Introduction
Braveheart, although based on true events, is still very much a film which uses propaganda in order to promote national identity- or is it?
Braveheart, released in 1995, based on the poem written by Blind Harry, The Actes Deides of Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace ‘ is intended to represent the events which occurred at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The Battle of Stirling Bridge took place in 11th September 1297, between the Scottish and the English. The Scottish were fighting for their freedom and won.
Although this film has glorified the battle and encouraged tourism into Scotland it has also been highly criticised for its lack of accuracy.
The film has won many Oscars, however, Professor Tom Devine states in the Herald that ‘ Scotland is in danger of becoming a national theme park for historic heritage.’ The truth is, that historians don’t actually know much about William Wallace, yet he is regarded as one of the most important heroes in Scottish history.
It is important to establish why the film makers decided to make William Wallace the way in which he is, and why they chose a certain narrative, and characters to describe the war.
What is propaganda?
The word ‘Propaganda’ has been mainly associated with Germany and Britain -when they used propaganda in order to excuse themselves for having a war. Propaganda is mainly recognized and used in political messaging and is associated with lying. Braveheart is a prime example of distortion of true events in order to depict evident stereotypes of heroes and victims
According to Taylor (2003) propaganda ‘...is a disease which somehow afflicts our individual and collective capacity to make up our own minds about what is happening in the world around us.’
It distorts the truth in order to manipulate its audience into believing a certain view.
It could also be described as tactful persuasion. It is very similar to implicit messaging, except it is done to a greater extreme, to the point that it could be considered as lying, yet this fails to be acknowledged by the audience as they have consumed what is being fed to them.
What is National Identity?
National identity is the term referred to the shared beliefs of people who belong to a certain country. It is a sense of belonging and this can be influenced by the nations history, symbols, colours etc. The main influence that Braveheart has is, of course, the history of Scotland. Braveheart aims to establish some heroic identity, which Scots should take pride in. The fact that William Wallace died for the freedom of the Scots represents the bravery of the Scots as a whole. The most famous line from Braveheart is William Wallace’s last words which are , “ You may take our lives, but you will never take our freedom”. This line is heroic in itself.
National identity is known to ‘aid in the form of ego formation’ (Caputi 1996). Thus, a film like Braveheart is definitely, intended to do so, with is rather bias view of events which tends to stigmatise the English national identity, as nasty and controlling.
Braveheart’s Success and Following Effects
Considering that this film was so successful world wide ( possibly because of the role played by already famous actor Mel Gibson) it has exploited the already underlying political tension between Scotland and England. In order to create a movie which captivates the audience, it is necessary for the audience to empathise with the hero and hate the villan. The more inhumane the English are portrayed the more reason there is for the loyal, innocent Scots to fight them.
Demonizing the English
Fox’s analyses of the contrast between the heroic victim and the enemy can be applied to the narrative of Braveheart.
There are many scenes in the film where the brutality of the English is evident. Such scenes include when the English intrude the Scottish wedding and sleep with the bride.
This did not happen.(Tunzelman 2008) The Scottish are portrayed, as innocent, moral, fair and civil whereas the English are portrayed as cruel, ruthless, godless and evil.
William Wallace is depicted as a poor man in the film, when in reality he came from a reasonably wealthy background and had a good education. ( Clann Tartan)
Although the aim of the movie was to entertain, it is also evident that it tries to demonise the English as well as make a mockery of them.
Some film critics have pointed out the inaccuracy of the portrayal of Edward the second. Edward the second is seen, in the film as a stereotypical ‘mincing homosexual.’ Using tactics such as striping an English king of his masculinity, is making the English appear less threatening- a tactic also used in the war against Germany in Britain. A propaganda video was released at the time of the war, in Britain, which was a Hitler Speech dubbed by someone else, making him seem inferior and unthreatening. To make a mockery of the opposition allows the opposition to feel more powerful and in control.
The dictionary describes propaganda as ‘information, ideas, or rumours deliberately spread widely in order to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation etc.’ - This statement can most definitely be applied to Braveheart.
It can be thought that Braveheart is simply mythologizing Scottish history. By mythologizing aspects of the history they have managed adopt a sense of power. However, because Braveheart is also seen as a movie of entertainment, any criticisms are brushed off. This then prevents further questioning to whether the movie is propaganda or not and therefore the movie as a whole, has more power. (Dreadnought 2005)
Promoting Scottish Nationalism
Its is important to acknowledge at this point, that Mel Gibson was also the director of the film. It is questionable that his intentions were ‘pro Scottish nationalism’ when directing this film. Although it may appear as though this film is promoting Scottish history and creating awareness, in actual fact, it focuses more on portraying the English in a negative light. If this film is meant to represent Scottish nationalism, Scottish nationalists could actually be deemed ignorant because of the inaccuracy of the film. It could be thought that Mel Gibson who originates from Australia created the film in order to demonstrate his own beliefs of the English after the English invaded Australia many years ago. Therefore instead of having a great understanding of the history of Scotland, he is somewhat using Scottish history in a way to demean the English and portray them negatively to the rest of the world. (Dreadnought 2005)
However, Braveheart, seemed to be a rather failed attempt at Scottish Nationalism. The main reason for this being that there were so many historic errors from the start to the finish of the movie. To other countries, who are not aware of the accurate history of Scotland, these mistakes could be missed, however to those familiar with the history, these mistakes are rather obvious.
Some of the mistakes that can bring shame to Scottish nationalists are as follows:
1. Princess Isabella who is impregnated by William Wallace ( as an adult), in reality, was only nine years old at the time. It is very unlikely that she had married King Edward the second in William Wallace’s life time. (Tunzelmann 2008)
2. King Edward the 1st ,in the film dies as William Wallace is being executed, when in reality, he didn’t die until around two years after William Wallace’s death. ( Clann Tartan)
3. The ‘Bridge Battle of Stirling’, in the film, is a battle held in a field- when in reality it was held on a bridge.
Other than the ‘mistakes‘, Braveheart conforms to the general conventions of the propaganda that Britain and Germany generated in the days of the war.
For instance it demonstrates the fact that if the Scottish did not fight they would lose their heritage and national identity. Although this did actually occur, to glorify it in such an inaccurate way only insults Scottish nationalism.
There is one heroic character, and everyone else is either unworthy, evil or helpless. This was not the case, and it is rather insulting to ram Scottish heritage into an action packed, inaccurate war film, with Mel Gibson hogging the hero lime light. By creating such a heroic character, that is apparently flawless, to represent Scotland, this then suggests that Scotland, as a nation, are proud, victimised and brave. If Braveheart was deemed accurate and successful, this could have well been the case for some Scottish nationalists.
In conclusion, it is evident that Braveheart, although based on true events, tends to be a glamorised version of the past which conforms to stereotypes in order to sensationalise the events which occurred. It is apparent that there are two motives behind this. One motive is to promote Scottish heritage by depicting Scotsmen as heroes and flawless. The other motive is to exploit the underlying tension between Scotland and England and reinforce any anti-English beliefs by using mockery, and when depicting the English army and demonizing them too.
References
http://nicolaa5.tripod.com/articles/Marian/Mbrave.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/jul/30/3
http://www.braveheart.co.uk/macbrave/movie/bhtrue.htm
http://celticfringe.net/history/brave.htm
http://monkeyfilter.com/index.php
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3792133
Barrow, G. W. S., "Wars of Independence," in Gordon Menzies, ed., The
Scottish Nation London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972).
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