The scottish nationalist figure of William Wallace through popular culture

Résumé 0

Throughout my thesis, I will be trying to show the impact of the fight of William Wallace (and other very important factors in history which contributed to the nationalist sentiment in Scotland) and the cultural legacy he transmitted to his people and to future generations as well. First, this study will tackle the question of the cultural legacy and try to define precisely the concepts of patriotism, nationalism and nation. This first part mostly uses theorists’ speeches and articles who tried to define the concepts of nation and nationalism, such as Ernest Renan in his speech Qu’est-ce qu’une nation? (1882), Anthony D.Smith in his book Ethnosymbolism and Nationalism – A cultural approach (2009) or Benedict Anderson with his work entitled Imagined communities (1983). Although they are authors with contrasted perspectives and from different periods of time, they all try to define in a complex way these notions and give us a thoughtful insight on the phenomenon of nationalism in itself, which is why these works will be used throughout the study. Then, this study will try to show how William Wallace has been glorified and romanticized through the centuries but mostly through contemporary popular culture and how he symbolizes a undeniable argument for the Scots. This will be studied through articles, tributes, books, or movies: it will thus allow us to better understand the notion of national heroes and the traditions and elements used to create a nation. This part will essentially analyse the movie Braveheart produced by Mel Gibson in 1995 and the book National heroes and Nationalism, written by Linas Eriknosas in 1993. Finally, this study will try to argue that nationalism and nations are constructed through popular culture, and are thus not always enlightened or truthful, but they remain significant all the same. The study will thus analyse and use theorists’ works such as Benedict Anderson with his book Imagined communities (1983). This third part will thus try to provide an insight on the fact that national identity through a common and shared culture might be a ‘myth’, always through the prism of Scotland. It will also try to show how the fight for independence can sometimes use wrong arguments, especially when some of the nationalists use Anglophobia to defend their opinion, which is not the case of the Scottish National Party.