The representation of nationality in "Braveheart" and "Trainspotting"

Braveheart and Trainspotting, both set in Scotland, hit the big screen in 1995. The first was an American award-winning big-budget epic movie that featured an Australian as a Scottish National Hero and was filmed in Ireland. The latter, a Scottish production and the most successful British film of the year, was a comparatively low-budget production, completely financed by Channel four. Both share in common the fact that they reached a huge audience world-wide, which may have been highly influenced by the films’ depictions of Scotland 1. As the American cinema market is the most important for domestic films, the way in which Scotland is presented in Braveheart is consciously chosen to primarily please the expectation of the American audience in the first place but also the moviegoers of Europe and the rest of the world. Trainspotting was primarily aimed at a British audience although an international success was naturally hoped for. In this essay I will analyse the ways in which nationality in the two films is represented. First I will deal with Braveheart and examine the application of Tartanry images in the representation of Scotland. Consequently, I will argue that the depiction of the Scots is divided by class lines, with Robert the Bruce as a special case. In addition, I will evaluate the representation of the English as well as the Irish and the French nation. In the second part of the essay I will concentrate on Trainspotting and its debunking of the stereotypical Highland-iconography. An analysis of the use of local culture in the film is followed by a closer look at how the film undermines the discourse of Tartanry and the issue of national pride. 1 When asked in a survey to name one image which best sums up Scotland, 16% of people in Bangladesh chose Braveheart. Other main associations were kilts, whisky, bagpipes and highlands/mountains (cf. McLoone 2001: 187).