Re: Braveheart

[Noramunro@aol.com]

Scripsit Istvan
>I read that a lot of gays are protesting the film because >Edward's
portrayal was a bit too overdone.  Any comments on >that?

Well, I haven't seen the film and am unlikely to do so  (I know the history
far too well and  am too much of a pedant to sit through self-indulgent
docudrama with any kind of patience), so I can't really comment on the film's
portrayal of Edw. II.  He was certainly criticised by his contemporaries for
his choosing handsome, vain, less-than-bright-or-subtle young men like Piers
Gaveston as his favorites and for his effeminate behaviour and dress.
 Whether the filmmakers' reading of "effeminate" matches the medieval idea,
and whether that criticism was justified is a whole other can of worms, and
the kind of thing that historians argue about incessantly.  That
homosexuality is a hot-button issue in late twentieth-century society only
complicates things further.   It's a problem.

--Alianora