How trench humour can get the modern day Joe interested in The Great War (film clip)

[PADDY]

On seeing Capt. Blackadder on video, whilst over in Flanders walking the battlefields, at first I thought that the humour was totally disrespectful to the folk who had died in the trenches.

But on thinking further, it occured to me that 'graveyard' humour was part and parcel of the daily grind of men and women getting through such awful experiences. Also TODAY, via using humour, it is a great tool for encouraging those that might not naturally be interested in something like the Great War, become interested. For example, watch this now infamous clip on the shootin down of Lord Flashart (RFC) from "Blackadder Goes Forth..."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4BbaxGSQh0

 

[dhermann1]

I can't access that video here at work, but I'll try tonight. I read Martin Gilbert's book on the Great War, plus one or two others, plus of course the Manchester volumes on Churchill, and I came away with a deep feeling of repugnance for WWI. The horror and futility of that conflict is just sickening to contemplate. You may have a point about using humor to approach the subject. It certainly is a grim sort of humor, but it's thoroughly appropriate for the subject. The people who endured this ghastly war deserve our attention and appreciation. And there are plenty of amazing stories to be discovered as well.

 

[Story]

Q. What's the difference between fighter pilots and God?

A. God doesn't think he's a fighter pilot.

Nothing changes but the uniforms and weapons systems. Too bad the laugh track can't be edited out.

 

[Spitfire]

Thanks for reminding me of this brilliant -and absolutely hilarious - series.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Haversack]

One thing to remember is that much of the recorded/published humour of the time was cleaned up for published consumption. This meant that most sexual and scatalogical material was either toned down or eliminated. What did slip through was material reflecting the filth and futility of living, fighting, and dieing in the trenches. One good visual source of this humour is in the cartoons of Bruce Bairnsfather. Sometimes called "the Bill Mauldin of the First World War", Bairnsfather depicted squaddies both in and, however briefly, out of the trenches. Just as Mauldin created Willie and Joe for his war, Bairnsfather created Old Bill. His classic cartoon had the caption: "Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it." Some of his work can be seen here:

http://www.worldwar1.com/bier001.htm

http://www.ww1-propaganda-cards.com/bruce_bairnsfather.html

One area in which it is possible to get a good connection to the humours of the time is through the soldiers' songs. This was an era in which people still sang for their own enjoyment and soldiers of all sides sang both popular songs and their own parodies of the same. Although not formally published at the time, many of these modified songs have survived through letters, journals, and rugby clubs. It may suprise many, but a great deal of original recordings of the popular music of the day has survived and is readily available. The following site has several chronological pages of recorded songs and speeches. While many songs were written in Tim Pan Alley and the British music hall equivilents, many also expressed the frustration and futility of the War. This get progessively more noticable in 1916.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/index.htm

Another good source for the soldiers' parodies is the 1969 film, _Oh What a Lovely War!_. All the songs and music in this movie are from the period. (Including the title of the movie). For example: "When This Lousy War is Over", "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling", "Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire", and "The Staff Officers' Song".

Haversack.
"We're here, because we're here, because we're here, because we're here." sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne".

 

[Diamondback]

Q. What's the difference between fighter pilots and God?

A. God doesn't think he's a fighter pilot.

Nothing changes but the uniforms and weapons systems. Too bad the laugh track can't be edited out.

lol It's funny 'cause it's true! My old prof who was one's a good guy, but when the discussion turns to flying in general and fighters in particular, it all comes right back... (even though he now turns it into self-deprecating humor.)

 

[Edward]

The final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth I always find brings a bit of a lump to the throat when they go over the top - beautifully handled without being mawkishly sentimental. At this time-distance, it's hard to take in the brutality of conditions a lot of ordinary guys faced there. A great, great uncle of mine and his best friend doctored their birth certificates and ran away from home to join up and fight for King and country in the Great War. They were fourteen years old. Somebody must have known, but they made it in anyhow. At fifteen - fifteen - they were in the middle of the Somme. GGU saw his friend's head blown clean off standing beside him in a trench, then was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Germany. If gallows humour (of which I'm a big fan - it's certainly very much ingrained in me as it's very much a part of the Northern Ireland constitution!) - gets people interesed in the history and makes them aware of how awful these things were, if it can help in any way to stop this happening again, it can only be a good thing. Without getting overly political, I did particularly appreciate the way Blackadder (I believe accurately) portrayed the top brass and the callous, office-based attitudes that existed towards real lives being spent on the front over the sake of a few feet of mud often.

 

[Haversack]

Edward wrote: "Without getting overly political, I did particularly appreciate the way Blackadder (I believe accurately) portrayed the top brass and the callous, office-based attitudes that existed towards real lives being spent on the front over the sake of a few feet of mud often."

The movie, _Oh What a Lovely War_ illustrates this attitude by displaying the casualy count per battle as a score on a cricket scoreboard in the pavilion which stands in for the British Forces Headquarters,

Such attitudes, while perhaps not as extreme as during the Great War, have not completlely disappered. Otherwise the people at the sharp end of the services today would not use the term 'Ponti'* to describe the people who produce unecessary paper. As to the Great War, one only has to consider the adoption of the strategy of attrition by the Allies. Make them lose men at a faster rate than we lose them. Eventually it will reach a point where 'we have 10,000 men left and they have 5,000, and we shall have won.'

* Person of no tactical importance

Haversack.