Band of Brothers: Characterization, Carentan
After I initially said I wasn't going to write a lot of blogs about Band of Brothers it looks like... I'm going to end up writing a lot of blogs about Band of Brothers. But that's a good thing. It's a measure of how much I enjoyed the 10 episode miniseries.
To move this effort forward, though, I'm going to stop writing about Ep. 2 (I've already written two entries about it) and move to Ep. 3, "Carentan". I'm only going to do that in the middle of this entry, though. I've still got more to write about "Day of Days". 😅 What I'll do here is mix together thoughts from both episodes under the theme of characterization. In these two episodes the story is very action-driven but the show still excels at characterization along the way. In particular it shows different kinds of personalities and personal challenges that manifest in battle- and it's not all heroic... though it is human.
Lt. Winters, the Level-Headed Leader
I've witten already about how main character Richard Winters emerges as a good junior leader through, e.g. his textbook-perfect assault on a gun emplacement (previous blog). But he also excels at motivating people. I mentioned also in the previous blog that he helped a floundering soldier regain his composure. That was Pvt. Hall. Here's the dialogue:
Winters: “So you’re a radio man.”
Hall: “Yes sir. I was, sir, until I lost my radio in the jump. I’m sure I’ll get chewed out for that.”
Winters: “Well if you were in my platoon, I’d tell you you are a rifleman first and a radio man second.”
Hall: “Maybe you can tell that to my platoon leader when we find him. If we find him.”
Winters: “It’s a deal. But first, I need your help. Locate some landmarks to get our bearings. Keep your eyes peeled for buildings, farmhouses, bridges, roads, trees…”
Hall: (laughs) “I wonder if the rest of them are as lost as we are.”
Winters: “We’re not lost. We’re in Normandy.”
Winters shows great emotional intelligence in this scene. He could have excoriated the soldier, lashing at him for fear and incompetence. Indeed that's what many people with a so-called military mindset would do. Instead Winters is calm, reassuring, and distracts Hall from his fears by giving him a task (finding landmarks) that helps the mission.
Distrust
Most of the men enjoy alcohol when they're off duty. Some of them sneak a drink when they're on duty, too. Lt. Nixon, aka "Nix", often has a bottle- which he hides in Lt. Winters's footlocker! This is an amusing part of their bromance. Nix gets away with it there because Winters is known in the company for being an abstainer. He routinely refuses alcohol.
"Are you a Quaker?" Sgt. Guarnere sneers at him. Some of the soldiers are worried that if he's too moralistic for the common vices of drinking he'll be too moralistic to do what's necessary to survive- and, as a leader, help his company survive- in brutal combat. When a squad of Easy Company maneuvering behind enemy lines spots a German patrol on the road, Guarnere jumps the gun (literally!) opening fire ahead of Winters's order because he thinks Winters will hesitate, giving away their position to the Germans.
Winters later allays the men's skepticism about acting in battle. He does that not by being brutal but by leading. When it's time to attack the German gun emplacement, he outlines a plan for which squad will do what. He explains that he will lead the squad that acts first and attacks first. The others have actions when he reaches his first objective. Not if, but when. This is a great illustration of the point I made a few blogs ago about Command vs. Leadership.
Also, after that battle, some of the men are passing around a bottle of liquor. It's offered to Winters. Skeptical Sgt. Guarnere interrupts, "The Lieutenant don't drink!"
Winters smiles and takes the bottle. "It's a day of firsts."
"Also, I'm not Quaker."
Humanizing the Enemy?
In one scene Easy Company passes a group of German army soldiers who've been captured. Some of the men pause to taunt the POWs... and one of the POWs answers back in unaccented American English. He says he's from Eugene, Oregon- and establishes a quick connection with one of the American soldiers who's from nearby.
The two chat amiably for a minute or so, including about the topic, "So how did you end up fighting for Germany?" The POW explains that his parents moved the family from the US to Germany at the start of the war (1939, two years before the US entered the war) to "support the Fatherland".
This scene hit different with me in 2023 than it did with audiences 15-20 years ago. In older blogs I've read about the series people praise the inclusion of this scene for humanizing the enemy, for showing that they're "just like us". When I watched this scene in 2023 I was struck by how the themes the POW innocently described- nationalist fervor, the notion of a "master race", willingness to take up arms to right perceived wrongs- have made a sinister resurgence in the US. In 2023 neo-Nazi views are becoming increasingly mainstream in the political right.
Excessive Brutality
I mentioned at the outset that these two episodes are great at providing a cross section of the different personality types that manifest during battle. I've written about those who panic, those who suspect, those willing to pause to find common ground, and those who rise to the occasion. There's also an ugly side: those who see battle as no-holds-barred.
In the scene with the group of German POWs, after one young US soldier finishes chatting with the American-turned-German, one of his US colleagues, Lt. Speirs, pulls out a pack of cigarettes and passes them around. He offers a lighter, too. All the Germans smoke. He pockets the lighter, raises his machine gun, and shoots them all dead.
