Overview

"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."

Full Product Details

Author:   Colin McArthur
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   I.B. Tauris
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.508kg
ISBN:  

9781860649271

ISBN 10:   1860649270
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   26 September 2003
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vi General Editor's Introduction viii Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 1 Where Did Brigadoon Come From? 7 2 Brigadoon and the Broadway Musical 32 3 Brigadoon and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 65 4 Marketing, Using and Abusing Brigadoon 94 5 Scotland and the Braveheart Effect 123 6 Braveheart: A (Quasi-)Barthesian Reading in Slow Motion 137 7 'No' a Fuckin' Dry Eye in the Hoose': Braveheart's 'Gift of a Thistle' Sequence 160 8 'That's Show Business!': The 'What' and 'Why' of Braveheart's Historical Distortions 178 9 It Takes One to Know One: Braveheart's Appeal to the Proto-Fascist Psyche 192 Epilogue 209 Bibliography 213 Index of Films 219 General Index 223

Reviews

The Scotsman: McArthur traces Brigadoon from genesis to legacy and seems to have come to appreciate its charms in the process . Scottish Studies Review Journal: the doyen of Scottish film criticism...fascinating wealth of anecdotal detail reminds by example that scholars can be active participants within popular culture as as Olympian vivisectionists of the same. The Sunday Post: fascinating new book destined to arouse controversy

Author Information

Colin McArthur is a freelance teacher and writer on Scottish culture, Hollywood cinema and British television. His publications include the Tauris British Film Guide on 'Whisky Galore!' & 'The Maggie' and the BFI Film Classic on 'The Big Heat'.

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