Editing Braveheart (section)

=== Portrayal of William Wallace ===
As [[John Shelton Lawrence]] and Robert Jewett writes, "Because [William] Wallace is one of Scotland's most important national heroes and because he lived in the very distant past, much that is believed about him is probably the stuff of legend. But there is a factual strand that historians agree to", summarized from Scots scholar Matt Ewart:

{{blockquote|Wallace was born into the gentry of Scotland; his father lived until he was 18, his mother until his 24th year; he killed the sheriff of [[Lanark]] when he was 27, apparently after the murder of his wife; he led a group of commoners against the English in a very successful battle at Stirling in 1297, temporarily receiving appointment as [[Guardian of Scotland|guardian]]; Wallace's reputation as a military leader was ruined in the same year of 1297, leading to his resignation as guardian; he spent several years of exile in France before being captured by the English at [[Glasgow]], this resulting in his trial for treason and his cruel execution.<ref>{{cite book | first1=John|last1=Shelton Lawrence|first2=Robert|last2=Jewett |title=The Myth of the American Superhero | url=https://archive.org/details/mythofamericansu00lawr_0| url-access=registration|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|year=2002 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mythofamericansu00lawr_0/page/163 163]}}</ref>}}

A. E. Christa Canitz writes about the historical William Wallace further: "[He] was a younger son of the Scottish gentry, usually accompanied by his own chaplain, well-educated, and eventually, having been appointed [[Guardian of Scotland|Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland]], engaged in diplomatic correspondence with the [[Hanseatic League|Hanseatic cities]] of [[Free City of Lübeck|Lübeck]] and [[History of Hamburg|Hamburg]]". She finds that in ''Braveheart'', "any hint of his descent from the lowland gentry (i.e., the lesser nobility) is erased, and he is presented as an economically and politically marginalized Highlander and 'a farmer'—as one with the common peasant, and with a strong spiritual connection to the land which he is destined to liberate."<ref name="Canitz">{{cite book | year=2005 | first=A.E. Christa|last=Canitz | chapter='Historians ... Will Say I Am a liar': The Ideology of False Truth Claims in Mel Gibson's ''Braveheart'' and Luc Besson's ''The Messenger'' | editor1-last=Utz | editor1-first=Richard J. | editor2-last=Swan | editor2-first=Jesse G. | title=Studies in Medievalism XIII: Postmodern Medievalisms | publisher=D.S. Brewer |location=Suffolk, United Kingdom|pages=127–142 | isbn=978-1-84384-012-1 }}</ref>

Colin McArthur writes that ''Braveheart'' "constructs Wallace as a kind of modern, [[Nationalism|nationalist]] [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] leader in a period half a millennium before the appearance of nationalism on the historical stage as a concept under which disparate classes and interests might be mobilised within a nation state." Writing about ''Braveheart''{{'}}s "omissions of verified historical facts", McArthur notes that Wallace made "overtures to [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] seeking less severe treatment after his defeat at Falkirk", as well as "the well-documented fact of Wallace's having resorted to [[conscription]] and his willingness to hang those who refused to serve."<ref>{{cite book |first=Colin|last=McArthur |year=1998 |chapter=''Braveheart'' and the Scottish Aesthetic Dementia |editor-first=Tony |editor-last=Barta |title=Screening the Past: Film and the Representation of History |publisher=Praeger |pages=167–187 |isbn=978-0-275-95402-4}}</ref> Canitz posits that depicting "such lack of class solidarity" as the conscriptions and related hangings "would contaminate the movie's image of Wallace as the morally irreproachable ''[[primus inter pares]]'' among his peasant fighters."<ref name="Canitz"/>