Compare and contrast two media representations of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

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Compare and contrast two media representations of the Charge of the Light Brigade.

In this essay I will be comparing 2 very different media representations. The first was written by the poet laureate of the time Alfred Lord Tennyson in 1854 and the second was a film made in 1968 and directed by Tony Richardson, a bisexual who died of aids.

 of In this essay I will be comparing a film made in 1968 and directed by Tony Richardson with a poem written a couple of weeks after the charge in 1854 by Lord Alfred Tennyson.

The Charge of the Light Brigade was an ill-advised Cavalry charge during the battle of Balaclava on October 25th 1854 during the Crimean war. It is believed to have come about due to an order from Lord Raglan to Lord Lucan; it read "Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front and to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Horse Artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate." It was drafted by Brigadier Airey and delivered by Captain Nolan.

The two pieces have very different purposes. The film was made to try and portray the uselessness and incompetence of the generals whereas the poem was written as a tribute to the loyalty and nobleness of the soldiers who took part in the charge. “Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die. The two different pieces of media portray the event in very different ways. Partly due to the fact they were made over 100 years apart. In this time what was sociably acceptable had changed drastically. The film was made when society was much more willing to hear critcism of their country more prepared to accept a true portrayal of the real life situation. Richardson is playing to the audience’s emotions to invoke hatred at the incompetence and patronising attitude of the generals. With the rise of feminism in the 60’s he played to women’s emotions. When Raglan is talking to the woman describing the “pretty valleys” and “pretty horses” the women watching the film in 1968 will feel patronised by the way he is talking to the women, by doing this Richardson successfully shows Raglan as an incompetent patronising old man without a clue about war.

Tennyson’s poem depicts the charge as somewhat more heroic. Only in one line does he veer away from how glorious it was “someone had blundered” he actually took this line out but was persuaded to put it back in again later by John ratface for the sake of the poems artistry.

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The meat.

In the build up to the battle Richardson uses a mixture of close-ups with the soldiers, close up s with the generals and wide-angled shots looking upon the whole valley or down on the soldiers from the generals point of view. The purpose of these wide-angled shots is to give to film an epic feel. These shots also show the distance between the generals and the soldiers making the audience subconsciencely feel the sense of detachment between the generals and their subordinates. When the soldiers are moving down towards the guns the shots alternate between Raglan miles ...

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