So I've been thinking about Henry Henry and the Phyllida Lloyd production of Henry IV. When looking at them both together it really stood out to me how much needs to be changed to make the Henry IVs(&V) into a classic coming of age/redemption story. (Or at least that modern would read it as one.)
Say what you will about applying modern morality standards to these plays (there is an interesting discussion to be had there), when played straight, most people I've talked to didn't come out of those plays feelings like Hal's transformation was positive.
I love the Henriad a lot, but what made that story line finally work for me as a coming of age, was thinking of it as one in the way Late Summer Blues is a coming of age story.
Assuming most of you haven't seen an Israeli anti war film from the 80s (might be my favorite movie of all time, so I really recommend you do watch it. It's not the kind of movie you have to go into blind, but major spoiler warning for the rest of this post.) Here's some context:
The movie takes place in 1970, and is about a group of teens spending their last summer together after finishing high-school and before joining the army.
Aharleh, one of the main characters, is a pacifist who talks about his plan to refuse to join the army throughout the film.
By the end of the movie he willingly gets on the army's bus. (When asked he repeats the same opinions he'd held before any says that he doesn't know why he's joining.)
A few mouths ago, I was lucky enough to talk with the script writer of LSB, and I asked him about Aharleh. I knew there were early versions of the script where Aharleh did refuse, and I assumed they picked the movie ending to avoid censorship. He just said that if Aharleh didn't join the army, it wouldn't be a tragedy.
Hal and Aharleh are very different characters. If anything, out of the cast, I would choose Mossi to be the Hal analog.
But that line made Hal's transformation click for me.
I'm fully aware it's nothing groundbreaking, but I do think there's a lot to be explored in reading LSB and the Henriad together.
Honestly I just wish the cross section of people who watched these two pieces of media was bigger 😅
(BTW, yes there's a Late Summer Blues musical. The songs are well done but the story is very softened and the political message isn't as sharp, so I wouldn't recommend watching it instead of the movie.)
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