preview

Film Analysis Of Billy Budd

Better Essays

There is an old saying that “history is written by the victors”. As victors, they possess the power to influence the world with the tale of their victory—often in government-sponsored history books, news reports, and judicial findings. However, they have a habit of distorting facts in order to benefit themselves and strengthen their ideology. As the result, history itself becomes corrupted with lies that can have a detrimental effect on society and history. As Howard Zinn puts it, “One can lie outright about the past. Or one can omit facts which might lead to unacceptable conclusions” (Zinn, 9). This is clear in the case of Billy Budd, both in the original novella written by Herman Melville and the film adaptation produced in 1962 by Peter Ustinov. Of all the aspects of Billy Budd, Sailor, the theme is adaptation is profound in the final three chapters. Of the three chapters, Chapter 29 is the one that adds the most profound effect to the overall theme. Not only does it distort Billy Budd into a murderer with an intent on mutiny, it also shaped John Claggart as a respectable “commissioned gentlemen, [with] the efficiency of His Majesty’s Navy” (Melville, 97). The chapters surrounding it depicted a more accurate description of Billy Budd’s character through the testimonies from those that knew him well. In the succeeding chapter, colleagues idealized his character as a “fresh young image of the Handsome Sailor, that face never deformed by a sneer or subtler vile freak of

Get Access