are thus used in this vein throughout this paper.2 Over 3,500 people died during the thirty-year conflict, including 1,840 civilians, with over 47,500 people injured, and between 45,000 and 60,000 displaced or forced to flee their homes (McKittrick and McVea,2002; Bosi and De Fazio, 2017;Browne,2019); people from all sides – and none – of the devastating dispute felt its impact, far beyond those actively involved in the ethno-nationalist fighting or from the British security services. Bosi and De Fazio (2017:11) declare the conflict “one of the most lethal episodes of contention in post- war Western Europe”. Some of the most high-profile incidents include the horrific events of Bloody Sunday, where unarmed civilians were shot at by British army forces on 30th January 1 Extensive literature is available on this subject; the information listed here has particularly been taken from the work of McKittrick and McVea (2002). McKittrick, D. and McVea, D., 2002. Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. 1st ed. New Amsterdam Books. 2 This explanation draws inspiration from that given by Brian McIlroy (2001: 8). McIlroy, B., 2001. Shooting to Kill: Filmmaking and the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. 2nd edition. Richmond, B.C: Steveston Press. - 5 - Isabel Pugh-Cook 1972, resulting in fourteen deaths, and constituting a key turning point in the conflict, as well as the 1980-1 hunger strikes by Irish Republican prisoners in demand for political status, which saw the death of ten men. Northern Ireland is unlikely to ever be totally free of the ethno-nationalist conflict it has become so synonymous with3. Nonetheless, the historic Good Friday Agreement, signed on 10th April 1998 and endorsed by popular agreement in referendums held both sides of the Irish border on 22nd May, was pivotal in establishing a peaceful stability within the divided community, with mutual respect and recognition at least partially achieved (Bartlett,2010; Humphreys,2018). This was particularly true in areas of culture, with “parity of esteem” the aim for all symbols, tropes and cultural markers (Humphreys,2018). An unprecedented era of discussion and negotiation between the parties brightened the political, social, economic and cultural landscape of Northern Ireland. It was heavily anticipated that this communicative, optimistic environment post-1998 would shape representations of the Troubles across the cultural spectrum. Since the start of the conflict, multiple cinematic representations of the Troubles have been produced and released. Some of the most iconic films include Cal (O’Connor,1984), The Crying Game (Jordan,1992), In the Name of the Father (Sheridan,1993), and Some Mother’s Son (George,1996). These films, and the many more not listed here, have covered innumerable narratives of both fictional and non-fictional origin, depicting the experiences of Protestants, Catholics, the British security services and others involved directly or otherwise in the thirty plus years of fighting. All manner of points of view, competing norms and appraisals of the period and region’s events have been cinematised, in attempts to satisfy the international audience’s seemingly insatiable appetite for tales of violence, hardship and heartbreak in this most divided of communities. Nevertheless, most Troubles films released during the conflict, including those listed, fell victim to what scholars such as Barton (2004) and McIlroy (2001) 3 This reality is projected by renowned specialists of Ireland and Northern Ireland, including McKittrick and McVea (2002) and Bartlett (2010). Bartlett, T., 2010. Ireland: a history. 1st edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. - 6 - Isabel Pugh-Cook have identified as a mass simplification of the causes and rationale of the conflict; beyond depictions of a total and seemingly inevitable violent sectarian divide, the genuine experiences of the people and places of the Troubles were largely unexplored. Furthermore, the repeated utilisation of entrenched yet exhausted characterisations and stereotypes of the people, places, culture and society of the island of Ireland reiterated international understanding of the Troubles as vicious and unpleasant, yet unavoidable. As shall be explored, it is appropriate in this analysis to draw on studies of Irish cinema, and the portrayal of the island on screen, including that by Rockett, Gibbons and Hill (1988), Cinema and Ireland; McLoone’s (2000) Irish Film; Pettitt’s (2000) Screening Ireland and Barton’s (2004) Irish National Cinema, as equally representative of Northern Ireland. In this vein, the stereotypical presumption of an inherent – and unresolvable – predilection of the Irish and Northern Irish people, particularly men, to violence is apparent. This is particularly the case in contrast to the supposedly measured and protective existence of the British in the conflict- stricken region. Along with violence, stereotypical gender depictions saturate the screen, with renegade, drunken and often absent fathers consciously compared to mothers and women largely removed from the public sphere and restrained within domestic settings and reduced to their femininity. Further common stereotypes include the emotive power of landscape, with the romantic rural idyll of the Republic of Ireland consciously juxtaposed with the gritty