In Nazi occupied France, young Jewish refugee Shosanna Dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by Colonel Hans Landa. Narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when German war hero Fredrick Zoller takes a rapid interest in her and arranges an illustrious movie premiere at the theater she now runs. With the promise of every major Nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the "Basterds", a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine. As the relentless executioners advance and the conspiring young girl's plans are set in motion, their paths will cross for a fateful evening that will shake the very annals of history.
This film relates to my radio play because it shows revenge towards the Germans. The group of Jews also could represent Helena's brother: Jonathon- in my play because he is determined to fight the Nazi's and has a rough attitude towards them. It also shows the violence and the reality of the atmosphere of the war.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: Rupert Friend: Lieutenant Kotler
This character is first introduced as one of Ralf's(Bruno's Father) soldiers. He is very respectable and appears to be a Proud German soldier as he follows orders and appears as a 'scary' character towards Bruno. He is a horrific character who clearly shows the real attitude of a stereotypical Nazi German soldier at that time.
This character could relate to Rory as he is seen as a true German soldier- even though he appears to obey orders he still is embarrassed of his fathers status which is very similar to Rory.
He is a relative of the Prince and Paris, and is a close friend of Romeo, and Romeo's cousin Benvolio. He is neither a Montague nor a Capulet, but his friends are Montagues, likely because he cannot stand Tybalt of the Capulets. Mercutio is apt to make long, drawn out speeches , and is generally thought to be reckless, a jokester, and a free spirit. Due to his quick wit and flamboyant, affable personality. Though one of Romeo's best friends, Mercutio's facetious attitude tends to try Romeo's occasion; conversely, Mercutio is frustrated with Romeo's depression that comes from Rosaline's denial of Romeo's love. After Romeo has fallen for Juliet, Mercutio is pleased to see Romeo back to his normal, congenial state, though he is unaware of Romeo's relationship with Juliet.
This is very similar to Rory because even though Rory is a more serious character he is still Billy's best friend and appears to be like a family member to Billy's mother and Father. He also sometimes appears to joke with Billy's ambitions to be a reader which is similar to Mercutio joking around with Romeo about Rosaline. Rory also tells Billy to stop dreaming and to start living in reality which is what Mercutio tells Romeo.
Character research: Rory
West Side Story: Riff: Riff is a young adult who is a leader of New York gang called 'The Jets'. He is comical but is a good leader who stands his ground against 'The Sharks'. Riff has a harder time getting his best friend Tony to re-join the gang. Riff convinces Tony to join the Jets at the neighborhood dance where the Riff's plan will be put into motion. Tony agrees out of a sense of loyalty to Riff, but expresses his unhappiness with his current life. He feels himself growing away from the gang and envisions a different and better future. He is close with his best friend and reveals that he is like Tony's brother as he lives with Tony and his mother.
This is similar to Rory because Riff is a joker but is serious about his status in the gang which is similar to Rory and his position as a Nazi soldier. Riff is also like a member of Tony's family which is the same as Rory with Billy's family.
Character research: Rory
Harry Waters: Ralph Fiennes: In Bruges: Harry is the leader of a hitmen gang . He is very caring towards his family especially his three children. However his violent can be seen when he does not get his own way. However when challenged his anger can be shown along with his violent side.
This relates to Rory because like Harry , Rory cares very much for Billy and to impress Billy's family. However he can be violent when given orders and can be very frightening towards other people when his temper is challenged.
Viktor Frankl's 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method of finding a reason to live. According to Frankl, the book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory of logotherapy. It is the second-most widely read Holocaust book in the bookstore of Washington's Holocaust Museum.
"We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: (1) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering."
This can help me for my research because it tells a real story about the hallocaust - it explains the treatment of the Jews and the conditions they had to live with inside the camps. It is told through the eyes of the prisoner and adds to the idea of hope that the Jews had.
Mark Renton, a young man with few prospects and fewer ambitions, lives in economically depressed Edinburgh. Like most of his friends, Renton is a heroin addict who loves the drug's blissful nothingness; financing his habit also provides excitement and challenges that his life otherwise lacks. Renton's two best friends are also junkies: Sick Boy, a snappy dresser obsessed with James Bond, and Spud, a guileless nerd who suggests Pee Wee Herman's debauched cousin. Renton and his pals also hang out with Begbie, a borderline psychotic who loathes junkies even though he drinks like a fish. After one too many brushes with the law, Renton kicks heroin and moves to London, where he finds a job, a flat, and something close to peace of mind. However, Sick Boy, Begbie, and Spud all arrive at his doorstep on the trail of a big score, leading Renton back into drugs and crime.
