What makes Netflix's Bodyguard so successful? An intimate viewing

What makes 8odyguard so successful? -

An intimate viewing

When, in due time after watching, Bodyguard simply didn't fade out of my mind, it made me a little uneasy. l felt compelled to try and find out what was so compelling in there. The investigation then became a bit of an obsession in itself, which no doubt ran away with me sometimes, turning into some dubious lanes here and there. Nonetheless it was enjoyable, as l hope it is for you, too, to read.

Without knowing the whole first season (six hours on Netflix), none of this will make sense to you. So watch first, then enjoy reading the thematic and psychological theories about it. For plot theories or discussion of realism/plausibility of the action parts: look elsewhere!

My purpose was to look for meaning (staying in the characters' points of view for a lot of the time) rather than to find fault. The meaning offered by a completed work is usually not identical with what was intended by its makers. And meaning doesn't always ermerge by design; sometimes things just fall into place. Every interpretation that's well reasoned is justified (and can be challenged by further argument). This is just one viewer's view.

Summary:

Part i: The main character p. 2

assumes that underneath the bodyguard's professional demeanor there is a very sensitive and even childlike soul, and it shows up in his body quite a lot if you know where to look. We delve into reading the bodyguard's mind and body, and end up being a bit unsure about who protects whom here but being a lot surer about our humanity.

Part ii: The relationship p. ll

tries to draw near to what gets this unlikely pair together at all-a theory being that for him it is a very bodily need (but not primarily a sexual one) associated with his stress disorder. This part further points out that their relationship is visually described by two (beautifully handled) guiding themes: the touch of their hands and their (partly only symbolic) embraces.

Part iii: The finale p. 2l

describes a striking analogy between the bomb vest around David's body and his inner mental powder keg of trauma, hurt and the stress of covering it up. lt deals with death, tombs and the underworld (a bit like in Greek drama); and after having been there: getting back to life.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

What makes 8odyguard so successful? -

Part i: The main character

This piece does not want to join the debate about Bodyguard's plot but aims to explore some thematic threads. Why?

Obviously the show is simply an exciting ride and many people have enjoyed it as such. But that doesn't fully explain the number of viewers, growing weekly at the show's first airing on British TV, peaking at a record in the finale; or the Netflix users stating to have binged the whole season not once but several times in a matter of days. Obviously people wanted to watch this, even if they had missed parts of the preliminary or already knew the story line. So it can't be all about suspense. Viewers must have been touched by something else in there.

l would state that it is the emotional truth in this drama. lt is about matters we all have to settle concerning ourselves and our relationships, quite apart from the extraordinary goings-on in the action chapters: How can we bear being (emotionally) hurt?, for one. What are our means of protecting ourselves (socially, emotionally)? How does mistrust affect our relationships and what induces us to trust others? What are we prepared to risk (socially)?

Questions like these are negotiated on different levels throughout the show, triggered quite clearly by the writing (Jed Mercurio). The action parts deal with physical risk, hurt and protection, the social and emotional aspects are offered in various relationships and within characters. Let's look at the main character's torn disposition first.

Reading the bodyguard's mind

We get to know the bodyguard David Budd (Richard Madden) off duty: at the train attack

where he genuinely freaks out (he's one of us!) yet shows a great deal of moral courage and emotional intelligence (which goes beyond the professional courage to be expected of him; indeed you could argue he goes beyond professionalism itself, putting humanity before subordinance).

We see him caring and gentle with his children, longing for intimacy with his estranged wife and intensely hurt by her rejection. But despite everything he has just gone through, he is considerate enough to shut the front door quietly.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Consequently, we don't buy into his habitual deadpan on the job. This guy looks callous and in control but he isn't. (His action under stress is usually competent but only just about, and he doesn't feel it-think of his panic attack in the elevator at Chanel's dismissal or his freezing in his seat at the sniper attack.)

That he works in a field where protocol dictates highly standardised, quasi-robotic movements and a dehumanised stare, is telling. On the job he barely has a name-he is a number (seven nine) and a uskipper". This setting (including the restricting yet reinforcing attire) seems to give him the stability he needs after returning from his unsettling war deployment.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

David doesn't get to talk much, instead the camera (DP: John Lee) presents us with nuances of his facial or bodily expression all the time, inducing us to look there for his affliction, pride, amusement or contempt. Here, the striking contrast between his outwardly impeccable behaviour and our insights into David's various inner conflicts sets in.

Gradually we realise that he cuts himself off for three purposes: to protect his actual sensitivity, to hide his inner turmoil caused by the war trauma and to avoid facing it (the denial being an integral symptom and partly a trigger of his post traumatic stress disorder). lf he did face it, he'd have to admit he is incapable of handling it by himself, and if he lets others see him at a loss, he fears he will lose respect and consequently self-respect.

Apart from these social fears, opening up is also a substantial threat to his livelihood because he senses that in truth he is unfit to work. (His wife talks about having covered for him repeatedly.) He simply cannot risk showing how he really feels.

Conveniently, his job provides a thick bullet proof vest for all these isolating functions. lt seals his chest and hides his scars, shuts out the harsh world and shuts in his hurt and stress.

But this is more than a common gap between job and private life. With his wife and kids he shows more feeling, but he hasn't reached the emotional maturity to openly share unwelcome sensations like distress or helplessness. At the bottom of this is not primarily his war trauma but rather his traditional view of masculinity (which also makes him hug his daughter but toughen up his son): be strong for the family, solve their problems (the schooling dilemma), keep yourself to yourself, never show weakness, be the provider (which he can't if he's discharged as unfit; that's why he wouldn't even consider trying to make his wife's income suffice).

With all his outstanding courage in action, David is terrified of crying on his wife's shoulder.