Challenged later about shooting unarmed POWs, Speirs answers, "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you’re already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function. Without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends on it.”
To move this effort forward, though, I'm going to stop writing about Ep. 2 (I've already written two entries about it) and move to Ep. 3, "Carentan". I'm only going to do that in the middle of this entry, though. I've still got more to write about "Day of Days". 😅 What I'll do here is mix together thoughts from both episodes under the theme of characterization. In these two episodes the story is very action-driven but the show still excels at characterization along the way. In particular it shows different kinds of personalities and personal challenges that manifest in battle- and it's not all heroic... though it is human.
Lt. Winters, the Level-Headed Leader
I've witten already about how main character Richard Winters emerges as a good junior leader through, e.g. his textbook-perfect assault on a gun emplacement (previous blog). But he also excels at motivating people. I mentioned also in the previous blog that he helped a floundering soldier regain his composure. That was Pvt. Hall. Here's the dialogue:
Winters: “So you’re a radio man.”
Hall: “Yes sir. I was, sir, until I lost my radio in the jump. I’m sure I’ll get chewed out for that.”
Winters: “Well if you were in my platoon, I’d tell you you are a rifleman first and a radio man second.”
Hall: “Maybe you can tell that to my platoon leader when we find him. If we find him.”
Winters: “It’s a deal. But first, I need your help. Locate some landmarks to get our bearings. Keep your eyes peeled for buildings, farmhouses, bridges, roads, trees…”
Hall: (laughs) “I wonder if the rest of them are as lost as we are.”
Winters: “We’re not lost. We’re in Normandy.”
Winters shows great emotional intelligence in this scene. He could have excoriated the soldier, lashing at him for fear and incompetence. Indeed that's what many people with a so-called military mindset would do. Instead Winters is calm, reassuring, and distracts Hall from his fears by giving him a task (finding landmarks) that helps the mission.
Distrust
Most of the men enjoy alcohol when they're off duty. Some of them sneak a drink when they're on duty, too. Lt. Nixon, aka "Nix", often has a bottle- which he hides in Lt. Winters's footlocker! This is an amusing part of their bromance. Nix gets away with it there because Winters is known in the company for being an abstainer. He routinely refuses alcohol.
"Are you a Quaker?" Sgt. Guarnere sneers at him. Some of the soldiers are worried that if he's too moralistic for the common vices of drinking he'll be too moralistic to do what's necessary to survive- and, as a leader, help his company survive- in brutal combat. When a squad of Easy Company maneuvering behind enemy lines spots a German patrol on the road, Guarnere jumps the gun (literally!) opening fire ahead of Winters's order because he thinks Winters will hesitate, giving away their position to the Germans.
Winters later allays the men's skepticism about acting in battle. He does that not by being brutal but by leading. When it's time to attack the German gun emplacement, he outlines a plan for which squad will do what. He explains that he will lead the squad that acts first and attacks first. The others have actions when he reaches his first objective. Not if, but when. This is a great illustration of the point I made a few blogs ago about Command vs. Leadership.
Also, after that battle, some of the men are passing around a bottle of liquor. It's offered to Winters. Skeptical Sgt. Guarnere interrupts, "The Lieutenant don't drink!"
Winters smiles and takes the bottle. "It's a day of firsts."
"Also, I'm not Quaker."
Humanizing the Enemy?
In one scene Easy Company passes a group of German army soldiers who've been captured. Some of the men pause to taunt the POWs... and one of the POWs answers back in unaccented American English. He says he's from Eugene, Oregon- and establishes a quick connection with one of the American soldiers who's from nearby.
The two chat amiably for a minute or so, including about the topic, "So how did you end up fighting for Germany?" The POW explains that his parents moved the family from the US to Germany at the start of the war (1939, two years before the US entered the war) to "support the Fatherland".
This scene hit different with me in 2023 than it did with audiences 15-20 years ago. In older blogs I've read about the series people praise the inclusion of this scene for humanizing the enemy, for showing that they're "just like us". When I watched this scene in 2023 I was struck by how the themes the POW innocently described- nationalist fervor, the notion of a "master race", willingness to take up arms to right perceived wrongs- have made a sinister resurgence in the US. In 2023 neo-Nazi views are becoming increasingly mainstream in the political right.
Excessive Brutality
I mentioned at the outset that these two episodes are great at providing a cross section of the different personality types that manifest during battle. I've written about those who panic, those who suspect, those willing to pause to find common ground, and those who rise to the occasion. There's also an ugly side: those who see battle as no-holds-barred.
In the scene with the group of German POWs, after one young US soldier finishes chatting with the American-turned-German, one of his US colleagues, Lt. Speirs, pulls out a pack of cigarettes and passes them around. He offers a lighter, too. All the Germans smoke. He pockets the lighter, raises his machine gun, and shoots them all dead.
Challenged later about shooting unarmed POWs, Speirs answers, "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you’re already dead. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function. Without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends on it.”