Amidst the modern media landscape, the world never stays silent. Streams of information, often tailored to each person, violently flow into our lives through everyday mediums of communication such as X (formerly known as Twitter), news sites, podcasts and the like. There has never been more of a need than now to understand the implications of the vast world of media, especially considering its growing prevalence and trend of dramatization.
In that sense, the stories told through public media tend to become polarized and divided. Extreme speculation is commonplace and nuance is thrown into the wind.
Written and directed by Aedan Ferrara, “MC” deconstructs the contemporary media landscape through its adaptation of legal documents about the ghost ship Mary Celeste. With its discovery in 1872, the ship drew much mystery, despite its seaworthy and almost untouched state as the crew and a lifeboat went missing from the property. The subsequent mystique of the ship caught much attention from the eyes of many and, with its popularity, the information and reporting on the incident became misrepresented of what occurred.
As the discourse surrounding the tale of Mary Celeste depicts how the case was ohandled, “MC” wittingly indicts the savage and tribal nature of modern communication by traversing through the vessel of the court hearings of Mary Celeste. The play exposes how dramatization displaces the truth insofar as the captain who found the abandoned ship, Captain More, is constantly scrutinized and prosecuted for the possibility that he murdered Mary Celeste’s crew to claim the sea vessel for profit.
The juxtaposition of an old tale renditioned in a modern era gives the play a sense of primitive, tribal humanity, likened to their animal predecessor. At the expense of More, this can be seen multiple times such as when accusations against the Captain fly from Flood, the loud and defiant prosecuting attorney, and when More’s family faces public animosity in the form of vandalization of their house property. The mystique of the ship serves as an agitator, stirring media into becoming the primal caveman weapon to create false narratives. The line between human and animal is blurred as the play reading meticulously utilizes this theme in compelling fashion.
These falsehoods also appear in another recurring motif: the Kraken. In the mystique of Mary Celeste, the public’s conjuring of a mythical beast as the root cause of the disappearance of its crew further indicts the public of barbarity, similar to the novel “Lord of the Flies.” The constant mentioning of the Kraken is incredibly humorous and allegorically telling of the extremes of public opinion and its tendencies to create monsters out of the mundane.
The electric pacing of the play reading lends itself to an energetic atmosphere akin to the frenzy of the modern news flow. The actors are constantly scribbling notes with feverish quickness, exemplifying a sort of anxiety imbued upon the play’s narrative. Silence is seldom and actors move from point to point in lightning fashion. In its hurried and rapid reading, “MC” explores the human instinct to “be in the know,” highlighting the eager nature to always join in the conversation somehow.
The ending of “MC” is bittersweet. When it all feels over, it is explicitly stated that the case was never for Captain More, but for the story that would be told. Likening journalists and commentators to vultures, the violent nature of media fed off of the animosity directed toward the Captain as More was a puppet and his story was spun for those hungering for entertainment. This was made more clear as journalists would flock to More for any information they could grab onto, even if it was not relevant to the case like his religious ideology or stance in the LGBTQIA+ community.
“MC” was an incredible commentary on the human condition within a world where vast amounts of knowledge travel at lightning speed. It is an awakening experience that, through showing the victims of the lies, encourages us to find the truth: the fact that reality is often mundane and monsters are made from those seeking a story.
Verdict: “MC” tackles the voracious and predatory landscape of contemporary media through the narrative of the ghost ship Mary Celeste impressively.
