Before reading anymore of this review, take the chance to watch Six Shooter, which is just under 30 minutes here.
Many have now watched Martin McDonagh’s terrific In Bruges, but fewer know of his brilliant short film Six Shooter. Six Shooter won the Oscar for Best Short Film in 2005, and features many of the same themes that have run through his entire career: the ambigious consequences of violence, guilt, the testing of moral mores, and the inner frustrations and entrapment of loniliness. All wrapped neatly in a black humour that isn’t afraid to push the limits of the audience.
I’ve always been a fan of McDonagh, when I saw his first play performed at the Citadel theatre The Beauty Queen of Leenane, as well as a few years later with, The Pillowman. My attraction to him stems from my fascination with Harold Pinter, which began when I directed The Dumb Waiter in high school. I remember struggling to find a play that I could direct, and when my drama teacher handed me Harold Pinter, I was immediately entralled with dialogue such as the hit “was a mess, women don’t hold together like men” and “gee, she sure did spread didn’t she”. There’s absolutely no doubt that McDonagh studied Pinter, hell, even In Bruges, like The Dumb Waiter, is a story about two hitmen ordered to room together, specifically for the purpose that one will kill the other.
Like Pinter, Six Shooter certinaly doesn’t hold back punches: here’s just a few of the whince-but-can’t-help-but-laugh quotes from the movie: “Like Marvin Gaye’s dad, I would have shot Marvin Gaye if I was Marvin Gaye’s dad, to get the cunt to shuttup”; calling the grieving couple on the train “Fred and Rosemary” (after the English sadiomascist serial killers); “put it in your dead baby bronski beat look alike file”.
All of these lines are said by the character we only know as the “kid”, a sociopath who rides the train with the lead character Donnelly. A recent article by Priya Jain noted that “in the absence of authority, McDonagh’s characters live by their own individual moral codes, and violence usually erupts when these codes collide”. I found this to be a curious comment, because in McDonagh’s everyday-Irish characterizations, there’s really no formal moral code being created: rather, there are the characters, like Donnelly, who adhere to modern liberal sensabilities to honour the dead, be polite, feel sympathy and compassion, etc, and others, like the kid, who don’t. Therefore, the real question is in whether the kid actually has a moral code at all.
What exactly do I mean by the question? Take Slavoj Zizek’s definition of a sociopath:
“the sociopath’s use of language paradoxically fits perfectly the standard commonsense notion of language as purely instrumental means of communication, as signs that transmit meanings. He uses language, he is not caught into it, and he is insensitive to the performative dimension. This determines a sociopath’s attitude towards morality: while he is able to discern moral rules that regulate social interaction, and even to act morally insofar as he establishes that it fits his interests, he lacks the “gut feeling” of right and wrong, the notion that one just cannot do some things, independently of the external social rules”
This definition is excellent for evaluating the kid, because throughout the duration of his dialogue, he interacts with people without regard for the social aspect of language (namely, in the interaction that drives the wife to kill herself). He clearly understands the moral order of Irish society, or else he couldn’t manipulate it. So it’s not so much about creating an individual moral code that eventually collides with others, but more that he has no regard for the dominant mores of the society he lives in, and relishes in transgressing them or using them for his own benefit.
The interesting part of the kid’s character rests in two impulses we feel as the audience. First of all, near the end of the film, the kid looks at Donnelly and tells him “sorry about your miss’s and all”, and like Donnelly, the audience feels some sort of authenticity in his sentence… or do we? The fact that this is one of the last things he speaks is meant to trouble the audience into whether or not he is capable of some sort of redemption past the actions he has committed. Is this a genuine gesture, or simply one he speaks in order to further his position (It certainly works on Donnelly, who almost gets shot in an attempt to protect him). I doubt whether the audience can really find a cohesive answer to this question, (hell, even the father even says “there’s no harm in him is there”).
The other impulse from the audience is the fact that we can’t help but like the kid. He’s incredibly funny, and given another social situation (i.e. not on a bus full of grieving individuals) he might be viewed in another light. His brash humour certainly isn’t for everyone, but notice how the train remains relatively empty: Donnelly could have moved to another seat, but something beyond the kid’s brashness attracts him to keep staying with him (a non-chalant attitude that provides lightness to his suffering? The chance to play a positive role in the kid’s otherwise sad life?).
While the kid occupies the critical catalyst to this film, he isn’t the central focus at the beginning or end of the film. In the overall scope, the other nagging question for Donnelly is ultimately meaning in the world: is there an afterlife? how can there be a God if couples lose their children and commit suicide, and what about the persistent violence of society? The complete lack of intervention into these affairs ultimately drives Donnelly to attempt suicide, and the cosmic ironic joke of the movie is the fact that “divine” intervention (or dumb luck) only occurs to the person who questions its fundamental lack in the universe. Also key is the fact that Donnelly’s humanitarian spirit ultimately saves his life as well: rather than leave his rabbit David alive without an owner, he mercifully kills the creature to spare further harm. This difficult moral choice (and an act of violence ultimately meant to spare the creature further pain) eliminates the extra bullet that could have been used to end his life. The hilarious end shot, with Donnelly holding a headless rabbit and commenting “What a fucking day”, provides a strange lightness to a dark scene: has Donnelly felt the touch of divine intervention? A realization into the absurdity of life? Or will he attempt to end his life again shortly thereafter? Once again, the audience is left with an open ended question: given the situation where we are thrown into utter loniliness and the bleak outcomes of the people surrounding us despite our best efforts, how do we make sense of our lives?
