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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1999-09 > 0936200053


From: <>
Subject: Re: Fw: William Wallace
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 11:34:13 EDT


In a message dated 9/1/1999 1:53:36 AM, writes:

<< I don't think I have missed much in not seeing the movie,
reading critiques exposing the wrong premises was enough. I believe there
was a play, or a movie, in which Elizabeth I meets Mary, Queen of Scots,
start suspending believe---great drama? Yes. Great history? No. And
suspending believe is what Mel Gibson's Braveheart also deserves, and when
so many factual things are wrong---how much more is wrong? Never mind the
visual splendour----
Give me "Lion in Winter" any time, that presented possibilites---Braveheart
only has impossibilities. Entertainment or not.>>

I could not disagree more, Leo. Go see the movie before jumping to
conclusions. It did win best picture of the year, you know. Movies were never
meant to be factual representations of history. That kind of thing is a
documentary. Replacing historical fact with bigger than life stories is a
technique as old as the narrative and will never change just because a few
people want documentaries instead of entertainment. Any deviation from the
story as told in Braveheart would have detracted from the power of the movie.
The story was carefully calculated and rewritten for the maximum appeal to
the emotions.

<<Telling lies to "the great uninformed masses" is wrong, because some of it
will stick---like mud.>>

Not lies, not even poetic license. By now the format for successful stories
is quite obvious to all. A common man with 'Liberty and Freedom' on his lips
needs to have a romantic association with an aristocrat to make the story
come alive. It is a technique that has been used for thousands of years ... a
theme that goes back to ancient mythology. As long as there is a difference
between the common man and the rich and famous, this theme will continue, so
we can expect that it will be rewritten into perpetuity.

It surely makes little difference to the average person whether or not this
is entirely factual. No one really expects it to be so. The point is the
story, the tearing at the heart and an introduction to the world of
characters that most people have never heard of before. The accurate
depiction of the character of the times and the ability of such stories to
make money and gain a market are far more important that a few characters
transported slightly in time for the sake of a more moving story.

- Ken

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