That's why he has ended up in a dismal flat all alone, suffering even more. And on top of that, during the story he is harried again and again (learning of Vicky's boyfriend, being shot at, losing his principal etc.), which makes for a powerful narrative and a powerful basis for empathising with him.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

To watch this character constantly fighting back his profound hurt and his vulnerability itself is heartbreaking. His body giving him away all the time is very endearing.

To understand what l mean by that, we have to be aware of yet another rift in David's disposition. Not only does he pretend to be tough outwardly while secretly feeling the opposite, there's also a cleft within his pretense.

There are aspects of his appearance he's in control of, like a good part of his behaviour and most of his body language, and these he fits into position. But then there are parts he forgets to align to toughness, there are slips in his behaviour, and above all there are those less changeable features of his body (representing his basic identity), which do not fit the image. They all give him away as not so tough.

Given the title of the show, l think l shall take the liberty of investigating how (well) the

bodyguard's body is in fact guarded, and see where that takes us.

Reading the bodyguard's body

Matching the image of toughness are David's posture and walk, which usually are quite poised (with a fitting deviation while in shock after the explosion).

Height

One rather unchangeable feature is his height (though he tries hard at first with his hairdo; designer: My Alehammar). The actor isn't short but David seems to be because camera angles make him look small whenever he's inferior or out of luck (which happens a lot); for example with Julia's ex-husband, who personifies the opposite of David in some respects-slim, sleek, snobbish, scheming, not so very much taller but oh-so-superior, looking down his nose at him. He is David's Goliath so to speak-or one of his Goliaths, next to terrorism, organised crime, the treacherous Secret Service, politicians, police officers and, of course, his war trauma.

So his being (shown) small (especially in Julia's world and with his bosses) indicates to the viewers that he isn't as much in control as he would like people to think. However, in storytelling a small hero usually makes a good hero (it heightens his achievements). And also for David, seeming insignificant carries advantages: sometimes people like Penhaligon talk thoughtlessly of important matters in his presence, thus enabling David to get the wider picture of Julia's machinations.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Facial proportions

David is frequently successful in controlling his facial expression (or at least concealing it, often by turning away or covering his mouth with his hand), with some striking exceptions coming up. But let's look at his (unchangeable) facial proportions first.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

While his expressive forehead allows us to imagine that David, though rather young for a war veteran, has endured a lot, the ratio of this high forehead to the rest of the face, combined with the blue eyes, distinct nose and mouth add up to a scheme of rather childlike characteristics. ln moments of great distress there is in fact a desperate little boy showing up in his face. Look for it e.g. when David learns of Julia's death. We have never seen him so lost before, and without any thought of disguising it (which makes it such an poignant moment).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

But we will later: in episode six on the square when the explosives officer walks away from him and he loses hope of being rescued, again there's a despaired eight-year-old (the age being supported by his (non-)hairstyle and his sobbing manner of speaking in the following exchange with Commander Sampson, whom he talks to like a scolded boy to a schoolmarm).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

There is a very genuine and naive quality to those expressions, which runs contrary to David's earlier professional look of firmness and competence. Of course, these opposites are separated by the huge turning point-Julia's death. But there are lots of hints of the contrast earlier on.

Cloaking and revealing

The costumes department (designer: Charlie Knight) highlights that, especially with his private outfits. On the job, his clothes are always proper and unobtrusive. The bullet proof vest not only shields him and forces him to keep upright but also deforms the whole shape of his torso, cloaking his actual, individual outline. Everything is about standardising here, body and behaviour.

ln his time off, David usually wears a biker type jacket, rather robust and preformed (squaring his shoulders); thus extending his aims of appearing tough, cloaking his real shape (what he wants to hide, though, isn't his well-trained upper body but his bad mental shape) and providing himself with a sort of shelter for the softer inner layers of cloth and soul.

On closer look, however, the jacket appears to be made not of leather but of cloth, indicating that David himself isn't so water-proof on a rainy day (i.e. the bad things that happen really get to him).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

ln contrast to the carefully cloaked upper body, his rather tight jeans offer a truer image of his physique (as if further down, in childlike obliviousness, he forgets to camouflage). After all the standardisation, all the deforming, cloaking and reshaping, for once there's a truthful sight of his outline, showing us that this guy knows about effort but also about softness and fragility.

Walk

lt's a poignant contrast in itself and more so connected with David's walk. Assuming that the style of walk shows how a person intends to confront the world, David's succinct walk with his fists tightly stuck in the jacket's pockets (e. g. when he walks home the evening after the sniper attack) suggests that this puerile man, despite his inner struggles and sensitivity, is decided to take the outside world head-on. Such an ill-equipped but determined hero is predestined to be deeply touching.

(By the way, the only other notable tight trousers person is Louise Rayburn (Nina Toussaint-White), a stickler for honesty, who doesn't hide anything even when she should (uthe bomb was not in the briefcase"). Only late in the game we see a pair on Chanel (underpinning her deception: she pretends to be honest here) and one on Vicky when she finally takes a stand (by her husband).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Let's stay at the costumes department for one more observation. The green hoodie sweater is a symbol of David's inner softness as well as its (partial) comfort. lt is earmarked for particularly disconsolate occasions, as at the hospital when Julia's death is confirmed. Later, at his suicide attempt, the hood produces an outstanding impression when David, bent forward on his knees (with a fitting hairstyle) strongly resembles a penitent monk (trying to expiate Julia's death with his own. Having been appointed as her ubullet-stopper", shielding her with his body every day, the reasoning must be that his life is worth less than hers, that he was meant to die instead of her.)

The act itself, at first unimaginable (to me) to be envisaged by such a committed father of young children, became somewhat acceptable when l heard the actor's conception of it (stated in an interview for Variety): that David thinks the world (including his children) would be better off without his failing self.

[...]