The UK consensus of 2001 puts the number of Gaelic speakers at less than 60 000. They live mostly on the Outer Hebrides and the western Isles. However, despite a growing community in Glasgow and the central belt (The Independent), the language has been classified by UNESCO as “definitely endangered”. Historically, the problem of Gaelic is that the society of which it was the linguistic expression, the tribal life of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, doesn’t exist anymore. Just like this society, the language ceased to exist after the battle of Culloden in 1746 and was marginalized to the geographically outer edges of Scotland with the highland clearances. The biggest problem for the survival of Gaelic as a language nowadays, is that per year there are only 250 new Gaelic speakers whilst 1500 people die in that time. (www.culturalcommission.org)
Gaelic film and broadcasting funding
Arguably, after the success of the revival of other minority languages like Catalan in Spain and the increase of Welsh media programming, the Comataidh Telebhisein Gaidhlig (Gaelic Television fund) was formed in 1990 as a provider for Gaelic television programme production, training, audience research and related activities. In 1993, it was already operating on a budget of £ 9.5 Mio (Bruce, 1996: 237) and enabled a boost to the until then limited Gaelic language output of other broadcasters like BBC Scotland, etc. The successor of the Gaelic television fund was the Comataidh Craolaidh Gáidhlig (CCG), the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee (1997) which was then replaced in Feb 2004 by Seirbheis nam MeadhananGàidhlig (Gaelic Media Service Board) The task was now not only to provide funding, but the new Service was given additional powers to make, schedule and commission programmes and the authority to seek a broadcast licence.
A further objective was the launch of a Gaelic digital channel. This was achieved in September 2008, when the BBC in partnership with MG Alba launched BBC Alba, a tri-media Gaelic Service, consisting of
- BBC Alba (digital channel)
- BBC Radio nan Gaidheal
- BBC Alba online
Gaelic broadcasting
Gruth is Uachdar (2002)
Gruth is Uachdar is a three part series that was broadcast UK wide after being a huge success and was subsequently seen by a quarter of a million people (www.bbc.co.uk). The serial drama is about a boy growing up in a Hebridean crofting community in the 1930’s. In the first part special emphasis is put on how children were not allowed to speak Gaelic in school. That reflects the justification of the 19th C decision to eradicate Gaelic speaking in schools and public because Gaelic culture was seen as Anti-Enlightenment and backwards.
However, Gruth is Uachdar also shows the peaceful upbringing in a close-knit community where history and culture is preserved by stories being told from the older to younger generations. This feature will reoccur in the section on Gaelic films.
Eòrpa
Eòrpa is a 30-minute-long current affairs format on BBC Alba and BBC 2 Scotland (scheduled after a break for autumn 2010) that investigates Scottish as well as European issues. Eòrpa is an example of the Gaelic community being able to ‘make sense’ of the outside world. By applying the language to European issues, it shows that it is a language that also works outside of local and cultural parameters and attracts a wider audience than the number of people who actually speak Gaelic. This offers a chance for minority language media to portray the community outside of its borders.
Two of the main objectives of Bord na Gàidhlig are education and media. When it comes to education, the emphasis is not only to teach the language but rather teach in the language. (www.culturalcommission.org) This is a good analogy for what Eòrpa is doing: it applies the language rather than merely using it. By doing so, the language comes ‘alive’. High-quality programming leads to people outside the community switching in. This in turn, defeats stereotypes and can arguably create an atmosphere of acceptance when it comes to public funding, for example. And furthermore, “ignoring needs and desires of ethnic minorities for broadcasts that reflect their cultural identities and heritage is often a prescription for alienation, political strife, and separatism.” (Howell in Riggins, 1992}Gaelic film
The very first Gaelic speaking feature film production was Hero (dir. Barney Platt-Mills, 1982).
In 1993 the first Gaelic language film As an Eilean -From the Island (dir. Mike Alexander) funded by the Comataidh Telebhisein Gaidhlig was released.
