The Great War’s Postmodern Aftermaths: Trauma of the Anti-Hero and Struggle of Power in Peaky Blinders

Abstract

Steven Knight’s Peaky Blinders (2013-2022) explores the conflicting and complex nature of human beings as a result of the Great War, especially, the veterans who have returned with trauma, seen death, and faced it. The protagonist or the “Anti-Hero” of the British series, Thomas Shelby rises to unimaginable levels of Power through sacrifice and drive for extreme Power, all the while fighting his inner self along with the panopticon he was stuck in because of his fame. Set in the historical period post-First-world war, this series is sympathetic towards the veterans and criminals. However, the underlying conflict of greed for Power and the capitalist approach of different classes is not properly highlighted, although shown. The previous works done on this specific British Drama, have failed to address the bigger issue here: “The tremendous traumatic experience of war channelized as a weapon inside the knotty head of Thomas Shelby” to help his family rise from the lower-class mass to the upper-class citizens going out of bounds, exercising crimes without grief, and living like a dead person- all to be powerful and “untouchable”. This research is conducted by following qualitative methodology, collecting data and information from previously conducted research on Power politics, Veteran trauma, Peaky Blinders, and The Great War. This paper further aims to analyze the variety of the labyrinthine reasons for crossing boundaries for avarice- due to the negligence of the class relations and the effect of The Great War, by cracking the shell of an Anti-Hero, and the Shelby family’s rise to the Power.