Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Martin Neužil Violence and humour in In Bruges and The Guard Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph. D. 2018 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Martin Neužil 2 I would like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Paul Hardy, for his unending patience and guidance. Also huge thanks to my family and friends for their support and encouragement. 3 Table of Contents Page Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5 Irish Movie Industry ....................................................................................................... 7 In Bruges ........................................................................................................................ 10 The Guard ..................................................................................................................... 20 Comparison ................................................................................................................... 30 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 40 Works Cited ................................................................................................................... 41 Resumé ........................................................................................................................... 45 4 Introduction Art is a reflection of culture and society, and as such can give invaluable insight into the underlying struggles that are present. Thus, this thesis aims to compare two contemporary movies of Irish film industry, film being an indisputable part of art, in hopes of finding topics and issues relevant in today’s Irish society. The movies chosen for closer inspection are In Bruges, directed by Martin McDonagh, and The Guard, directed by his brother John Michael McDonagh. Both movies abound with the presence of violence and humour, and it is through these aspects that the movies will be examined and compared in order to discover their possible influence on society. The thesis is structured into four chapters with a conclusion at the end. First chapter is the shortest, as it only briefly describes the Irish movie industry and gives some details regarding the Irish Film Board and each of the directors, how they gained fame, what awards have they won and what inspiration they had for their respective movies. The second chapter examines the movie In Bruges, starts with general information about the movie and its brief plot summary. Afterwards, the thesis explores various recurring themes and topics in the movie and the role of violence and humour in them. The third chapter examines the movie The Guard in the same manner, the fourth chapter providing a comparison of the two. In the fourth chapter, the comparison focuses on themes and topics shared by both movies, giving detail to their different, or similar, approach to them. Finally, conclusion includes the identified themes present and their relation to violence and humour, as well as the nature of violence and humour itself. The most important secondary sources include Laura Canning’s article “'Not in front of the American': place, parochialism and linguistic play in John Michael 5 McDonagh's The Guard (2011).” Laura Canning is a doctoral candidate and a lecturer at the School of Communications, Dublin City University, and in her article, she mostly criticizes the movie for its narrowminded portrayal of rural Ireland. The article itself is very short, but gives a different perspective on the movie, a welcome perspective considering the rarity of material covering the movie itself. Another important article is “Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges: Theological Stirrings in Generation X.” from Charles Hampton, a pastoral psychologist. The article gives a much needed insight regarding the theological topics present in the movie, such as the question of freedom or redemption. Lastly, Angelo M. Codevilla’s article “The Rise of Political Correctness,” traces back the origin of political correctness to the various communist parties in 1930’s, however, more importantly it covers the implications of the contemporary use of political correctness as a tool of a ruling class, Codevilla being a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute and professor emeritus of International Relations at Boston University. 6 Irish Movie Industry Before this thesis examines its two movies, this chapter will briefly cover the Irish film industry, Irish Film Board in particular, and the directors of the two movies, brothers Martin McDonagh and John Michael McDonagh.1 Ireland has in recent years become one of the most attractive environments when it comes to film production due to a tax incentive and a great number of writers and directors, and over time Irish film has won most international awards from Academy Awards to Cannes Film Festival Awards, alongside many others, such as Golden Globes or BAFTA Awards. Ireland itself has proven very popular among directors the world over with its beautiful scenery and compelling architecture. However, it is not only the Irish Film Industry that has become popular, but the Irish art as a whole, this being due to the fact, as Richard Kearney, a professor in Philosophy at Boston University that has written over 20 books on European philosophy and literature, argues in his book, Postnationalist Ireland : Politics, Culture, Philosophy, that Irish culture re- discovers itself through encounters with other cultures, and points out its international success: “The Internationalization of Irish art is now a common phenomenon: theChieftains, Van Morrison, Sinéad O’Connor, U2 in music; Jordan and Sheridan in cinema; Heaney, Muldoon, Banville in literature; Friel or Riverdance on stage. Each of these cultural forms has shown how the most indigenous of materials can be combined with an innovative cosmopolitanism,” (Kearney, 81). 1 Majority of the information contained in this chapter comes from the official website of the Irish Film Board and the IMDB webpages of Martin McDonagh and John Michael McDonagh, these websites thus being contained in the Works Cited section of the thesis. 7 Irish Film Board Irish Film Board is Ireland’s national film agency funding the development of Irish film, television drama, documentary and animation, their mission being the promotion of said media through fostering Irish artistic talent and attracting investors and filmmakers from abroad. Its mission is to generate inward investment by promoting Ireland as a filming location, as well as promoting Irish film to foreign markets. It is also committed to distributing Irish feature films to wider audiences and engaging with European counterparts on mutually beneficial policy initiatives. Lastly, its vision for 2020 is focus on leadership, gender & diversity, and building audiences for film, television and animation. Martin McDonagh Martin McDonagh is a writer and director born in March 1970 in London, famous for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, In Bruges, and Seven Psychopaths. He is known to frequently integrate dark comedy into his films and for his extensive cooperation with the actor Brendan Gleeson. He is also known for his rapid dialogue, presence of foul language, realistic and gory violence, and frequent mention of Vietnam War, all of which is present in In Bruges. He has won several awards, including an Oscar in the category Best Short Film, Live Action for his movie Six Shooter. Other awards include for instance, Golden Globes Awards and BAFTA Awards. Patrick Lonergan, a lecturer in English at National University of Ireland, Galway, in his book, The Theatre and Films of Martin McDonagh, mentions McDonagh’s inspiration for In Bruges: “I went on a little weekend away … to Bruges, not really knowing anything about the town … So I booked into a hotel, started walking 8 around and was surprised and stunned by how beautiful it was. At the same time, after two or three hours I started to get bored. So it’s like two sides of my brain were arguing with me: one finding this place so stunningly attractive, and the other… being bored out of my head,” and argues that McDonagh turned those two perspectives into the two protagonists of the movie, pointing out that such a duo is often seen in his other works, (Lonergan, 143). His inspiration can also be found in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, based on the pseudonyms Cranham and Blakely taken from the television adaptation of Pinter’s work. A self-referenced inspiration can also be found within the movie itself, it being Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, a work with a similar motif of a death of a child and the protagonists visiting a city full of canals, in Roeg’s case Venice. John Michael McDonagh The older of the two McDonagh brothers, John Michael, a writer and director as well, was born in 1967 in London. He is known for The Guard, Calvary, and War on Everyone. He also adapted the screenplay for Ned Kelly. His work has been nominated for several awards, including the BAFTA awards, and has won others, such as at the Irish Film and Television Awards, or Berlin International Film festival. His work, and The Guard in particular, is inspired by the American director Quentin Tarantino, as well as John Millington Synge,