This can be useful towards my final piece because it shows young adults with troubles. Even though my Radio play is not about drugs it still has the facts of 'hanging around with the wrong crowd' - which is similar to Billy being friends with Rory and Helena falling in love with Billy, it also has the idea of ambitions, rebellion, living and danger. Narrative shifts also are used in this film, at the start of Trainspotting Renton narrates as certain scenes are shown which is the same as Billy and the shifts in narration in my Radio play.
Cemetery Junction:
It's 1973 in Cemetery Junction, a Reading suburb. Three working class lads, best friends, are coming of age. Freddie wants to rise above his station, taking a job selling life insurance, wearing a suit and tie. Snork works at the railway station and wants a girlfriend some day. Bruce talks of leaving but seems on track to work at a factory, drink and fight, and become like his dad, in front of the telly with beer on hand; and he's trying the patience of the police officer who gets him out of jams. Freddie's job leads the lads toward a few small changes. He runs across a childhood friend, Julie, his boss's daughter who's engaged to the firm's top seller. Can the lads break out?
Cemetery Junction could be similar to my play because it is a coming of age film which shows the issues of growing up in a working class family. This could relate to Helena and how she has to grow up in the camp knowing that she may not have a future which is similar to Bruce, snork and Freddie in this film. Father's expectations are also used in this film- The character of Freddie is very similar to Billy as they both have Father's who expect them to have the same job as they did /do ( Freddie's father wants him to carry on working in a Factory and Billy's Father wants him to be in the army.) Status and class is also discussed in this film- Freddie soon gets somewhere when he finally gets a job with Mr Kendrick however the issue of class and status is clearly seen as Kendrick describes Cemetery Junction as a 'dump'. This relates to the Germans behaviour towards the Jews
West side story is the award winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs- the american Jets led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist with any form of understanding. But when Riff's best friend (and former Jet) Tony and Bernardo's younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and Jets plan a rumble under the highway - whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, and before the lovers know what's happened, tragedy strikes and doesn't stop until the climactic and heartbreaking ending.
West Side Story could help me for my ideas in my radio play mainly because it takes the whole story of Romeo and Juliet and modernizes it for the audience. There is also a certain sense of gangs instead of feuding families which is similar to the Jews and Germans in the radio play. The lovers in this film also have a doomed love affair which the audience know will not end happily. Finally there also seems to be the whole issue of taking control of something by fighting for instance the Jets and the Sharks have a rumble in order to get possession of the streets which is the same as the Germans fighting in WW2. At the end of this tale the male also dies and the war between the gangs stops - which is similar to Billy and Helena at the end of the story and the war stopping
Father
It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.
I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.
Son
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.
Father
It's not time to make a change,
Just sit down, take it slowly.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to go through.
Find a girl, settle down,
if you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.
Son
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it.
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them you know not me.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.
This could help me in terms of research for my radio play because I think the song is saying your parents will try and tell you what to do and how to live your life and it is your job to listen, but that it should be your decision where you go and the dreams you follow and no one can tell you that but yourself- which is exactly the same as Billy's relationship with his parents and how his father feels about him
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1333080/Cinderella-gets-Blitzed-Daring-Matthew-Bourne-transforms-classic-ballet-daring-new-dance.html
Cinderella wearing a prim grey cardigan and a Peter Pan-collared blouse, sits in the ruined shell of a building. Barrage balloons loom in a dark sky scoured by searchlights; sandbags slump against doorways.
Where’s her besom broom, her pumpkin coach, her benign Fairy Godmother? All have apparently vanished in a puff of incendiary bomb smoke.
This version of the fairytale ballet has been transformed by the imagination of choreographer Matthew Bourne, 50, who’s set his story in the London Blitz. His Cinderella is chauffeured to the ball by motorbike in a blackout, to the shriek of sirens and an escort of pirouetting air-raid wardens.
Bourne has brought his own brand of wit to the classical ballet Cinderella, set in wartime to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Blitz. The ballroom where Cinders meets her prince — in Bourne’s interpretation he’s Harry, an RAF pilot — is based on the sumptuous Soho nightclub Cafe de Paris, where swing bandleader Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson was among the 80 killed when two mines exploded on the dance floor in 1941.
This could realte to my play because it is a classic tale which is re told at a different time peroid. It is set in WW2 and even though it is set in London it does show what War does to people(mainly lovers). The sound effects and music used is also effective as it connects in with the time and to the characters feelings as this love affair is told. Themes such as; Love, Trust, War and Hope is used and characters that are used could be helpful towards my characterisation. This ballet also held content of World War 2 which also faded in with the music and the sound effects of the air raids and the bombs which could help me for my background sound when recording.
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators, but third-person narrators can also be unreliable.
Nick Carraway: The Great Gatsby - Onlooker on events
Christian : Moulin Rouge
These characters mainly go back in time and narrate the story from their p.o.v and not really from other peoples experience.
