Brigadoon, Braveheart and the Scots

Distortions of Scotland in Hollywood Cinema

Colin McArthur

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9781860649271
• eBook ISBN: 9780857711014
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film History & Criticism

The films "Brigadoon" and "Braveheart" have an enormous resonance both for Scots throughout the world and the wide audience of non-Scots for whom such films provide general impressions of "Scottishness". This provocative book discusses the films' representations of Scotland and the Scots, looking at that cluster of images and stories whereby Scotland is (mis)recognized and yet often comes to be "known". Colin McArthur explores "Brigadoon" and documents the contempt the film has elicited, particularly from the Scots intelligentsia. He succumbs to "Brigadoon's" charm, but finds no such mitigating features in "Braveheart". Tracing the film's appropriation by political, touristic and sporting figures, he argues that, far from being "about" Scottish history, it is primarily "about" Hollywood and its cinematic traditions. He looks at the way film distorts history and examines "Braveheart's" sinister appeal to the proto-fascist psyche.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Illustrations
• General Editor’s Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Where Did Brigadoon Come From?
• 2 Brigadoon and the Broadway Musical
• 3 Brigadoon and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
• 4 Marketing, Using and Abusing Brigadoon
• 5 Scotland and the Braveheart Effect
• 6 Braveheart: A (Quasi-)Barthesian Reading in Slow Motion
• 7 ‘No’ a Fuckin’ Dry Eye in the Hoose’: Braveheart’s ‘Gift of a Thistle’ Sequence
• 8 ‘That’s Show Business!’ The ‘What’ and ‘Why’ of Braveheart’s Historical Distortions
• 9 It Takes One To Know One: Braveheart’s Appeal to the Proto-Fascist Psyche
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index of Films
• General Index