Recap Task: Braveheart
Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' theory is definitely presented in Braveheart. This is mainly due to Catherine McCormack and Sophie Marceau's characters- Murron and Princess Isabelle- both of whom are playing the roles of William Wallace's (Mel Gibson) love interests. Both the actors used to portray his love interests are very beautiful women which I assume they did with reason as to make it understandable why William took to them but also to give male viewers what they 'want to see' as such. The scene that I think gives us the best insight to the beauty of these women is the scene where William steals Murron from her family for a day and they go riding his horse through the countryside. This scene, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHjaVARneFA&t=86s) is called 'Beautiful' (ironic I know). The scene is an extremely romantic scene with lots of close ups of Murron and William's faces which really makes you realise how beautiful they are and I think that certain shots like this are made with the idea that many men (and women!) will agree that she is beautiful and so is he, which hints at a possible theory of the FEMALE gaze!
Next, I would like to discuss Henry Jenkins' theory and how we can compare it to Braveheart. Jenkins believes that genre is constantly breaking rules and that there is never really a fixed format or structure. In Braveheart, I think this theory is definitely a noticeable thing. This is because Braveheart is based on a true historical event and on the life of a real historical figure, there for making it a historical genre film, but, not only do we see it is a historical film, we can also interpret it as a romance, action and adventure and probably a few more. This, I think, shows Jenkins' theory brilliantly because it shows us how Mel Gibson (director and actor in the film) definitely did not stick to one specific genre. On IMDb (International Movie Database) the genre section reads: "Biography, Drama, History", but I feel this can change depending on the public's points of view.
Blumler and Katz's theory is next in line. Their theory is that audiences actively seek out media to satisfy individual needs. I think that the needs someone may have for them to seek out and watch this film would have to be things like "historical", "romance", and maybe things like "tragedy" etc. People may also have the need to watch films with certain people in it, e.g Mel Gibson, Angus MacFadyen or James Cosmo.
Lastly, in terms of theories, I will be comparing Todorov's narrative theory to Braveheart. I will be splitting this into the different sections of his theory as well.
Equilibrium (everything as is meant to be): William Wallace and Murron are in love and secretly get married. They live in a fairly quiet little village. Everyone seems to be fairly good friends with one another. There are English men who stay in a garrison in the village and make sure everything is going the way the King has ordered it to be.
Disruption (something to upset the equilibrium): Murron gets sexually assaulted by one of the English men and she bit into his face which classed as an assault against him. William gets angry and begins beating up the man. He gets Murron a horse and tells her to meet him somewhere. When he gets there, she is not there, he realised they would have killed her if she had been captured. When he realised this he went back to the village and rode his horse through it with his arms out so he looked as though he had no way of defense but then he pulled out a weapon which was hidden down the back of his clothes and he began killing the English which he had help with from his friends.
Recognition (recognising the disruption/ problem): The Scottish all began to realise how the English weren't being fair. They wanted to fight back.
Attempts to resolve/ repair (attempt to fix the problem): The Scottish join William Wallace in a rebellion and it all ends up with a war between Scotland (with a bit of help from the Irish) and England.
Climax (resolution): William Wallace gets taken by the King. He is then is hung, drawn and quartered.
New equilibrium (the new norm): William Wallace is now dead and back with Murron in a better place. Robert the Bruce then carried on the work William had begun.
Venturing forth into Mise-En-Scene, cinematography, editing and sound, I will be focusing on the 'Freedom' scene from Braveheart. This scene is nearest the end of the movie and is when William Wallace is being hung, drawn and quartered, or, to put more plainly, executed.
I am starting with Mise-En-Scene (setting, costume, makeup, lighting and character expression/ movement).
The 'Freedom' scene's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAZEZfkM2YQ) setting is a medieval-looking town square with a large crowd of people (of all ages) gathered around. William is on the platform area in front of the crowd and is to be tortured and then executed.
The costume in this scene varies due to the roles of each character. The townsfolk are wearing their every day clothes, the host of the execution and the executioners are not wearing anything special either. In this scene, William is mainly just shown shirtless, we cannot see what he is wearing on his bottom half. When there is cutaway editing, used to show other characters' reactions to what is currently happening, we see Robert the Bruce and he is wearing something which looks a little more sophisticated/ upper class.
For make-up, they had only really used it to create the illusion of injuries on William Wallace. Most of the characters all look extremely natural which is, most likely, historically accurate.
The lighting in the scene isn't anything special. It just seems to be typical weather. A little dreary, the sun is not shining, would be surprising if it was seeing as this scene is not exactly joyous.
Character expression and movement in this scene is VERY important to its impact on the viewer. William Wallace's characters expression and movement is all suggesting how much pain he is in which is very important in terms of how it makes us feel because we are instantly sympathising with him because what he's going through is absolutely, sickeningly, painful. When it shows Robert the Bruce, we can see by the look on his face that he is feeling under the weather and incredibly guilty. He looks as if he's blaming himself for what is happening to William over in England.
Moving on...
The "Freedom" scene uses a range of cinematography techniques. The cinematographers use close up shots of almost all the characters. They also use a kind of medium-full shot when there is cutaway editing used to show Robert the Bruce's reaction to the fact he knows William Wallace is, at this time, being executed. They also use a close-up when showing Princess Isabelle's reaction to what is currently happening. She looks as if she wants to burst out crying but she is trying extremely hard not to show it. We are also shown, with a kind of mid-close-up, Hamish (William's best friend) and Stephen's (the Irish man who joined them in fighting back at the English) reactions to what they are seeing. They were actually at the execution which gave their reactions more impact.
Next is editing. For this scene they used editing to create the switching over of characters to be able to see all of their reactions etc. We can also add sound into this element as the sound would have been edited and sculpted to fit the scene. The editing was mainly just used for adding in any necessary audio or sound effects.
