Petrie suggests four elements that may contribute to a films 'Scottishness'
Location
Subject Matter
Actors
Director
Four examples were examined to investigate this :
Unleashed, 2005 (Dir: Luc Besson)
“A man raised into behaving like a dog escapes from his captor to start a new life, who seeks to reclaim him because of his unnatural martial arts skills that are triggered when unleashed.”
This films start Jet Li, Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins and was produced by Europa Corp but despite the range of actors' nationalities, was filmed largely in Glasgow – with Locations like Black Friars and The Barrowlands.
Dog Soldiers, 2002 (Dir: Neil Marshall)
“A routine military exercise turns into a nightmare in the Scotland wilderness.” English director, American production company Kismet entertainement, mostly English actors and although the film is set in Scotland, the majority of it was filmed in the Czech Republic.
Wanted, 2008 (Dir: TimurBekmambetov)
“A frustrated office worker learns that he is the son of a professional assassin, and that he shares his fathers superhuman killing abilities.”
Scottish actor James McAvoy stars along side Hollywood heavy weights Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in this film – produced by American Universal.
State of Playe, 2008 (Dir: Kevin MacDonald)
“A team of investigative reporters work along side a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman's mistress.”
Looks Hollywood though and through but with a Scottish director.
These examples back-up Petries point about the majority of Scottish films taking influence from other places. “Initiated, developed, financed and produced by individuals and companies based either in London or Los Angeles.” (Petrie, 2000; 15) So, these outside influences are not necessarily bad. They might make it more difficult to determine what's Scottish and what's not but they help make Scottish cinema more exciting and colourful.
“A vibrant cinema is marked by a diversity of influences, the collaboration with and borrowing from other film cultures, and the embrace of a variety of film-making practices, both mainstream and experimental.” (Neely, 2008; 162)
Genre-Bending
Scottish Cinemas' use of different genres is an advantageous one. “Scottish film makers get on with the business of making films that challenge the relevance of debates around representation or on occasion, side-step them altogether.” (Neely, 2008; 155) Neely describes the recent increase in films that playfully reworkdifferent genres as striking and talks about how Scottish cinema works in partnership with mainstream genres to push boundaries of dominant representations.
Some examples:
THRILLERS:
Dooms Day, 2008 (Dir: Neil Marshall) The Last Great Wilderness, 2003 (Dir: David MacKenzie); Red Road, 2006 (Dir: Andrea Arnold)
HORRORS:
Dog Soldiers, 2002 (Dir:Neil Marshall) Wild Country, 2005(Dir: Craig Strachan) Blinded, 2005 (Dir: Eleanor Yule)
COMEDY: Festival, 2005 (Dir: Annie Griffin) American Cousins, 2003 (Dir: Don Couttes)
Even one example works with the martial arts genre: The Purifiers, 2003
“Scottish cinema is increasingly less bound to issues of representation, there is an opening up of freedom and movement across both genre and subject.” (Neely, 2008; 157)
CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH CINEMA
During the 1980's “cultural expression in Scotland was developing in very interesting and productive ways...giving substance to claims that a cultural renaissance in Scotland was under way.” (Petrie, 2004)
There were 4 Key figures emerging in Scottish fiction:
In Literature there was Alasdair Gray and James Kelman, who redefined the imaginative scope of the Scottish Novel. In TV, John Byrne, originally a playwrite, led the reinvigoration of Scottish TV drama. Bill Forsyth, who Petrie believes is responsible for the 1980s revival of not only Scottish, but British cinema. “All four were united in their engagement with the lives and experiences of ordinary individuals.” (Petrie, 2004) They filled the gaps left by 'Clydesideism' - like narrow social realisms and lost working class community - and established a broader range of social experience and narrative situations. They created a re-imagination of urban Scotland and diminished the 'no mean city' stereotype of Glasgow.
FORSYTH was productive in an unproducive time. He produced 4 films in 5 years when very few British, let alone Scottish, films were being made.
He began making sponsored documentaries before his first feature film, That Sinking Feeling, 1980.It was made on a tiny budget with help from some friends and some keen college students. Regardless of this, it helped secure proper funding for his next film, Gregory's Girl, 1981 – again a low budget production.
