Fear is found in many hidden realms
within the concepts of the movie world. Commonly, fear is present in the genres of horror
and thriller films. However, I believe fear is easily found in many movies and
that the movie does not have to be classified as a so called scary movie to incorporate
fear. In the movie, Braveheart, fear
can be clearly identified in the struggle for Scotland’s freedom from the
English tyranny in the 13th century. Examples of fear includes lack of
marital rights, tyrannical rule of England, fear of God, and the interests of
the wealth nobles versus the interests of the average Scottish citizen.
“William Wallace: I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my
countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men.
And free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?!
Young Soldier:
No, we will run and live!
William Wallace:
Yes! Fight and you may die. Run and you will live at least awhile. And dying in
your bed many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from
this day to that for one chance, just one chance, to come back here as young
men and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they will never take
our freedom!”
Above is an insert from the movie.
In it William Wallace is attempting to inspire his countrymen before a battle.
Fear has a strong grip over the young soldiers as they realize that a fight for
life or death is about to take place. They realize that if they run they would
live, but Wallace points out the freedom that they are surrendering to the tyranny
of England and that later in the future they will regret giving up on their
fight for freedom. These young soldiers would have had a million thoughts
traveling through their heads with almost all of them incorporating the
emotions of courage, fear, or a mixture of the two. Courage made the soldiers
want to fight for their freedom even if that fight would lead to their death.
Fear caused the soldiers to want to flee the fight even if later down the road there
could be consequences. The soldiers were constantly faced with situations that
consistently led to fear. These included the fear of a shortage in supplies
leading to hunger and thirst, the ever-present risk of diseases, and the
hard living and exposure to the elements that go hand in hand with campaigning.
Besides the fear that the soldiers
were facing, there were many important factors that were also controlled by
fear. The one that stands out a lot is the fear of losing power. This is
present in both the Scottish nobles’ betrayal of the Scottish people to the English
crown and in the English crown itself fearing losing its control over the Scottish
people. This fear led both parties to make irrational decisions and to
overcompensate for their lack of control. An example of Scottish nobles’ overcompensation
for their fear includes fighting against their people to secure their wealth,
titles, and lands. An example of the
English Crown’s irrational decision includes the torture to death of William
Wallace, which effectively turned him into a martyr for the Scottish cause. Fear
in wartime can cause people in power to make irrational decisions because their
judgement is clouded. Fear can also cause a person in power to overcompensate in
order to not lose their power. Altogether I believe fear is a common aspect in life and one must be careful to not let it control their life. Fear causes irrational decisions, overcompensation for power, and the loss of freedom.
Source:
Macdonald, Alastair J. "Courage, Fear and the Experience of the Later Medieval Scottish Soldier." Scottish Historical
Review, vol. 92, no. 2, Oct. 2013, pp. 179-206. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3366/shr.2013.0174.
I think that an interesting point that you made was the relationship between a position of power and one’s fear of losing that power. I think that the point you made smoothly transitions into real life scenarios. A particular example that I immediately thought about was politics and television shows that are politic-based such as Scandal. In this show, nearly all of the character sacrifice everything and commit scandalous acts to stay in their comfortable position of power. There are also events where the characters tend to overcompensate as well. I do not believe that these tendencies are television specific but very well may be present in United States politics as well.
ReplyDelete-Kyra Moore
I think you hit on a key component of fear with that scene where Wallace speaks to the young soldier. Fear is just as much a motivator as a deterrent in many situation. Feeling fear is totally natural and understandable, especially in such a situation. We have a remarkable ability, however, to harness this fear. A healthy dose of fear can motivate a person to persevere or even excel in high stress situations. It doesnthave to only be a paralyzing experience or cause one to flee.
ReplyDeleteBrave heart is one of my favorite movies. I really like how you took some dialogue from the movie and try to relate us with fear and connect us with your post. Reading your post made me realize the different type of fears which I would never came up with. I do agree with the concept that fear can cause people on power to overcompensate not to lose their poweer and they would do anything they can to keep their power. Great post!
ReplyDelete-Weini W.
Great perspective of the movie Braveheart. I remember witching this movie as a child. I was more inspired by the braveness and leadership of William Wallace. I had no idea that this was a 13th century fight for Scotland’s freedom(being a child and all). The most rememberable part of this move was the Williams courage and badassness with the sword. I feel that every community needs a leader like William due to the fact that there may be a need for the overcoming for fear. Overcompensation is a good point when it comes to the adverse affect of fear. There has been several occasions where someone goes out for blood when her or she feel that his or her power has been compromised. Reminds me of dictatorship.
ReplyDelete-Rob D
I have never had the chance to watch this movie but you make a really interesting point about fear. I believe it is in our human nature to feel fear in order to survive. It is necessary to trigger our flight or fight response in different settings and situations. Also, a decent amount of fear encourages individuals to try new things and achieve the unexpected. Fear in moderate amounts has a way of triggering our comfort zones to achieve great things! The insert from the movie really supports the idea of how fear can inspire men to fight courageously for freedom.
ReplyDelete^ - Sam U
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