Friday, May 6, 2011
Conclusion
By examining works related to the subject matter, the author's life and analyses' of the poem. I feel that over the past few weeks, a good amount of information has been provided and considering that this is a poem consisting of five lines of text, I was surprised by the amount. In this blog, it was learned that two reviewers from The Explicator shared the notion that this poem had a horrendous vision of war, that Jarrell's work was motivated by not just his stint in the Air force but also his childhood and that he inspired a play based on his poem The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner. I hope this blog has been enjoyable and enlightening and if ever in the mood for poems that make you think, Randall Jarrell is highly recommend.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Other Things With Ball Turrets
Reading the poem, I was reminded of both a play that I had read about and a TV program that I saw years ago. Having analyzed the poem and explored the author, today I am focusing on these two works that involve ball turrets.
Doing some research, it turns out that this poem was turned into a play. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Anna Moench is inspired by the poem about the life of that fictitious gunner.
It focuses on the ball turret gunner named Randal and gives us insight into his family life, enlistment into the air force and his final flight as a gunner. Due to special effects, war stories are tailored more to television and movies than theater but Moench uses interpretive movement, with only a stool as the set of each scenario and a hybrid of orchestral/rock music played to each scene to tell the story. The play opened in 2008 to mixed critical reception but from what I’ve read, the majority of the reviews consider it is a solid and entertaining play.
Not being much of a theater person, I grew up as a couch potato watching hours of television. This allows me to recall an episode of a TV show that I enjoyed very much. In the 80’s there was an anthology series called Amazing Stories. Similar to The Twilight Zone, it featured stories in genres ranging from science fiction to horror to fantasy. Although not having any relation to the poem, one of the episodes had a story called The Mission which was about a crew in a B-17 attempting a bombing run.
Both the captain and the ball turret gunner have flown together for 23 prior missions and there is some superstition about flying together for a 24th. It is no surprise that things do not go according to plan. Without spoiling the story, the captain, the gunner, and the crew are put in a nail-biting position, creating a highly recommend and suspenseful episode.
Although one of these works was inspired by Jarrell’s work and the other not, both tell suspenseful stories that depict not just the inner workings of a B-17 bomber but the life and death of a ball turret gunner.
"Amazing Stories - The Mission Part 1 ." YouTube. Web. 3 May 2011..
Coyle, William. "Lofty Dreams." Off Off Online 10 August 2008: 1. Web. 3 May 2011..
Image Source
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." Web. 3 May 2011..
Doing some research, it turns out that this poem was turned into a play. The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Anna Moench is inspired by the poem about the life of that fictitious gunner.
It focuses on the ball turret gunner named Randal and gives us insight into his family life, enlistment into the air force and his final flight as a gunner. Due to special effects, war stories are tailored more to television and movies than theater but Moench uses interpretive movement, with only a stool as the set of each scenario and a hybrid of orchestral/rock music played to each scene to tell the story. The play opened in 2008 to mixed critical reception but from what I’ve read, the majority of the reviews consider it is a solid and entertaining play.
Not being much of a theater person, I grew up as a couch potato watching hours of television. This allows me to recall an episode of a TV show that I enjoyed very much. In the 80’s there was an anthology series called Amazing Stories. Similar to The Twilight Zone, it featured stories in genres ranging from science fiction to horror to fantasy. Although not having any relation to the poem, one of the episodes had a story called The Mission which was about a crew in a B-17 attempting a bombing run.
Both the captain and the ball turret gunner have flown together for 23 prior missions and there is some superstition about flying together for a 24th. It is no surprise that things do not go according to plan. Without spoiling the story, the captain, the gunner, and the crew are put in a nail-biting position, creating a highly recommend and suspenseful episode.
Although one of these works was inspired by Jarrell’s work and the other not, both tell suspenseful stories that depict not just the inner workings of a B-17 bomber but the life and death of a ball turret gunner.
Works Cited
"Amazing Stories - The Mission Part 1 ." YouTube. Web. 3 May 2011.
Coyle, William. "Lofty Dreams." Off Off Online 10 August 2008: 1. Web. 3 May 2011.
"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." Web. 3 May 2011.
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