Gregory's Girl established Forsyth's reputation as “an innovative and distinctive auteur” and paved the way for the next instalment of quadrillorgy – the commercially successful Local Hero,1983,the story of a small villages fight against corporate American oil firm.With the final film,Comfort & Joy, 1984,depicting the Glasgow ice-cream wars.
Each of these films represents a different Scotland:
That Sinking Feeling shows a traditional industrial Glasgow, a grimey landscape littered with tenements.
Gregory's Girl is set in new town Cumbernauld on the outskirts of the city. A more modern, cleaner and affluent Scotland.
Local Hero shows the more stereotypical highland retreat.
Comfort & Joy more modern, urban Glasgow with the hustle and bustle of city life.
Forsyth's work was recognized with numerous awards, both Brittish and from across the pond.
AWARDS:
BAFTA Best Screenplay (1982)
BAFTA Best Film Direction (1983)
London Critics Circle Film Award (1982)
New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Screenplay (1983)
National Society of Film Critics (USA) Best Screenplay award (1983).
Duncan Petrie says “Forsyth opened up a range of fresh approaches and aesthetic strategies for the representation of Scotland and the creative engagement with contemporary experience.” (Petrie, 2004)
Another very important time for the development of Scottish cinema occurred mid 1990s. Prior to this “the cinematic representation of Scotland had been largely an external creation, produced by and serving the commercial needs of a London based British Film Industry or Occasionally Hollywood.” (Petrie, 2000)
Most dynamic period for Scottish film in over 100 years
Bruce described it as “one of the most significant period in terms of building for the future as new political enthusiasms for Scottish films led to the promise of new structures and new money to sustain them.”
Film production budgets doubled from £340, 000 to £735, 000 between 1994 and 1996.
Number of films produced rose from 5 in 1991 to an average of over 10 per year in 1996.
61 films had been made in Scotland between 1991 and 1997.
1995 and 1996 Oscars littered with Scottish names
For eg. In 1995, we have Peter Capaldi's short film; Braveheart and Rob Roy;
Along with Scottish composer Patrick Doyle and cinematographer, Michael Coutler for Sense & Sensability.
Re-structuring of the agencies behind the Scottish film industry
The secratery of State annaounces the replacement of the existing structure
Scottish Film Council, Scottish Film Prodcution Fund; Scottish Screen Locations and Scottish Broadcast and Film Training all merged into one independent body and...
Scottish Screen is formed, 1997 with the aim to derive an integrated screen policy across Scotland and across the screen industry.
“Scottish Screen is the national development agency for the screen industries in Scotland. We aim to inspire audiences, support new and existing talent and businesses, educate young people, and promote Scotland as a creative place to make great films, award-winning television and world renowned digital entertainment. “
1999 record spend of £30 million without any Hollywood assistance.
The Development of New Scottish Discourses
As well as developments of finances available to Scottish cinema, the discourses within contemporary Scottish cinema itself was alsochanging. Sarah Neely (2006) noted that "
Scottish cinema is increasingly less bound to issues of representation... [There has been a] surge in narratives that are highly personal and individual representations of identity rather than aimed towards the collective." These developments began before the Scottish Oscar boom, but rapidly grew in its aftermath.
The big three discourses of previous Scottish cinema, Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydesideism, which encapsulated whole groups of people under one collective identity were being phased out. Replacing them came individual characters with individual issues and struggles more relevant to contemporary Scotland. However, with this new individual narrative came a problem with recognising discourses.
Think of a traditional Scottish Man...
Automatically we have well defined stereotypes in our head. The wear a kilt, play the bagpipes, drink whiskey, eat haggis and live in the highlands amongst the heather and cottages. The strong imagery from Tartanry and Kailyard have helped to secure this strong image of Scotsmen on a global scale.
Now think of a "contemporary" Scotsman...
With the shift in direction towards more contemporary and individual characters in Scottish cinema it becomes very difficult to define a typical Scottish male. Cinema has offered us up the junkie, the ned, the gawky awkward wee boy and the romantic (most often played by Gerard Butler!)
When trying to identify the beginning of this shift, it is important to look at Bill Forsyth. His films, rather than focus on Scotland as one whole collective identity focus on individual characters struggling with themselves in a typically working class setting. That Sinking Feeling explores the struggles of a gang-member who
over-identifies with his new role as dressing like a woman in a scam. However, Gregory's Girl is probably the best example of this contemporary Scottish man.
