"The people I met on the road taught us the strength of tenacity and hope, and reminded us what kind of true kindness should look like." Zhao Ting said in her acceptance speech. As a Chinese female director, she made history with "A Place Without a Support".
But 25 years ago, the Oscar for Best Picture was awarded a completely different film-"Brave Heart". Mel Gibson played the role of William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish warrior who fought for freedom in the movie. This epic of war is not about goodness and hope, but about revenge filled with blood and tears. Gibson's films also made a different history.
Gibson is a conservative Catholic, but white evangelical Protestants have become the most ardent fan of the film. William Wallace is their hero. "Freedom!" is their rallying cry. The American evangelicals regard "Brave Heart" as a religious and cultural totem in a certain sense.
When the film was released in 1995, evangelicals were in a transitional period. The Cold War shaped their consciousness and strengthened their beliefs; however, with the end of the confrontation, traditional religious values gradually declined. As liberal President Clinton entered the White House, the religious right fell into chaos. White evangelicals desperately need a movement to reinvigorate conservative values.
In order to find a way between male domination and a peaceful society, evangelicals put forward the concept of "Soft Patriarchy", which is a more moderate male authoritarian model than the traditional one. But for some extreme believers, everything seems too weak. "Brave Heart" came out at the peak of the evangelical patriarchal movement. This film just right provides a more martial-looking Christian male template.
"Brave Heart" is different from the gospel movies that advocated the love of Jesus in the past. Gibson seems to be very keen on presenting intuitive and cruel acts of violence. Soldiers were slaughtered and dismembered on the screen, and obscene scenes also appeared from time to time. However, this film was still written by Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Committee. approve.
From a historical point of view, "Brave Heart" can be said to be full of errors, but it is these deliberate fallacies that make evangelicals consider it a masterpiece. In order to portray the war between England and Scotland as a purely religious conflict, the movie portrays King Edward as a pagan ruler and the Scottish rebels as devout believers. The plot in which Wallace rescued his lover from an attempted rape in order to prevent the conqueror from exercising the so-called "right of first night" is purely fictitious. In the latter part of the movie, Princess Isabella turned her back on her indecisive gay husband and was instead caught Wallace's masculinity conquered is also nonsense.
But Gibson also has his own position: "I'm just a filmmaker, not a caressing historian." Evangelicals love "Brave Heart", this fictional story precisely because they agree with the image of male heroism and feminine femininity. It provided them with an illusion that resonated with their own values, and even became a touchstone of the position of a generation of American evangelicals.
At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Patrick Buchanan declared that the Cold War was over, but a new war was about to begin: "This is a crucial cultural war, it is a A war to challenge the soul of the United States"; "This war needs new soldiers to come forward." When he ran for president in 1996, supporters used "brave heart" as a slogan of solidarity.
In 2000, Mark Driscoll, a militant misogynistic pastor from Seattle's Mars Hill Church, used the pseudonym "William Wallace II" on the church's forum website to instigate him Member: "I like to fight...Before everyone turned into a sissy, fighting used to be something everyone was good at."
The following year, John Eldredge's book "Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul" (Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul) further ensured that "Brave Heart" was in the gospel. Pie status in popular culture. Inspired by the image of William Wallace portrayed by Gibson, Edrech asserted: "You are also William Wallace in life. Every man has a battle waiting for him to conquer, a beauty waiting To save him."
At the turn of the century, the United States became the target of attacks by extremists in the Islamic world. For these restless males, the battle they longed for day and night suddenly became a reality, and Edrech's call for masculinity was carried out. The sales of "Wild Heart" will exceed 4 million copies, flooding every corner of evangelical churches, university campuses, Bible study classes, and Christian bookstores. Extreme believers walked into the wilderness to be tempered by survival training camps. The church featured a self-made "Brave Heart" game and held various activities, from changing car tires to practicing throwing axes and chasing livestock. The evangelical pastor repeatedly played the "Brave Heart" segment during Sunday's sermons. In some religious schools, this film is the only R-rated film that is allowed to be broadcast. At the same time, books such as "No More Christian Nice Guy" (No More Christian Nice Guy) appeared endlessly.
The election of Barack Obama further intensified the extreme evangelicals' desire for warrior imagery and masculinity. In 2013, right-wing populist leader Ted Cruz claimed that "Brave Heart" was "a key factor in understanding Washington," and he considered himself the contemporary William Wallace.
Many observers are puzzled by the fanatical support of evangelical voters for Donald Trump, who seems to be the opposite of family values. But in fact, Trump perfectly fits the image of a masculine political leader that many believers expect, even if this image is not presented with a fit body.
According to Trump’s evangelical biographer, Trump’s blood inherited the "ultimate fighting champion" gene. Although textual evidence is not clear, he still believes that the president’s ancestors include a man who was in Bannock. The warrior who fought the British in this battle—that's exactly the battle described in "Brave Heart".
Obviously, the most suitable leader of Christian America is not necessarily a person who implements traditional Christian virtues, but he must be a person whose slogan is faith, motherland, and family.
"Brave Heart" still inspires the soldiers. In December 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch (Edgar Maddison Welch) committed a tragedy in a pizzeria in Washington, D.C. in order to expose a conspiracy of child molestation; after his arrest, he was interviewed by The New York Times I sometimes call my favorite book "Wild Heart". When Jerry Falwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk established the "Faith and Freedom" think tank, they named the institution the Falkirk Center, which is more than It is a word game of the names of the two, and it is also the place where a battle in "Brave Heart" takes place. During the Capitol Hill riots on January 6 this year, a man-made "Brave Heart" themed bulletin board was printed with the image of William Wallace holding the sword of Trump. In February of this year, when Ted Cruz tried to position himself as Trump’s successor at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he quoted William in a fanatical and belligerent tone. Wallace's famous saying ended his speech with a screaming "Freedom!"
The legacy of "Brave Heart" can be seen everywhere in the new generation of evangelicals who choose fear instead of hope and belligerence instead of compassion. They twisted the Savior Jesus in the Gospels into a ruthless king of war, and under the leadership of imaginary leaders, they relentlessly plunged into the "battle" that they had blindly chosen.
Original link: https://www.thedailybeast.com/bravehearts-warped-history-has-been-suckering-evangelicals-for-a-quarter-century
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