1.

Compare how the two texts explore the importance of sharing our experiences
with others.
Both Stephen Frears’ and David Malouf explore how the unity and indulgence of humanity is
vital for leaders and commoners alike to maintain authenticity and ultimately peace within
themselves. Set in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death, Frears’ film, The Queen, depicts
the confliction grappled by the monarchy when faced with modernist challenges in light of a
nation in mourning. Alternatively, inspired by Homer’s Iliad, Malouf’s classical epic features
the personal discovery experienced when the power of human connection triumphs the
cycle of violence and bloodlust in war. Moreover, Malouf and Frears reveal how positions of
power can restrict leaders from experiencing genuine human connections, leaving their
humanity suffocated by ceremonial expectations. Conversely, the texts illuminate how the
intrinsic transformation of ceremonial figures can be prompted by unprecedented tragedy
which forced them to reach out to others. Furthermore, both the film and text suggest that
holistic healing, both societally and individually, can only be enlightened through shared
experience and transformation. Overall, The Queen and Ransom share the vivid contention
that mortals can only find closure to the raw heartaches and losses in life when they
surrender to the healing power of human connection and holistic experiences.

Frears and Malouf exacerbate the numbing impact the pressure associated with positions of
power has on the humanity and individuality of leaders, causing them to be deprived of
human connection. Malouf illuminates this disconnection with identity in the opening of his
epic by depicting the ‘great Achilles’, weeping ‘without restraint’, ‘rocking back and forth…
pouring fistfuls of dust over his head’. The imagery of Achilles’ uncontrollable emotional
outburst conveys how his title as a Greek ‘warrior’ has caused him to mould his identity into
a ceremonial figure, thereby inhibiting him from sharing his grief with others to seek closure
of Patroclus’s death. Furthermore, Priam suffers a similar faith when his is trapped in his
‘role’ of ‘ceremonial stillness’ which deprived him of his humanity and voice as he always
had an ‘Idaeus’ to ‘find [his] words for [him]’. Malouf portrays the symbolic nature of regal
figures through the ‘stiff and square’ statue of Priam that guards the gates to Troy, belittling
his holistic human identity into only the ceremonial role he possesses, consequently
stripping him of his inner mortality and experiences associated. Similarly, Frears’ biopic
conveys the Queen in the same light as Malouf depicts Priam’s statue when she is sat still,
draped in opulent fabric to have her portrait painted in the opening of the film. The low
camera angle that pans upwards to focus on the Queen’s crown magnifies the formality,
superiority of her role as queen when accompanied by the epigraph “uneasy lies the head
that wears the crown” Henry IV, Part II. The portrayal of both the Queen and Priam as a
portrait and a statue represents their immortal-like nature that substitutes the sense of
humanity and connection with others. Moreover, the pressure of leadership equally impacts
Achilles and Prince Charles, who’s hierarchical roles impend their paternal ability to attend
to “their children [that] have to be looked after”. However, for Achilles, his ‘warrior spirit’
has regrettably subverted his attention from fatherhood to war, causing his son,
Neoptolemus, to ‘grow up without him’ which deprives Achilles from the human connection
he should have shared with Neoptolemus. Alternatively, Prince Charles must adopt a duality
in the death of his wife to fulfil his regal role whilst being the guiding paternal figure for his
sons. Through the texts, both Malouf and Frears explore how leaders, willingly or not,
sacrifice their sense of unity and connection with others to fulfil a rigid ceremonial position.
Despite the restricting nature of tradition and power, Malouf and Frears illuminate how
unprecedented tragedy can be the impetus for leaders to explore the healing power of
human connection and the natural world. This notion is investigated in Ransom when
Priam’s grieving journey to recover Hector’s body ignites a unique bond with a ‘stocky
fellow of fifty or so, bull shouldered, shock headed’ called Somax. Malouf’s use of imagery in
describing Somax magnifies his ordinary features as a juxtaposition to Priam’s ‘slim, long-
boned figure’, embodying the dichotomy of status and humanity between the two. Malouf
portrays how Somax, although ‘apprehensive’ at first, and Priam are united by their
mortality as ‘children of nature’ as they indulge in the ‘coolness of the water’ in the natural
world. The author symbolises how Priam descends from his regal status when consumed in
the ‘incidental pleasures’ by the ‘little fish’ in the river that find ‘royal feet every bit as
disappointing and without interest as the drivers’, creating an equilibrium of importance
among all mortals. Malouf furthers this notion of human connection in nature when the pair
embrace their vulnerability and bond over their sons’ that had ‘died early’ and ‘left a gap
[they] can’t ignore’. Furthermore, Ransom explores how shared experience can unlock
unique connections whilst The Queen portrays how unprecedented grieving can lead people
to the natural world where they are enabled to indulge in the ordinary beauties. Frears
illuminates this when the Queen travels to the forest alone to find clarity and solidarity in
nature. The vast wide shots of the mountainous landscape and transcendent non-diegetic
music is comparable to Malouf’s sensory imagery of ‘the fish and the flocks of snub-tailed
swifts’ as both highlight incidental simplicities in which characters find unity with nature and
each other. Similar to Priam and Somax, the Queen and Tony Blair develop a unique
connection when united in the unprecedented death of ‘the people’s princess’. Frears
reveals this unique relationship when Blair is one of few who recognises ‘it is not always
easy [for the Queen] to express sadness’ yet encourages her to not ‘keep [her] feelings to
[her]self’. This pivotal reversal of guidance is also displayed by Malouf as Somax, like Blair,
acts as the ‘advisor’ of the leaders’ enlightenment to the shared experience of humanity.
Thus, both Ransom and The Queen illustrate how, when confronted with unexpected
tragedy, leaders can be evoked to embrace their humanity through the guidance of
commoners and nature.

