Watching Mickybo & Me and reading Mojo Mickybo has given me the most enlightening insight into the relationships that developed, or didn’t develop, between those on different sides of the “bridge” in Northern Ireland during the 68′ era. Throughout the class so far, it is hard to try and imagine and understand how people could be molded since they were quite little to have contempt for those who believe a different form of the same religion, even if it involved much more than just religion. It’s hard to imagine myself as a 10 or 12 year-old worrying about anything other than the next backyard baseball game with the neighborhood kids. However, this is the environment that children of this era in Northern Ireland lived in constantly.
There are multiple particularly important scenes in Mickybo & Me that I felt illustrated this point exactly. The first time that Mojo travels to Mickybo’s home, Mickybo’s mom asks Mojo, “Are your parents okay with you being here?”. It is clear that Mojo’s presence comes as quite a surprise to Mickybo’s mom. In contrast, a different poignant scene plays out towards the end of the movie after Mickybo’s dad has died. Mickybo, seemingly ignorant to his previous relationship with Mojo, has now joined with Gank and Fuckface in terrorizing Mojo for allegedly stealing Mickybo’s bike. In the scene, I found Mickybo to be quite unsettled, and I would guess this may be the first time where pressure from his community has affected his personal relationships. Even though he knows Mojo has not stolen his bike, I think he is learning that the truth does not matter, the only thing that does is a respect for his community.
After both watching the movie and reading the play, I stumbled across the short summary on the back of my version of the play. The last sentence reads, “The play unsentimentally portrays a kind of innocence betrayed by communal hatred”. “Communal hatred” is what led Mickybo to push Mojo away. I would venture to say that “communal hatred” or some form of communal pressure is what led “The Committee” to push away Teddy in The Informer. This idea has been prevalent in every signal piece we have discussed, a “you vs. us” mentality that trumped any other feelings, but led to dangerous tension and conflict.
I believe your comment on communal hatred to be quite telling. However, as stated on a previous comment I have posted, I would instead hold that it was the unique, and biting incident of Mickybo’s father dying that drove the boys apart, destroyed their innocence, and penetrated the shield of their imagination. What had once been as real to them as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid was now quite real – I am referring to the religious warfare in Ireland at the time, of course. While communal hatred did have a part to play in Mickybo joining forces with his former enemies, it did not drive the boys apart until their relationship had already been poisoned by the death of Mickybo’s father. While I would have to look over the text once more to ascertain this, I am quite interested in that final excerpt you have. It does add a significant amount of insight into the author’s intent on writing this piece. Oftentimes, the artist’s message can be lost in a sea of critics intent upon impressing their own meaning on a piece, or manuscript such as this