This realtes to the character of Billy in my radio play- he is young but dismissive and does not see error that the audience see's such as Helena's life in the camps and the suffering she goes through.
Oooh ooh take my breath away
Oooh ooh yoooo take my breath away
Look into my eyes and you'll see I'm the only one
You've captured my love stolen my heart
Changed my life
Every time you make a move you destroy my mind
And the way you touch
I lose control and shiver deep inside
You take my breath away
You can reduce me to tears with a single sigh
Ev'ry breath that you take
Any sound that you make is a whisper in my ear
I could give up all my life for just one kiss
I would surely die if you dismiss me from your love
You take my breath away
So please don't go
Don't leave me here all by myself
I get ever so lonely from time to time
I will find you anywhere you go
I'll be right behind you
Right until the ends of the earth
I'll get no sleep TILL I find you
To tell you that you just take my breath away
I will find you anywhere you go
Right until the ends of the earth
I'll get no sleep until I find you
To tell you when I've found you
I love you
Take my breath take my breath ... away
This song could emphasise the true romance and relationship between the two main characters of my Radio play. The fact that the lyrics of this Queen song emphasise a true love for someone who you can't leave is the same situation Billy and Helena have. The 4th verse in the song where it says 'don't leave me here all by myself. I get so lonely from time to time, I will find you anywhere you go. I'll be right behind you' also could reflect when Helena pleads Billy to stay in the camp and he replies back that he will never leave her and that he will always keep her safe.
Queen: The Miracle
Every drop of rain that falls in Sahara Desert says it all
It's a miracle
All God's creations great and small
The Golden Gate and the Taj Mahal
That's a miracle
Test tube babies being born
Mothers,fathers dead and gone
It's a miracle
We're having a miracle on earth
Mother nature does it all for us
The wonders of this world go on
The hanging Gardens of Babylon
Captain Cook and Cain and Abel
Jimi Hendrix to the Tower of Babel
It's a miracle it's a miracle it's a miracle
It's a miracle
The one thing we're all waiting for is peace on earth - an end
to war
It's a miracle we need - the miracle
The miracle we're all waiting for todayIf every leaf on every tree could tell a story that would be a
miracle
If every child on every street had clothes to wear and food to
eat
That's a miracle If all God's people could be free to live in perfect harmony
It's a miracleWe're having a miracle on earth
Mother nature does it all for us
Open hearts and surgery
(wonders of this world go on)
Sunday mornings with a cup of tea
Super powers always fighting
But Mona Lisa just keeps on smiling
It's a miracle it's a miracle it's a miracle
(wonders of this world go on)
It's a miracle it's a miracle it's a miracle
It's a miracle
The one thing (the one thing) we're all waiting for (we're all
waiting for)
Is peace on earth (peace on earth) and an end to war (an end
to war)
It's a miracle we need - the miracle
The miracle peace on earth and end to war today
That time will come one day you'll see when we can all be
friends
That time will come one day you'll see when we can all be
friends
That time will come one day you'll see when we can all be
friends
That time will come one day you'll see when we can all be
friends
This song could reflect the audinces p.o.v and interpretation on how even though even though this couple in this story are so madly in love they need a Miracle to get through the war and make their families stop being enemies.
Queen : Too Much Love Will Kill You
I'm just the pieces of the man I used to be
Too many bitter tears are rainin' down on me
I'm far away from home
And I've been facing this alone
For much too long, ohoo
I feel like no-one ever told the truth to me
About growin' up and what a struggle it would be
In my tangled state of mind
I've been lookin' back to find
Where I went wrong
Too much love will kill you
If you can't make up your mind
Torn between the lover
And the love you leave behind
You're headed for disaster
'cos you never read the signs
Too much love will kill you
Every time
I'm just the shadow of the man I used to be
And it seems like there's no way out of this for me
I used to bring you sunshine
Now all I ever do is bring you down, ooohh
How would it be if you were standing in my shoes
Can't you see that it's impossible to choose
Oh there's no making sense of it
Every way I go I'm about to lose
Oho oh!
Yeah, too much love will kill you
Just as sure as none at all
It'll drain the power that's in you
Make you plead and scream and crawl
And the pain will make you crazy
You're the victim of your crime
Too much love will kill you
Every time
Yeah, too much love will kill you
It'll make your life a lie
Yes, too much love will kill you
And you won't understand why
You'd give your life, you'd sell your soul
But here it comes again
Too much love will kill you
In the end...
In the end...
This song can easily relate to Billy in my radio play because it shows how love can make you suffer and that in the end it can be too powerful and too full of hope for a human being. It also shows what Billy is reduced to at the end of the play- how he pleads to his father and killed because he loved a Jew.
It could also reflect the life after Billy is killed and what Helena is thinking after he is gone. Plus, it could show Billys narration on how he looks on the past and how even though he loved Helena his life has ended.
