Blackadder Media Coursework

Consider the ways in which 'Blackadder goes forth' not only teaches us about the history and conditions of WW1, but also makes us share the characters feelings, and so sympathise with the soldiers involved in that war. Examine the media devices and techniques used to deliver this message, with particular reference to camera angles, slow motion, colour and sound.

The 'Blackadder goes forth' sitcom is a highly entertaining, critically acclaimed comedy series. It is popular because under all the humour and satire there are underlying messages that bring across important facts of the long and often unfunny First World War.

Comedy is a very effective method to teach and inform. It could be said that this one episode of Blackadder tells us more about the history and conditions of the First World War than any other documentary.

In this episode 'Goodbyee' the men are in the trenches when they hear that finally after years of uncertain waiting they are going over the top (or 'The Big Push') to battle with the enemy Germans.

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Blackadder sees that this will probably result in his death, so he formulates a plan to escape which does not work. Then the men talk about the war, reminisce about joining the army, and talk about the war ending and them going to Berlin. Blackadder calls the Field Marshall Douglas Hague but he does not help him escape. General Melchett sends Darling down to the front. At the end of the episode, the men are together realising that 'this is it'.

They then cross over into No Mans Land with a final emotional 'battle scene'.

It is a well known fact that conditions at the front were appalling, and the programme shows this using black humour. Blackadder refers to the trenches as 'The Somme Public Baths.' This suggests that they were extremely wet and damp, unhygienic, dirty and unsanitary. There was no privacy for the soldiers as they were always in the company of others. Not only was the environment unpleasant, but also the food. When Baldrick makes a coffee for Blackadder he admits that since they ran out of supplies, he has been using mud. He was also using dandruff substitute for sugar, and saliva instead of milk. This shows the audience that supplies of food in the trenches were scarce, disgusting and severely lacking in nutrition.

The soldiers also lived also lived with the constant ominous reminders of death. George lists all of the 'Trinity Tibblers' that he joined the army with, and finds that he is the only one left still alive, because he has not advanced or fought, unlike the others. This makes the serious point to the audience that death in WW1 was a random selection and sometimes not down to the skill or ability of the men. The soldiers lived with the uncomfortable conditions of the trenches, insufficient food, and constant fear for months on end, and still they were expected to fight.

WW1 was unlike any other wars the soldiers had experienced. More advanced and effective modern weapons had been invented, such as tanks and machine guns, to be used in battle for the first time. This meant that more men were killed and there was mass destruction on a scale never seen before. It seemed like the enemy were better equipped too.

In Blackadder, there is a running joke about a former empire war called 'Umboto Gorge.' Darling says that they were against 'peace loving pygmies' which suggests that unlike the Germans the enemy didn't really want to fight. The battle seems tame, even a little bit ridiculous compared to WW1. Blackadder says that it was easier because they were up against the 'pygmies' armed with 'blades of dry grass'. Hague says that Blackadder saved his life from a pygmy woman with a 'slice of sharp mango'. These weapons are comically unthreatening. WW1 was lethal and more dangerous than other wars before.

'Blackadder Goes Forth' also teaches the audience that thousands of the soldiers in WW1 died needlessly and pointlessly. Death is constantly referenced to, especially in this last episode. When the men talk about having ice cream in Berlin, after the battle, Blackadder jokes that they will be 'ice cold in no man's land'. He is saying that they will die almost immediately in battle. By that time (around 1917), millions of men had died and they still had not even advanced very far to push the Germans back. Blackadder's joke about this is that they have advanced as much as snails. Unsurprisingly, this made the soldiers' morale very low. Many felt that they were fighting for an unknown cause with no reasons to be fighting. This is shown in the episode when Baldrick asks why the war cannot be stopped. George hesitates and then tells him to stop the 'conchy talk'. He fails to come up with a valid reason, which shows that they are fighting for an unknown cause. It was hard to be motivated to fight.

Baldrick represents the average soldier when he says that he thought the was was 'going to be such fun'. His attitude to the war was that he was going on an adventure and he was going to see amazing things and make lots of friends. This was the image of war portrayed in the Government propaganda, which showed a soldier as a brave hero who was patriotic to his country. Because of these untruths upon him, Baldrick, like millions of other innocent men, clearly had no idea how dangerous the war really was, and by then it was too late. The audience feel sympathy for Baldricks's character because he has been misled by the propaganda posters. Also when Baldrick says that when he signed up to the war it was the first time that he had felt popular, we realise that he just wanted to have companions and he felt the war would give him this.

