Getting to grips with America...continued.

Thursday 18 June 2015

Start of a More Critical attitude towards Hollywood films

I think 'Brigadoon' set me off. Despite a couple of memorable tunes, it was crass stuff! Then, Mary Queen of Scots was 'murdered' by Elizabeth and Lord Chancellor Burleigh in so many ways, I lost count. 

 Mary Queen of Scots

The (first) film about 'Greyfriars Bobby' passes muster. It's about the faithful little dog that slept on its masters grave every night until it also passed away. The dog's statue still stands outside the Kirk of the Greyfriars, in Edinburgh, where his master lies.

Greyfriars Bobby

They did better with RLS's 'Treasure Island' and 'Kidnapped', but a foul job with his 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'. 

 Robert Louis Stevenson

Also, it seems to have completely missed Americana that Sir Walter Scott's imagination provided the substance for countless 'sword, shield and buckler' type of presentations, like 'Ivanhoe';

Ivanhoe

that Arthur Conan Doyle's life in Edinburgh laid the basis for his Sherlock Holmes character;

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes

or that J M Barrie created 'Peter Pan, or the Boy who wouldn't Grow Up'. 

J M Barrie

Perhaps I should be thankful that Hollywood eyes have not yet fallen upon the poet, Robert Burns! Or have they?

Robert Burns

Another, almost unforgivable trait is the feeble perception by Hollywood moguls of what

Scots have brought to the world. Despite having been at the forefront of almost every field of endeavour in the political, commercial and industrial worlds; in discovery and the mapping of the earth; in engineering, inventiveness, medicine, education and botany.

 What  is usually served is a re-hash of haggis, shortbread, tartan, kilts and bagpipes.

The unvarnished truth is that Scots (learning a great deal from others, and especially from the Dutch) developed professionalism in every major field from the 1680s: such as in medicine, education and botany. This was long before the rest of the world was even aware of such a word as 'professional'.  

The nearest to any form of recognition from American producers are the feats of Andrew Carnegie and that of 'Scotty' in 'Star Trek' (the one an industrialist, the other an engineer). 

Andrew Carnegie

Have they never heard of the finance genius, John Law and the founding of New Orleans; of Mackenzie and the North-West passage; 

John Law of the Mississippi Scheme

of Dr Livingstone - other than Stanley's "Dr Livingstone, I presume". 

 Livingstone

When will they 'do' a production that appraises the Scottish Enlightenment—and of the impact this had on founding America?

Alexander Graham Bell, although the invention was made in America where he had settled, was a Scot. So was Pinkerton and his detective agency, who hailed from Glasgow; protecting Presidents was one of his duties.

Alexander Graham Bell

To me, the 'daddy of them all' (i.e. the best) was James Clerk Maxwell, who really laid the ground work for all future inventions in electricity, magnetism and optics. He inspired Einstein and was regarded as the middle man between Isaac Newton and himself.

James Clerk Maxwell

What the above really says, readers, is that I had discovered who I really am. No longer was there a prism always in front of my eyes, directing my vision and thought through the projections of Hollywood, England, Europe or elsewhere.

In the words of yet another incredible Scot, Sir Patrick Geddes, I am now able to: 'Think global, act local'. 
I am a Scot.

Conclusion,,,for the time being...of Getting to grips with America