Random thoughts of Terry Hamblin about leukaemia, literature, poetry, politics, religion, cricket and music.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Gibson again
A lot of reaction to Mel Gibson's drunken rudeness. Where were all the critics when he made those two travesties of history, Braveheart and The Patriot?
Didn't see Braveheart, but I did enjoy the Patriot (twice). Of course the Brits are the bad guys! The Stamp Act, the Tea Tax, quartering soldiers in someone's home (how would you like that?), and the idiotic, heavy-handed approach the Brits had in general, trying to force the colonists to buy British goods and keep native industries undeveloped. Classic colonialism!
I LOVED it when the perfidious Brit leader got it in the end. I also loved how the Brits were constantly out-witted by the wily colonists.
I'm sorry, but the British have a dismal history in running the affairs of other countries. A quick glance at the appalling behavior of England during the Irish potato famine is a good lesson to take home.
We beat England twice (Revolutionary War and the War of 1812). I'm always going to root for the Americans against the British. Sorry.
We may be allies, but you can't spell neighbor or labor or even color properly (or even leukemia). You insist on the weird game of cricket instead of the sublime baseball, your hooligans take over soccer matches, and you drink your beer warm (horrors!)
However, we like the Brits in spite of all of this. At least we sort of understand the accent, as opposed to the Scottish or Australian accent, which is sometime impenetrable.
1812 ended in a stalemate at New Orleans. Claimed as an American Victory because there were still some Americans left standing. A bit like Hizbollah's 'victory' over Israel. And a war fought for much the same reason: America invaded Canada. Notice how far from Canada the front line ended up.
As for the Irish potato famine you have been reading Irish propaganda about that.
The Patriot pinched episodes from the Nazi's behaviour in Word War 2 and attributed them to the Brits, Other episodes more properly belong to the American trea6tment of the Indians. Read my recent blog about Matthew Hervey or read the book by Alan Mallinson to see how the Native Americans regarded the two sides in 1812.
Also an earlier Gibson film, Galliopli, which showed Australians making an heroic over-the-top attack to give the British a chance of landing safely while the Brits drunk tea on the beach was admitted 0n BBC2 last night to have been another travesty of history. Galliopli was certainly a cock-up, but the British, Irish and French suffered just as much as the Australians.
Didn't see Braveheart, but I did enjoy the Patriot (twice). Of course the Brits are the bad guys! The Stamp Act, the Tea Tax, quartering soldiers in someone's home (how would you like that?), and the idiotic, heavy-handed approach the Brits had in general, trying to force the colonists to buy British goods and keep native industries undeveloped. Classic colonialism!
ReplyDeleteI LOVED it when the perfidious Brit leader got it in the end. I also loved how the Brits were constantly out-witted by the wily colonists.
I'm sorry, but the British have a dismal history in running the affairs of other countries. A quick glance at the appalling behavior of England during the Irish potato famine is a good lesson to take home.
We beat England twice (Revolutionary War and the War of 1812). I'm always going to root for the Americans against the British. Sorry.
We may be allies, but you can't spell neighbor or labor or even color properly (or even leukemia). You insist on the weird game of cricket instead of the sublime baseball, your hooligans take over soccer matches, and you drink your beer warm (horrors!)
However, we like the Brits in spite of all of this. At least we sort of understand the accent, as opposed to the Scottish or Australian accent, which is sometime impenetrable.
1812 ended in a stalemate at New Orleans. Claimed as an American Victory because there were still some Americans left standing. A bit like Hizbollah's 'victory' over Israel. And a war fought for much the same reason: America invaded Canada. Notice how far from Canada the front line ended up.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Irish potato famine you have been reading Irish propaganda about that.
The Patriot pinched episodes from the Nazi's behaviour in Word War 2 and attributed them to the Brits, Other episodes more properly belong to the American trea6tment of the Indians. Read my recent blog about Matthew Hervey or read the book by Alan Mallinson to see how the Native Americans regarded the two sides in 1812.
Also an earlier Gibson film, Galliopli, which showed Australians making an heroic over-the-top attack to give the British a chance of landing safely while the Brits drunk tea on the beach was admitted 0n BBC2 last night to have been another travesty of history. Galliopli was certainly a cock-up, but the British, Irish and French suffered just as much as the Australians.
ReplyDeleteGallipoli, screenplay by David Williamson, has always been known to be fiction and historically incorrect.
ReplyDeleteThe point of the movie was the birth of national pride, why did 22,000 Australian men die?
Because they beleived in the Commonwealth and His Majesty the Kign of Australia.
Ah well you joined the EU but let go of an energy super power :)
I am currently reading Birdsong. It's not just Australians who feel contempt for the generals of WW one.
ReplyDelete