“The story, which is set in a small village on a remote Scottish Island, centres around the gifted Callum who is in his final year at school and preparing to go to University in Aberdeen on the mainland. He receives private tuition from Charles McAllister a former Headmaster at the village school who has become bitter since the death of his wife. McAllister coaches Callum in French and Poetry. When he is not coaching Callum he is compiling a photo biography of the characters in the village. The wedding of the young village nurse is to form the centre piece of his biography. The story traces the life of characters in the village as recorded by McAllister, but seen through the eyes of Callum. It is the story of the life, loves and motivators in the life of young man in the process of breaking free from the place where he grew up.” (www.imdb.com) However, Bruce (1996) notes that it only found a cinema audience for one week in Scotland, whereas it ran for five weeks in Berlin, Israel and Australia. He puts it down to English-only speaking audiences not being fond of subtitled films.
The film was swiftly followed by Màiri Mhòrin 1994 (dir. Mike Alexander). It tells the story of Mairi MacDonald (later Macpherson) of Skye, who moved to Inverness where she was wrongly imprisoned by the (English-speaking) local authorities. In prison, she transfers her anger into songs about her upbringing on Skye and about historical events (predominantly the Highland clearances). One scene hears her saying, “I was here to make songs of the tragedy and joys of my people”. Although this quote shows the importance of preserving culture and heritage in songs, we find the well-known discourses of Tartanry and Kailyard attached to it.
Having strong notions of these discourses in some films portrays the highlander as backwards farmers who have are very emotional (anti-rational) and hate the English. In Màiri Mhòr some of these stereotypes are reiterated.
“Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil. The truth is in the story. “ (www.seachd.com) In this, Seachd (dir. 2007) has much in common with Màiri Mhòr, yet is very different as an example of how culture and heritage can be embraced through storytelling without having to resort to the use of the two discourses. The story revolves around Angus, who visits his dying grandfather in hospital and his memory takes him back to when he grew up with his grandparents after his parents’ death. The grandfather tells him mystical stories of Gaelic origin. Whilst trying to come to terms with his parents’ death, Angus tries to find out whether these stories are true or not, thus engages with his Gaelic roots and also pulls the viewer into the culture.
The films visuals are remarkable (as hinted in the trailer) and celebrate Scotland’s beauty without romanticising. Equally the fact that the grandfather’s stories might be fictional enables to recall actual historical events, like the Highland clearances, detached from ethnocentric emotions.
The UK consensus of 2001 puts the number of Gaelic speakers at less than 60 000. They live mostly on the Outer Hebrides and the western Isles. However, despite a growing community in Glasgow and the central belt (The Independent), the language has been classified by UNESCO as “definitely endangered”. Historically, the problem of Gaelic is that the society of which it was the linguistic expression, the tribal life of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, doesn’t exist anymore. Just like this society, the language ceased to exist after the battle of Culloden in 1746 and was marginalized to the geographically outer edges of Scotland with the highland clearances. The biggest problem for the survival of Gaelic as a language nowadays, is that per year there are only 250 new Gaelic speakers whilst 1500 people die in that time. (www.culturalcommission.org)
Gaelic film and broadcasting funding
Arguably, after the success of the revival of other minority languages like Catalan in Spain and the increase of Welsh media programming, the Comataidh Telebhisein Gaidhlig (Gaelic Television fund) was formed in 1990 as a provider for Gaelic television programme production, training, audience research and related activities. In 1993, it was already operating on a budget of £ 9.5 Mio (Bruce, 1996: 237) and enabled a boost to the until then limited Gaelic language output of other broadcasters like BBC Scotland, etc.
The successor of the Gaelic television fund was the Comataidh Craolaidh Gáidhlig (CCG), the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee (1997) which was then replaced in Feb 2004 by Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig (Gaelic Media Service Board)
The task was now not only to provide funding, but the new Service was given additional powers to make, schedule and commission programmes and the authority to seek a broadcast licence.
A further objective was the launch of a Gaelic digital channel. This was achieved in September 2008, when the BBC in partnership with MG Alba launched BBC Alba, a tri-media Gaelic Service, consisting of
- BBC Alba (digital channel)
- BBC Radio nan Gaidheal
- BBC Alba online
Gaelic broadcasting
Gruth is Uachdar (2002)
Gruth is Uachdar is a three part series that was broadcast UK wide after being a huge success and was subsequently seen by a quarter of a million people (www.bbc.co.uk). The serial drama is about a boy growing up in a Hebridean crofting community in the 1930’s. In the first part special emphasis is put on how children were not allowed to speak Gaelic in school. That reflects the justification of the 19th C decision to eradicate Gaelic speaking in schools and public because Gaelic culture was seen as Anti-Enlightenment and backwards.
