FA+
Shop
To any military furs who might read this...
13 years ago
I watched Bully Boy at the theatre a couple of weeks ago, performed by two actors playing a Private and a Major respectively. I thought the acting was pretty good, and one noticeable part was how the actors SPOKE LOUDLY AND FORCEFULLY THE WHOLE TIME, EVEN IN SCENES THAT FOCUSED ON THE GROWING FATHER-SON AFFECTION BETWEEN THEM.
I thought it was brilliant how such tenderness came through their performance, since you wouldn’t normally connect sensitivity or affection to shouting.
So: is this really how military types talk all the time? I would expect to hear it on active duty, of course, but elsewhere? With your families and non-military friends? Does the verbal assertiveness you learn in the military carry into all social situations?
I thought it was brilliant how such tenderness came through their performance, since you wouldn’t normally connect sensitivity or affection to shouting.
So: is this really how military types talk all the time? I would expect to hear it on active duty, of course, but elsewhere? With your families and non-military friends? Does the verbal assertiveness you learn in the military carry into all social situations?
Rather, the characters always sounded forceful and assertive, even in moments that (story-wise) were meant to be "tender". Even when apologising. These struck me as being very well performed, considering how the standard way of portraying tenderness is through soft voices and gentle words...
As a contrary example, perhaps, I might point to Jamie Bamber in 2003's Battlestar Galactica. Apollo was always a goody-goody nice guy, and Bamber often portrayed this by being soft-spoken and smiling pleasantly... to the point of being unbelieveable. I remember thinking "Come on! A badass fighter pilot/soldier wouldn't talk that way!" more than once.
It struck me that the performances in Bully Boy were far more convincing, and the actors had spent a great deal of time studying the speech mannerisms of RL soldiers. I just wondered how far the forceful and assertive manner carried into non-military situations in RL - or if military folk even noticed this, considering that it's "normal speech" for them!