It gives us the character of Gregory, a fourth year student who is struggling with infatuations and adolescence. He is awkward, lanky and lives in his own wee bubble half the time. Gregory is far from your typical Scotsman. He is vulnerable, and pretty much under the thumb of all the women around him. He is naive, easily manipulated and all he cares about is getting his girl...whichever one it may be.
Gregory's character is a complete flip from the traditional Scotsman previously offered to us. Whereas they had connotations of strength, pride, masculinity and control, Gregory takes on some more feminine qualities. He is naive, easily-manipulated, controlled and weak. The women in the film instead take on this masculine role, acting more worldy-wise and mature, constantly appearing in control. This film showed the vulnerable side of Scottish men who are able to struggle with their own identity and roles.
"The way in which Gregory's Girl challenges Scottish imagery... is not by seeking to reveal an essential or even distinctive, Scottish identity but by suggesting some of the ways in which Scottishness can be inhabited. Indeed, one of the key pleasures of the film is precisely its play with identities in the form of characters who fail to occupy their social roles in expected ways." (John Hill, 1999, p.243)
We are presented ever more frequently with these male characters who are flawed, struggling to cope with their own battles, trying to make a change for the better, but coming up against the odds. This struggle can be seen in the leading male characters of The Last King of Scotland, The Flying Scotsman and Sweet Sixteen.
Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen tells the story of what can be described as a typical ned. His mother is in jail for a crime she didn’t commit and he feels that he should make her life better when she gets out. He gets into drug dealing to try and get money to buy his mum a caravan and give her a better life, but ends up getting mixed up with a lot more trouble than he bargained for.
Like gregory’s girl, sweet sixteen shows us a young boy going into manhood. He still has adolescent streaks and isn’t worldy wise in anyway yet he feels he can make a change. He acts like a man in order to try and make life better for his family, but his young, vulnerable side is exposed as he gets in too deep. His sisters are the ones who are really in charge and are fully wise to the trouble he is getting himself into.
This role reversal is rapidly becoming typical of Scottish contemporary cinema. We are constantly being faced with men in the role of underdog, coming up against odds much bigger than them.
So what about traditional Scottish women?
The can be summed up quite simply... They are in love.
Whether they were waiting for a love to come and find them, or desperately seeking it themselves, the women in these films never really played central roles. They were passive, overtly feminine, vulnerable and tended to the needs of their men.
One of the only leading female characters of traditional Scottish cinema is Mary Queen of Scots and her many adaptations, yet she is still shown as a woman who is in love, and who is extremely vulnerable in her ongoing battle for power with another woman.
In contemporary Scottish cinema, women are appearing in more and more central roles:
Charlotte Gray tells the story of a Scottish woman who joins the French secret service in a bid to serve her country.
One More Kiss is about a highly successful Scots woman who lives in New York but is returning to Scotland to make her life complete.
Dear Frankie is about a mother who is protecting her deaf son from the truth about an absent father. Dear Frankie Trailer
But as can be seen from watching the trailer above, there seems to be one thing missing from these strong women's lives. Love. When you look a bit closer we find out that
Charlotte Gray joins the French secret service because her RAF lover has been shot down behind enemy lines and she wants to rescue him.
In One More Kiss, the lead character returns home to find Sam (Gerard Butler) because she won’t feel complete without him.
Although the purpose of the leading female in Dear Frankie is to protect her son from the absent man in his life, she ends up realising that she needs a father for Frankie and falls in love with the man she’s hired to fool her son. “The reproduction of longing, loss and elegiac nostalgia... is staged within a topos of home, family and community, and is often guaranteed by the figure of the mother.” (Ian Goode, 2005)
So, even though there are more strong female characters popping up in leading roles in contemporary Scottish cinema, there is still this theme that whatever they are doing and their reasons for doing so are because they love a man and that man will make their lives complete.
It is important to look at what impact these changes in discourse have done to the traditional "big three" Scottish discourses. It is quite clear that Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydeside-ism and their encapsulating of an entire nation has very much dissolved in favour of the new individual stories and characters.
Possible new discourses present in contemporary Scottish cinema
When looking at contemporary Scottish cinema some recurring themes can be noticed. For this reason, we suggest three new discourses that appear to dominate contemporary Scottish cinema.