However, Gruth is Uachdar also shows the peaceful upbringing in a close-knit community where history and culture is preserved by stories being told from the older to younger generations. This feature will reoccur in the section on Gaelic films.
Eòrpa
Eòrpa is a 30-minute-long current affairs format on BBC Alba and BBC 2 Scotland (scheduled after a break for autumn 2010) that investigates Scottish as well as European issues. Eòrpa is an example of the Gaelic community being able to ‘make sense’ of the outside world. By applying the language to European issues, it shows that it is a language that also works outside of local and cultural parameters and attracts a wider audience than the number of people who actually speak Gaelic. This offers a chance for minority language media to portray the community outside of its borders.
Two of the main objectives of Bord na Gàidhlig are education and media. When it comes to education, the emphasis is not only to teach the language but rather teach in the language. (www.culturalcommission.org) This is a good analogy for what Eòrpa is doing: it applies the language rather than merely using it. By doing so, the language comes ‘alive’. High-quality programming leads to people outside the community switching in. This in turn, defeats stereotypes and can arguably create an atmosphere of acceptance when it comes to public funding, for example. And furthermore, “ignoring needs and desires of ethnic minorities for broadcasts that reflect their cultural identities and heritage is often a prescription for alienation, political strife, and separatism.” (Howell in Riggins, 1992}
The very first Gaelic speaking feature film production was Hero (dir. Barney Platt-Mills, 1982).
In 1993 the first Gaelic language film As an Eilean -From the Island (dir. Mike Alexander) funded by the Comataidh Telebhisein Gaidhlig was released.
“The story, which is set in a small village on a remote Scottish Island, centres around the gifted Callum who is in his final year at school and preparing to go to University in Aberdeen on the mainland. He receives private tuition from Charles McAllister a former Headmaster at the village school who has become bitter since the death of his wife. McAllister coaches Callum in French and Poetry. When he is not coaching Callum he is compiling a photo biography of the characters in the village. The wedding of the young village nurse is to form the centre piece of his biography. The story traces the life of characters in the village as recorded by McAllister, but seen through the eyes of Callum. It is the story of the life, loves and motivators in the life of young man in the process of breaking free from the place where he grew up.” (www.imdb.com) However, Bruce (1996) notes that it only found a cinema audience for one week in Scotland, whereas it ran for five weeks in Berlin, Israel and Australia. He puts it down to English-only speaking audiences not being fond of subtitled films.
The film was swiftly followed by Màiri Mhòr in 1994 (dir. Mike Alexander). It tells the story of Mairi MacDonald (later Macpherson) of Skye, who moved to Inverness where she was wrongly imprisoned by the (English-speaking) local authorities. In prison, she transfers her anger into songs about her upbringing on Skye and about historical events (predominantly the Highland clearances). One scene hears her saying, “I was here to make songs of the tragedy and joys of my people”. Although this quote shows the importance of preserving culture and heritage in songs, we find the well-known discourses of Tartanry and Kailyard attached to it.
Having strong notions of these discourses in some films portrays the highlander as backwards farmers who have are very emotional (anti-rational) and hate the English. In Màiri Mhòr some of these stereotypes are reiterated.
“Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil. The truth is in the story. “ (www.seachd.com) In this, Seachd (dir. 2007) has much in common with Màiri Mhòr, yet is very different as an example of how culture and heritage can be embraced through storytelling without having to resort to the use of the two discourses. The story revolves around Angus, who visits his dying grandfather in hospital and his memory takes him back to when he grew up with his grandparents after his parents’ death. The grandfather tells him mystical stories of Gaelic origin. Whilst trying to come to terms with his parents’ death, Angus tries to find out whether these stories are true or not, thus engages with his Gaelic roots and also pulls the viewer into the culture.
The films visuals are remarkable (as hinted in the trailer) and celebrate Scotland’s beauty without romanticising. Equally the fact that the grandfather’s stories might be fictional enables to recall actual historical events, like the Highland clearances, detached from ethnocentric emotions.