Furthering the notion that shared trauma can evoke human connection, Malouf and Frears
suggest that personal and societal healing and transformation can arise from embracing the
unity in mortality. Ransom reflects this concept at the climax of the text when Priam inspires
‘the great Achilles’ to let go of his guilt that Patroclus died ‘in [Automedon’s] arms, not [his
own]’ by encouraging him to denote his ‘hard, manly qualities’ and be ‘tenderly vulnerable’
as a ‘father’. By appealing to these paternal qualities in Achilles, Malouf challenges the
‘boisterous and proud’ male stereotype of warriors and kings in this era, instead illuminating
that both Priam and Achilles are healed from their grief when they embrace their ‘soft
affection’ as ‘fathers’ of sons’. Moreover, the text explores how Priam’s personal
transformation allows him to leave a ‘living legacy’ on Troy by enabling the community to
grief, celebrate and enjoy ‘the condition [they] share’ as mortals in an 11 day ‘truce’ in the
war. This moment is revealed as Priam and Somax cross the Scamander to return Hector’s
body to Troy, allowing the rapid flowing of the water to be symbolic of the fluidity and
constantly changing nature of human condition and emotion. Similarly, Frears shares the
motif of water when the Queen is cleansed of her ‘state of shock’ at her unprecedented
public ridicule, furthering the notion flowing rivers represents the spiritual cleansing of
leaders. Like Priam’s transformational experience in nature, the Queen too is refreshed and
able to surrender to the ‘modernized’ view that ‘royal protocol’ inhibited the monarchy and
public from uniting in their humanity and grieving. This reinforces Malouf and Frears’ shared
message that true strength and courage in leadership arises from the vulnerability to
undertake ordinary acts of humanity, in turn promoting societal healing.

Ultimately, Ransom and The Queen explore the how human connection can provoke the
most rigid of leaders to embrace the humanity they fear is perceived as weak. Both texts
reveal how the pressure of tradition and leadership can deprive those in positions of power
from experiencing raw human connection. Conversely, Frears and Malouf illustrate that
protocol bound leaders can be liberated to embrace their ordinary mortality when
confronted with unforeseen tragedy. Moreover, the texts convey the personal and societal
healing and transformation that can be enlightened through shared experiences of
humanity. Overall, Ransom and The Queen portray the importance of embracing the shared
experience of ordinary mortality to be truly liberated by the ‘unique, complex, beauty’ of
being human.