Naval Narratives of Re-enactment: In Which We Serve and Sea of Fire

Abstract

This essay examines two narrative examples of the Royal Navy and naval combat on screen, exploring their resemblances in the re-enactment of naval history and their portrayal of the past through consistent representational strategies. In Which We Serve (Noel Coward and David Lean, 1942) and Sea of Fire (Ian Duncan, 2007) use deliberate and self-conscious recreations of the past to authenticate their interpretations of British naval history, and evince comparably conservative stances towards the Royal Navy and perceptions of its traditions. The similarity of their narratives, which describe the events leading up to the loss of two Navy destroyers, helps to reveal and reinforce the tonal, structural, and stylistic parallels in their depictions. The correspondence in their portrayal of naval combat and the institution of the Royal Navy illustrates the consistencies of representation which characterize the naval war film as a distinctive, definable narrative form. Above all, their commitment to the recreation and re-enactment of identifiable historical events underpins their importance in the representation and commemoration of the national, naval past. It is this aspect of both productions which is significant in the exploration of the role of visual representations to construct, affirm, and broadcast pervasive and persuasive versions of popular history.

Keywords:

• war film
• documentary
• Royal Navy
• memory
• re-enactment

Notes

1 Ironically, a positive film of the Royal Navy's contemporary operations already exists. Command Approved (Graham Moore, 2000) depicts a Royal Navy warship engaging arms dealers and terrorists in the South China Sea. The ship launches missiles, bombards an island base, and deploys Royal Marines by helicopter to rescue British hostages: ‘The 25-minute film is a window on the navy in action. It packs the punch of a James Bond film, but this is the real world, not spy fiction. This is the navy facing real threats and dealing with them as they would on the high seas.’ http://www.actionstations.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=36 (accessed 23 September 2008). To date the film has not received a general release and can be viewed only in the ‘Action Stations’ exhibition at the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jonathan Rayner

Jonathan Rayner is Reader in Film Studies at the University of Sheffield, School of English. His research interests include naval history and naval combat on film and television. He is the author of The Naval War Film: Genre, History, National Cinema (MUP, 2007) and co-director of the Sheffield Centre for Research in Film (SCRIF).