Wm. Wallace and all that

[winterbadger]

I was recounting to a friend the wonderfully ironic tale of the hideous new statue of William Wallace near Stirling, emblazoned with the word "Freedom!", that has to be enclosed in a cage at night. In the process, I found this photo, which is in some teeny-bopper's MySpace page and is entitled "Melrose Scotland in front of William Wallace statue with my travel buddy Bentley--2001".

I don't know if that guy is named Bentley, but that's not Melrose or a statue of William Wallace. That's the monument at Glenfinnan to commemorate the landing of Prince Charles Stuart that began the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. So, about 200 miles away (the Wallace Monument is not at Melrose either, BTW) and about 450 years off in time.

Comments

[aitkendrum.livejournal.com]

Don't even start me on "that" statue. The Wallace Monument has him chiseled into the side as he should be - chainmail and sword (ie like many nobles of the time) nae with kilt and blue painted face (grrrr).

What was even worse was a display at a show with a Scots army all painted with blue faces based on the film...not based on te actual battle!

[winterbadger]

Yeah, it's a real shame that so many, in Scotland and out, seem to have taken the ravings of a pair of bigoted loonies (the screenwriter and MG are a pair cut from the same cloth) and run with it like it was real hisotry. As always, I'm put in mind of john_arundel's question: "Why don't they just do *real* history? It's usually just as filled with sex, violence, and cruelty, and it has the added advantage of being *true*!"

MG lived in Australia just long enough before he came back to the States to develop a real hatred of the English. Gallipoli, Braveheart, The Patriot...the English are always evil, wicked, and cruel, and it doesn't matter to him how many lies he tells in order to get that idea across. I'm surprised that the NVA troops in "We Were Soldiers..." weren't commanded by English officers.

What an asshat he is.

[justjayj.livejournal.com]

That is NOT a statue of William Wallace. That IS, among other things, a really bad joke.

It needs to be tagged SPARTAAAAAAAAAA! That's how bad a joke it is.