Big moral questions like the two above: the moral identity of social transgressors and meaning in a bleak life, pervade much of McDonagh’s work, but it certainly doesn’t do justice to what is enjoyable about a film like this. Take for instance the trapped wind cow story: what allegorical purpose does it serve? does it reveal to us, for example, that because this is the kid’s happiest day in his life, validation at his perhaps sad childhood, or his perverse animal cruetly? Does the midget’s stabbing actions once again hint at the possible need for moral violence of some sort? While I think these questions have some merit, it seems to miss the point: its simply funny. Ben Brantley noted that McDonagh character’s celebrate the “raw, vital human instinct to invent fantasies, to lie for the sport of it, to bait with red herrings” and I would add, to tell stories. To tell stories of weird and bizarre events in our lives that showcase something about our unique experience on earth, and provide identity in an age without overarching moral order to do so for us. -
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ก่อนที่จะอ่านอีกต่อไปของบทความนี้ มีโอกาสชมปืน 6 ซึ่งเป็นเพียงต่ำกว่า 30 นาทีที่นี่หลายตอนนี้ได้ดูมาร์ติน McDonagh ยอดเยี่ยมในบรูจส์ แต่น้อยรู้จักเขาภาพยนตร์สั้นยอดเยี่ยมนักกีฬา 6 นักกีฬา 6 ชนะ Oscar ที่สำหรับภาพยนตร์สั้นที่สุดในปี 2005 และคุณลักษณะของชุดรูปแบบเดียวกันที่มีรันผ่านอาชีพของเขาทั้งหลาย: ambigious ผลของความรุนแรง ความผิด การทดสอบคุณธรรมจารีตและวิถี ประชา หลงภายใน และ entrapment loniliness ทั้งหมดห่ออย่างในอารมณ์ขันดำที่ไม่กลัวที่จะผลักดันขีดจำกัดของผู้ชมฉันได้รับเป็นแฟนของ McDonagh เสมอเมื่อผมเห็นเขาเล่นครั้งแรกโรงละครป้อมนางงาม Leenane เป็นกี่ปีในภายหลัง ด้วย เดอะ Pillowman สถานที่ท่องเที่ยวของฉันกับเขามาจากเสน่ห์ของฉันกับฮาโรลด์พินเทอร์ ซึ่งเริ่มเมื่อฉันตรงที่เสิร์ฟใบ้ในโรงเรียนมัธยม ผมจำได้ว่า ดิ้นรนหาเล่นที่ผมได้โดยตรง และเมื่อครูละครของฉันส่งฉันฮาโรลด์พินเทอร์ ได้ทันที entralled กับบทสนทนาเช่นการตี "ถูกระเบียบ หญิงไม่ถือเช่นผู้ชาย" และ "gee เธอแน่ใจว่าได้แพร่กระจายไม่เธอ" มีแน่นอนไม่มีข้อสงสัยที่ McDonagh ศึกษาพินเทอร์ นรก แม้ในบรูจส์ เช่นพนักงานเสิร์ฟที่ใบ้ เป็นเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับสอง hitmen สั่งห้องกัน เฉพาะสำหรับวัตถุประสงค์ที่หนึ่งจะฆ่าอีก เช่นพินเทอร์ certinaly หกปืนไม่รั้งเจาะ: นี่เป็นเพียงไม่กี่ใบเสนอราคาที่ whince-but-can't-help-but-laugh จากภาพยนตร์: "เช่นพ่อ Marvin รหัส ฉันจะได้ยิง Marvin รหัสถ้าไม่พ่อ Marvin รหัส รับ cunt เพื่อ shuttup" เรียกคู่ grieving บนรถไฟ "Fred และโรสแมรี่" (หลังจาก sadiomascist อังกฤษประจำยา); "ใส่ไว้ในแฟ้มของคุณเด็กตาย bronski ชนะดูเหมือน"บรรทัดเหล่านี้ทั้งหมดจะกล่าวตามตัวอักษรที่เรารู้เป็น "เด็ก" sociopath ที่ขี่รถไฟ ด้วยอักขระนำ Donnelly บทความล่าสุด โดยปริยาเจนกล่าวว่า "ในกรณีผู้มีอำนาจ อักขระของ McDonagh อยู่ โดยรหัสคุณธรรมของตนเองแต่ละ และความรุนแรงมักจะระเบิดเมื่อเกิดการชนกันของรหัสเหล่านี้" พบนี้ให้ ข้อคิดเห็นอยากรู้อยากเห็น เพราะใน characterizations McDonagh ของไอริชทุกวัน จริง ๆ รหัสคุณธรรมทางถูกสร้างขึ้น: ค่อนข้าง มีตัว เช่น Donnelly ที่ยึดตาม sensabilities เสรีนิยมสมัยใหม่ให้เกียรติคนตาย มีความสุภาพ ความรู้สึกเห็นใจ และสงสาร ฯลฯ และอื่น ๆ เช่นเด็ก คนไม่ ดังนั้น ถามจริงอยู่ว่าเด็กจริงมีคุณธรรมรหัสเลยต้องทำไง โดยคำถาม ใช้กำหนด Slavoj Zizek sociopath เป็น:“the sociopath’s use of language paradoxically fits perfectly the standard commonsense notion of language as purely instrumental means of communication, as signs that transmit meanings. He uses language, he is not caught into it, and he is insensitive to the performative dimension. This determines a sociopath’s attitude towards morality: while he is able to discern moral rules that regulate social interaction, and even to act morally insofar as he establishes that it fits his interests, he lacks the “gut feeling” of right and wrong, the notion that one just cannot do some things, independently of the external social rules”This definition is excellent for evaluating the kid, because throughout the duration of his dialogue, he interacts with people without regard for the social aspect of language (namely, in the interaction that drives the wife to kill herself). He clearly understands the moral order of Irish society, or else he couldn’t manipulate it. So it’s not so much about creating an individual moral code that eventually