These are:
Multiculturalism
Social Realism
Post Devolutionary
Multiculturalism
Nina's Heavenly Delights Ae Fond Kiss The Last King of Scotland
Multiculturalism in this sense includes all films that deal with the way in which individual Scottish people interact with other cultures. These films tend to show a blend of cultures and a mix of Scottishness with the “other” in the film through the leading characters difficult journeys. This is a reflection of the idea that Scottish cinema is a type of devolved British cinema, rather than a cinema that is truly independent. Scottish films have moved completely away from being solely about Scotland, and into films that explore more deep and diverse themes.
Social Realism
The Flying Scotsman Sweet Sixteen The social realism discourse is akin to the discussion above about the underdog leading male character that frequently adorns contemporary Scottish cinema. This also includes the stronger role of women.
Women are the worldly wise, more successful, strong keepers of the family, who protect their men and children against all odds. The men in these films do not have easy lives. They come from a typically working class background. They are struggling with personal battles and trying to overcome them, even if they come up against really strong odds. It is always the heartwarming tale of the underdog trying to take on an opponent that is way too big for them to conquer and then, for the most part, overcoming their huge obstacles.
Although there is an increase in the number of strong women in Scottish cinema, there is not enough of them to warrant giving this type of discourse its own section.
Post Devolutionary
Post devolutionary Scottish cinema could also be called Americanisation. This section includes the number of films which are starting to tackle more Hollywood typical themes and stories in a Scottish setting.
Dog Soldiers Shallow Grave Complicity
These films all have horror or thriller stories that push into the realms of Hollywood cinema. The setting and characters are from Scotland, but nothing typically Scottish comes from these films. They could be set anywhere in the world with any characters. This direction for contemporary Scottish cinema is also beoming more frequent as it starts to branch out of its own restrictions.
“The new Scottish cinema has an opportunity not only to project Scotland to the rest of the world but to also play an important role at the heart of a revitalized national culture in reflecting the diversity of contemporary Scottish experience, interpretation and reinterpreting the past and providing a space for social criticism and the imagination of alternative possibilities.” (Petrie, 2000)
Petrie is condoning us to be proud of our Scottish background. Scottish cinema uses these traditional images to preserve and project our national heritage in a way that is instantly recognisable to us all. Tourism uses this romanticised view of Scotland to our advantage, to bring in new visitors to the country. But with the films of Danny Boyle and Ken Loach and their successors, Scotland’s “other” more vulnerable, gritty side is also now being projected on a global scale. Their images of Scotland are ones that most people living in Scotland can recognise and empaphise with regardless of their region or cultural background.
Petrie suggests four elements that may contribute to a films 'Scottishness'
Four examples were examined to investigate this :
Unleashed, 2005 (Dir: Luc Besson)
“A man raised into behaving like a dog escapes from his captor to start a new life, who seeks to reclaim him because of his unnatural martial arts skills that are triggered when unleashed.”
This films start Jet Li, Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins and was produced by Europa Corp but despite the range of actors' nationalities, was filmed largely in Glasgow – with Locations like Black Friars and The Barrowlands.
Dog Soldiers, 2002 (Dir: Neil Marshall)
“A routine military exercise turns into a nightmare in the Scotland wilderness.” English director, American production company Kismet entertainement, mostly English actors and although the film is set in Scotland, the majority of it was filmed in the Czech Republic.
Wanted, 2008 (Dir: TimurBekmambetov)
“A frustrated office worker learns that he is the son of a professional assassin, and that he shares his fathers superhuman killing abilities.”
Scottish actor James McAvoy stars along side Hollywood heavy weights Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman in this film – produced by American Universal.
State of Playe, 2008 (Dir: Kevin MacDonald)
“A team of investigative reporters work along side a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman's mistress.”
Looks Hollywood though and through but with a Scottish director.
These examples back-up Petries point about the majority of Scottish films taking influence from other places. “Initiated, developed, financed and produced by individuals and companies based either in London or Los Angeles.” (Petrie, 2000; 15) So, these outside influences are not necessarily bad. They might make it more difficult to determine what's Scottish and what's not but they help make Scottish cinema more exciting and colourful.