Lastly is sound. So, the sound in this scene is mainly just dialogue. The execution's host is giving William the opportunity to ask for mercy and be set free from the torture, but he refuses him. There is eventually a very loud exclamation from William which is the last thing he says in the film.
So that's that. Honestly, could I have chosen a longer film to base this on?
Thank you for reading, have a great day!
"FREEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM"
Next, I would like to discuss Henry Jenkins' theory and how we can compare it to Braveheart. Jenkins believes that genre is constantly breaking rules and that there is never really a fixed format or structure. In Braveheart, I think this theory is definitely a noticeable thing. This is because Braveheart is based on a true historical event and on the life of a real historical figure, there for making it a historical genre film, but, not only do we see it is a historical film, we can also interpret it as a romance, action and adventure and probably a few more. This, I think, shows Jenkins' theory brilliantly because it shows us how Mel Gibson (director and actor in the film) definitely did not stick to one specific genre. On IMDb (International Movie Database) the genre section reads: "Biography, Drama, History", but I feel this can change depending on the public's points of view.
Blumler and Katz's theory is next in line. Their theory is that audiences actively seek out media to satisfy individual needs. I think that the needs someone may have for them to seek out and watch this film would have to be things like "historical", "romance", and maybe things like "tragedy" etc. People may also have the need to watch films with certain people in it, e.g Mel Gibson, Angus MacFadyen or James Cosmo.
Lastly, in terms of theories, I will be comparing Todorov's narrative theory to Braveheart. I will be splitting this into the different sections of his theory as well.
Equilibrium (everything as is meant to be): William Wallace and Murron are in love and secretly get married. They live in a fairly quiet little village. Everyone seems to be fairly good friends with one another. There are English men who stay in a garrison in the village and make sure everything is going the way the King has ordered it to be.
Disruption (something to upset the equilibrium): Murron gets sexually assaulted by one of the English men and she bit into his face which classed as an assault against him. William gets angry and begins beating up the man. He gets Murron a horse and tells her to meet him somewhere. When he gets there, she is not there, he realised they would have killed her if she had been captured. When he realised this he went back to the village and rode his horse through it with his arms out so he looked as though he had no way of defense but then he pulled out a weapon which was hidden down the back of his clothes and he began killing the English which he had help with from his friends.
Recognition (recognising the disruption/ problem): The Scottish all began to realise how the English weren't being fair. They wanted to fight back.
Attempts to resolve/ repair (attempt to fix the problem): The Scottish join William Wallace in a rebellion and it all ends up with a war between Scotland (with a bit of help from the Irish) and England.
Climax (resolution): William Wallace gets taken by the King. He is then is hung, drawn and quartered.
New equilibrium (the new norm): William Wallace is now dead and back with Murron in a better place. Robert the Bruce then carried on the work William had begun.
Venturing forth into Mise-En-Scene, cinematography, editing and sound, I will be focusing on the 'Freedom' scene from Braveheart. This scene is nearest the end of the movie and is when William Wallace is being hung, drawn and quartered, or, to put more plainly, executed.
I am starting with Mise-En-Scene (setting, costume, makeup, lighting and character expression/ movement).
The 'Freedom' scene's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAZEZfkM2YQ) setting is a medieval-looking town square with a large crowd of people (of all ages) gathered around. William is on the platform area in front of the crowd and is to be tortured and then executed.
The costume in this scene varies due to the roles of each character. The townsfolk are wearing their every day clothes, the host of the execution and the executioners are not wearing anything special either. In this scene, William is mainly just shown shirtless, we cannot see what he is wearing on his bottom half. When there is cutaway editing, used to show other characters' reactions to what is currently happening, we see Robert the Bruce and he is wearing something which looks a little more sophisticated/ upper class.
For make-up, they had only really used it to create the illusion of injuries on William Wallace. Most of the characters all look extremely natural which is, most likely, historically accurate.
The lighting in the scene isn't anything special. It just seems to be typical weather. A little dreary, the sun is not shining, would be surprising if it was seeing as this scene is not exactly joyous.
Character expression and movement in this scene is VERY important to its impact on the viewer. William Wallace's characters expression and movement is all suggesting how much pain he is in which is very important in terms of how it makes us feel because we are instantly sympathising with him because what he's going through is absolutely, sickeningly, painful. When it shows Robert the Bruce, we can see by the look on his face that he is feeling under the weather and incredibly guilty. He looks as if he's blaming himself for what is happening to William over in England.
Moving on...
The "Freedom" scene uses a range of cinematography techniques. The cinematographers use close up shots of almost all the characters. They also use a kind of medium-full shot when there is cutaway editing used to show Robert the Bruce's reaction to the fact he knows William Wallace is, at this time, being executed. They also use a close-up when showing Princess Isabelle's reaction to what is currently happening. She looks as if she wants to burst out crying but she is trying extremely hard not to show it. We are also shown, with a kind of mid-close-up, Hamish (William's best friend) and Stephen's (the Irish man who joined them in fighting back at the English) reactions to what they are seeing. They were actually at the execution which gave their reactions more impact.
Next is editing. For this scene they used editing to create the switching over of characters to be able to see all of their reactions etc. We can also add sound into this element as the sound would have been edited and sculpted to fit the scene. The editing was mainly just used for adding in any necessary audio or sound effects.
Lastly is sound. So, the sound in this scene is mainly just dialogue. The execution's host is giving William the opportunity to ask for mercy and be set free from the torture, but he refuses him. There is eventually a very loud exclamation from William which is the last thing he says in the film.
So that's that. Honestly, could I have chosen a longer film to base this on?
Thank you for reading, have a great day!
"FREEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM"
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