This episode suggests that the men were poorly trained and not properly prepared/trained for fighting. Baldrick says that he was trained for the war in his regiment by running with bayonets to stick into bales of hay. This shows that the weapons were poor the training was inadequate. This exercise was useless to prepare him for fighting because they would be shot at before they could even get close enough to use the bayonets. Bladrick says that he found the training easy, which is bad because he is not very intelligent. He says: 'These sacks of hay do not move and would be easy to outwit in a battle situation.' This is comic but at the same time sinister because the audience knows that the Germans were much more dangerous that the sacks of hay. Pathos I will now be looking very closely at the last ten minutes of the programme. I will focus on the way the visual images, sound and special effects makes the audience feel certain emotions for the characters and how they represent the soldiers who died, and the men in charge of the war. Special effects in a TV programme such as Blackadder are very important to add to the comedy value, such as slapstick or visual puns.

When General Melchett gives Darling his orders to go to the front line the office is very dark and gloomy, with only the fire as a source of light. The darkness gives a sense of foreboding and doom. There is a sinister atmosphere. The camera zooms in on Darling's face when he realises that he must fight. His expression is both comic and horrible because the audience know that he has not escaped going to battle when he thought he had. His face looks horrified and the one close-up shot of him gives him a 'moment' to himself, highlighting the fact that he is an individual. When the driver comes there is a bright light, presumably from the open door, and a menacing shadow falls over him. This shadow is the shadow of the driver but could be representative of death coming for him lie a 'Grim Reaper' silouhette. The camera is angled downwards onto Darling which shows him as being small, helpless and resigned to his own fate. A slow, regular drum beat is played dring this, which is an ironic referenmce to the military 'call up'. It is also like the death knell of a funeral march or Darling's heartbeat. All these things indicate that something terrible is about to happen.

The audience sees the office of Field Marshall Hague when Blackadder calls him for a 'favour'. Compared to the dullness of the crampled, dimly lit and claustrophobic trenches it is bright, warm and lavishly furnished. Hague does not appear to be very busy, either, he looks slightly bored and is playing with some toy soldiers on a mock battle field on the table. This sums up the attitude of the generals and commanders in World War I - that the whole war was just a game.

Hague is in a higher position that Blackadder and the others, and this is made clear in the fact that Hague is so far away from the action he is aware of what is really going on,. Just like General Melchett. Hague knocks down some soldiers and then sweeps them up with a dustpan and brush. These soldiers are then tossed over his shoulder, showing that these soldiers in real life are seen as disposable, expendable, discarded commodities. Hague stands up one of the soldiers as he is talking to Blackadder on the phone. This could represent the guild he is feeling that he is helping Blackadder alone and not the millions of other men he had been unable to help. However, the audience knows that he is not really able to help the men.

As this is the last episode of 'Blackadder goes forth', the last moments of the programme are sad and moving. Before the men go over the top, the background noise of guns and shelling that they have become used to stops and gives them on last cruel glimmer of hope that maybe the was has stopped, but then reality comes crashing back when Blackadder explains that they only stopped because they are about to attack. The men are filmed in slow motion when they come out and advance over no-mans-land. This is because while their death was quick, it was not from the mens' perspective. The slow music that is played adds to the sadness and drama of the situation, and again the link is made with funeral music that is sorrowful. Then it looks as if the men are being shot at and the picture becomes hazy and muddled. This shows to the audience that this was an unimaginable death. The colour fades to black and white. This represents the emptiness and the life and blood fading away. It also suggests to the audience that what happened is now a memory. The battle scene image changes to a large, empty field which signifies that peace returned afterwards, with new life and rebirth.

There is no music and the field becomes full of red poppies. This is symbolic of Remembrance Day and the minute's silence that is held on that day. The poppies are such a powerful image that nothing else is needed. After the bloodshed and the carnage, it seems that there is peace again, but there is an uncertainty, such as for how long the peace will hold. The audience also think about whether they have learnt the important message about war. As the credits appear, we hear only birdsong. This is also a symbol of peace and new life. It is also a reference to a famous war novel called 'Birdsong' (by Sebastian Faulks).

I have shown that we learn a great deal about the First World War and the experience for those involved just by watching an episode of Blackadder. The jokes and laughs show pathos, with the serious reality of war just underlying the clever scripting and special effects, such as camera angles and music. Because we get to know the characters and like them because they make us laugh, we feel a personal attachment to them, and feel a need to follow their story to the very end, which we do. We sympathise with them and fondly remember them after they die, and are reminder that there were people like them in real life. The history of this time which was only a short ago, is brought alive to us. I thoroughly enjoyed watching and analysing 'Blackadder Goes forth'.