“A vibrant cinema is marked by a diversity of influences, the collaboration with and borrowing from other film cultures, and the embrace of a variety of film-making practices, both mainstream and experimental.” (Neely, 2008; 162)
Genre-Bending
Scottish Cinemas' use of different genres is an advantageous one. “Scottish film makers get on with the business of making films that challenge the relevance of debates around representation or on occasion, side-step them altogether.” (Neely, 2008; 155) Neely describes the recent increase in films that playfully rework different genres as striking and talks about how Scottish cinema works in partnership with mainstream genres to push boundaries of dominant representations.
Some examples:
THRILLERS:
Dooms Day, 2008 (Dir: Neil Marshall) The Last Great Wilderness, 2003 (Dir: David MacKenzie); Red Road, 2006 (Dir: Andrea Arnold)
HORRORS:
Dog Soldiers, 2002 (Dir:Neil Marshall) Wild Country, 2005(Dir: Craig Strachan) Blinded, 2005 (Dir: Eleanor Yule)
COMEDY: Festival, 2005 (Dir: Annie Griffin) American Cousins, 2003 (Dir: Don Couttes)
Even one example works with the martial arts genre: The Purifiers, 2003
“Scottish cinema is increasingly less bound to issues of representation, there is an opening up of freedom and movement across both genre and subject.” (Neely, 2008; 157)
CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH CINEMA
During the 1980's “cultural expression in Scotland was developing in very interesting and productive ways...giving substance to claims that a cultural renaissance in Scotland was under way.” (Petrie, 2004)
There were 4 Key figures emerging in Scottish fiction:
In Literature there was Alasdair Gray and James Kelman, who redefined the imaginative scope of the Scottish Novel. In TV, John Byrne, originally a playwrite, led the reinvigoration of Scottish TV drama. Bill Forsyth, who Petrie believes is responsible for the 1980s revival of not only Scottish, but British cinema. “All four were united in their engagement with the lives and experiences of ordinary individuals.” (Petrie, 2004) They filled the gaps left by 'Clydesideism' - like narrow social realisms and lost working class community - and established a broader range of social experience and narrative situations. They created a re-imagination of urban Scotland and diminished the 'no mean city' stereotype of Glasgow.
FORSYTH was productive in an unproducive time. He produced 4 films in 5 years when very few British, let alone Scottish, films were being made.
He began making sponsored documentaries before his first feature film, That Sinking Feeling, 1980. It was made on a tiny budget with help from some friends and some keen college students. Regardless of this, it helped secure proper funding for his next film, Gregory's Girl, 1981 – again a low budget production.
Gregory's Girl established Forsyth's reputation as “an innovative and distinctive auteur” and paved the way for the next instalment of quadrillorgy – the commercially successful Local Hero,1983, the story of a small villages fight against corporate American oil firm. With the final film, Comfort & Joy, 1984, depicting the Glasgow ice-cream wars.
Each of these films represents a different Scotland:
Forsyth's work was recognized with numerous awards, both Brittish and from across the pond.
AWARDS:
Duncan Petrie says “Forsyth opened up a range of fresh approaches and aesthetic strategies for the representation of Scotland and the creative engagement with contemporary experience.” (Petrie, 2004)
Another very important time for the development of Scottish cinema occurred mid 1990s. Prior to this “the cinematic representation of Scotland had been largely an external creation, produced by and serving the commercial needs of a London based British Film Industry or Occasionally Hollywood.” (Petrie, 2000)
Bruce described it as “one of the most significant period in terms of building for the future as new political enthusiasms for Scottish films led to the promise of new structures and new money to sustain them.”
61 films had been made in Scotland between 1991 and 1997.
- 1995 and 1996 Oscars littered with Scottish names
For eg. In 1995, we have Peter Capaldi's short film; Braveheart and Rob Roy;Along with Scottish composer Patrick Doyle and cinematographer, Michael Coutler for Sense & Sensability.
The secratery of State annaounces the replacement of the existing structure
Scottish Film Council, Scottish Film Prodcution Fund; Scottish Screen Locations and Scottish Broadcast and Film Training all merged into one independent body and...