collides with others, but more that he has no regard for the dominant mores of the society he lives in, and relishes in transgressing them or using them for his own benefit.The interesting part of the kid’s character rests in two impulses we feel as the audience. First of all, near the end of the film, the kid looks at Donnelly and tells him “sorry about your miss’s and all”, and like Donnelly, the audience feels some sort of authenticity in his sentence… or do we? The fact that this is one of the last things he speaks is meant to trouble the audience into whether or not he is capable of some sort of redemption past the actions he has committed. Is this a genuine gesture, or simply one he speaks in order to further his position (It certainly works on Donnelly, who almost gets shot in an attempt to protect him). I doubt whether the audience can really find a cohesive answer to this question, (hell, even the father even says “there’s no harm in him is there”).The other impulse from the audience is the fact that we can’t help but like the kid. He’s incredibly funny, and given another social situation (i.e. not on a bus full of grieving individuals) he might be viewed in another light. His brash humour certainly isn’t for everyone, but notice how the train remains relatively empty: Donnelly could have moved to another seat, but something beyond the kid’s brashness attracts him to keep staying with him (a non-chalant attitude that provides lightness to his suffering? The chance to play a positive role in the kid’s otherwise sad life?).While the kid occupies the critical catalyst to this film, he isn’t the central focus at the beginning or end of the film. In the overall scope, the other nagging question for Donnelly is ultimately meaning in the world: is there an afterlife? how can there be a God if couples lose their children and commit suicide, and what about the persistent violence of society? The complete lack of intervention into these affairs ultimately drives Donnelly to attempt suicide, and the cosmic ironic joke of the movie is the fact that “divine” intervention (or dumb luck) only occurs to the person who questions its fundamental lack in the universe. Also key is the fact that Donnelly’s humanitarian spirit ultimately saves his life as well: rather than leave his rabbit David alive without an owner, he mercifully kills the creature to spare further harm. This difficult moral choice (and an act of violence ultimately meant to spare the creature further pain) eliminates the extra bullet that could have been used to end his life. The hilarious end shot, with Donnelly holding a headless rabbit and commenting “What a fucking day”, provides a strange lightness to a dark scene: has Donnelly felt the touch of divine intervention? A realization into the absurdity of life? Or will he attempt to end his life again shortly thereafter? Once again, the audience is left with an open ended question: given the situation where we are thrown into utter loniliness and the bleak outcomes of the people surrounding us despite our best efforts, how do we make sense of our lives?
Big moral questions like the two above: the moral identity of social transgressors and meaning in a bleak life, pervade much of McDonagh’s work, but it certainly doesn’t do justice to what is enjoyable about a film like this. Take for instance the trapped wind cow story: what allegorical purpose does it serve? does it reveal to us, for example, that because this is the kid’s happiest day in his life, validation at his perhaps sad childhood, or his perverse animal cruetly? Does the midget’s stabbing actions once again hint at the possible need for moral violence of some sort? While I think these questions have some merit, it seems to miss the point: its simply funny. Ben Brantley noted that McDonagh character’s celebrate the “raw, vital human instinct to invent fantasies, to lie for the sport of it, to bait with red herrings” and I would add, to tell stories. To tell stories of weird and bizarre events in our lives that showcase something about our unique experience on earth, and provide identity in an age without overarching moral order to do so for us. -
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