“Scottish Screen is the national development agency for the screen industries in Scotland. We aim to inspire audiences, support new and existing talent and businesses, educate young people, and promote Scotland as a creative place to make great films, award-winning television and world renowned digital entertainment. “
The Development of New Scottish Discourses
As well as developments of finances available to Scottish cinema, the discourses within contemporary Scottish cinema itself was alsochanging. Sarah Neely (2006) noted that "
Scottish cinema is increasingly less bound to issues of representation... [There has been a] surge in narratives that are highly personal and individual representations of identity rather than aimed towards the collective." These developments began before the Scottish Oscar boom, but rapidly grew in its aftermath.
The big three discourses of previous Scottish cinema, Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydesideism, which encapsulated whole groups of people under one collective identity were being phased out. Replacing them came individual characters with individual issues and struggles more relevant to contemporary Scotland. However, with this new individual narrative came a problem with recognising discourses.
Think of a traditional Scottish Man...
Automatically we have well defined stereotypes in our head. The wear a kilt, play the bagpipes, drink whiskey, eat haggis and live in the highlands amongst the heather and cottages. The strong imagery from Tartanry and Kailyard have helped to secure this strong image of Scotsmen on a global scale.
Now think of a "contemporary" Scotsman...
With the shift in direction towards more contemporary and individual characters in Scottish cinema it becomes very difficult to define a typical Scottish male. Cinema has offered us up the junkie, the ned, the gawky awkward wee boy and the romantic (most often played by Gerard Butler!)
When trying to identify the beginning of this shift, it is important to look at Bill Forsyth. His films, rather than focus on Scotland as one whole collective identity focus on individual characters struggling with themselves in a typically working class setting.
That Sinking Feeling explores the struggles of a gang-member who
over-identifies with his new role as dressing like a woman in a scam. However, Gregory's Girl is probably the best example of this contemporary Scottish man.
It gives us the character of Gregory, a fourth year student who is struggling with infatuations and adolescence. He is awkward, lanky and lives in his own wee bubble half the time. Gregory is far from your typical Scotsman. He is vulnerable, and pretty much under the thumb of all the women around him. He is naive, easily manipulated and all he cares about is getting his girl...whichever one it may be.
Gregory's character is a complete flip from the traditional Scotsman previously offered to us. Whereas they had connotations of strength, pride, masculinity and control, Gregory takes on some more feminine qualities. He is naive, easily-manipulated, controlled and weak. The women in the film instead take on this masculine role, acting more worldy-wise and mature, constantly appearing in control. This film showed the vulnerable side of Scottish men who are able to struggle with their own identity and roles.
"The way in which Gregory's Girl challenges Scottish imagery... is not by seeking to reveal an essential or even distinctive, Scottish identity but by suggesting some of the ways in which Scottishness can be inhabited. Indeed, one of the key pleasures of the film is precisely its play with identities in the form of characters who fail to occupy their social roles in expected ways." (John Hill, 1999, p.243)
We are presented ever more frequently with these male characters who are flawed, struggling to cope with their own battles, trying to make a change for the better, but coming up against the odds. This struggle can be seen in the leading male characters of The Last King of Scotland, The Flying Scotsman and Sweet Sixteen.
Ken Loach’s Sweet Sixteen tells the story of what can be described as a typical ned. His mother is in jail for a crime she didn’t commit and he feels that he should make her life better when she gets out. He gets into drug dealing to try and get money to buy his mum a caravan and give her a better life, but ends up getting mixed up with a lot more trouble than he bargained for.
Sweet Sixteen Cannes Film Festival Trailer
Like gregory’s girl, sweet sixteen shows us a young boy going into manhood. He still has adolescent streaks and isn’t worldy wise in anyway yet he feels he can make a change. He acts like a man in order to try and make life better for his family, but his young, vulnerable side is exposed as he gets in too deep. His sisters are the ones who are really in charge and are fully wise to the trouble he is getting himself into.
This role reversal is rapidly becoming typical of Scottish contemporary cinema. We are constantly being faced with men in the role of underdog, coming up against odds much bigger than them.
So what about traditional Scottish women?
The can be summed up quite simply... They are in love.
Whether they were waiting for a love to come and find them, or desperately seeking it themselves, the women in these films never really played central roles. They were passive, overtly feminine, vulnerable and tended to the needs of their men.
One of the only leading female characters of traditional Scottish cinema is Mary Queen of Scots and her many adaptations, yet she is still shown as a woman who is in love, and who is extremely vulnerable in her ongoing battle for power with another woman.
In contemporary Scottish cinema, women are appearing in more and more central roles:
Charlotte Gray tells the story of a Scottish woman who joins the French secret service in a bid to serve her country.
One More Kiss is about a highly successful Scots woman who lives in New York but is returning to Scotland to make her life complete.
Dear Frankie is about a mother who is protecting her deaf son from the truth about an absent father.
Dear Frankie Trailer
But as can be seen from watching the trailer above, there seems to be one thing missing from these strong women's lives. Love. When you look a bit closer we find out that
Charlotte Gray joins the French secret service because her RAF lover has been shot down behind enemy lines and she wants to rescue him.
In One More Kiss, the lead character returns home to find Sam (Gerard Butler) because she won’t feel complete without him.
Although the purpose of the leading female in Dear Frankie is to protect her son from the absent man in his life, she ends up realising that she needs a father for Frankie and falls in love with the man she’s hired to fool her son.
“The reproduction of longing, loss and elegiac nostalgia... is staged within a topos of home, family and
community, and is often guaranteed by the figure of the mother.”
(Ian Goode, 2005)
So, even though there are more strong female characters popping up in leading roles in contemporary Scottish cinema, there is still this theme that whatever they are doing and their reasons for doing so are because they love a man and that man will make their lives complete.
It is important to look at what impact these changes in discourse have done to the traditional "big three" Scottish discourses. It is quite clear that Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydeside-ism and their encapsulating of an entire nation has very much dissolved in favour of the new individual stories and characters.
Possible new discourses present in contemporary Scottish cinema
When looking at contemporary Scottish cinema some recurring themes can be noticed. For this reason, we suggest three new discourses that appear to dominate contemporary Scottish cinema.
These are:
Multiculturalism
Nina's Heavenly Delights Ae Fond Kiss The Last King of Scotland
Multiculturalism in this sense includes all films that deal with the way in which individual Scottish people interact with other cultures. These films tend to show a blend of cultures and a mix of Scottishness with the “other” in the film through the leading characters difficult journeys.
This is a reflection of the idea that Scottish cinema is a type of devolved British cinema, rather than a cinema that is truly independent. Scottish films have moved completely away from being solely about Scotland, and into films that explore more deep and diverse themes.
Social Realism
The Flying Scotsman Sweet Sixteen
The social realism discourse is akin to the discussion above about the underdog leading male character that frequently adorns contemporary Scottish cinema. This also includes the stronger role of women.
Women are the worldly wise, more successful, strong keepers of the family, who protect their men and children against all odds. The men in these films do not have easy lives. They come from a typically working class background. They are struggling with personal battles and trying to overcome them, even if they come up against really strong odds. It is always the heartwarming tale of the underdog trying to take on an opponent that is way too big for them to conquer and then, for the most part, overcoming their huge obstacles.
Although there is an increase in the number of strong women in Scottish cinema, there is not enough of them to warrant giving this type of discourse its own section.
Post Devolutionary
Post devolutionary Scottish cinema could also be called Americanisation. This section includes the number of films which are starting to tackle more Hollywood typical themes and stories in a Scottish setting.
Dog Soldiers Shallow Grave
Complicity
These films all have horror or thriller stories that push into the realms of Hollywood cinema. The setting and characters are from Scotland, but nothing typically Scottish comes from these films. They could be set anywhere in the world with any characters. This direction for contemporary Scottish cinema is also beoming more frequent as it starts to branch out of its own restrictions.
“The new Scottish cinema has an opportunity not only to project Scotland to the rest of the world but to also play an important role at the heart of a revitalized national culture in reflecting the diversity of contemporary Scottish experience, interpretation and reinterpreting the past and providing a space for social criticism and the imagination of alternative possibilities.”
(Petrie, 2000)
Petrie is condoning us to be proud of our Scottish background. Scottish cinema uses these traditional images to preserve and project our national heritage in a way that is instantly recognisable to us all. Tourism uses this romanticised view of Scotland to our advantage, to bring in new visitors to the country. But with the films of Danny Boyle and Ken Loach and their successors, Scotland’s “other” more vulnerable, gritty side is also now being projected on a global scale. Their images of Scotland are ones that most people living in Scotland can recognise and empaphise with regardless of their region or cultural background.