The whys and wherefores...

The Scottish identity reflected in its national cinema is... well, it’s interesting. For years, Scotland has been trying to forge some kind of fully-fledged and unique stance on the global cinematic stage, attempting to assert itself as a distinct and resolute force in filmmaking. Being both Scottish and a lover of film, I've seen much of the fruits of this labour, and I thought that I would begin a semi-regular look at what Scotland is bringing to the table for worldwide consumption in cinemas across the world, for better or worse.

Now, speaking personally, I have no strong sense of national pride or any strong feelings of any kind stemming from my country of origin. It just doesn’t matter to me that much. You may therefore be questioning my decision to actually look exclusively at Scottish films on this blog. Well, as best as I can put it, despite having no kind of national pride in me, I am somewhat protective of the identity Scotland projects through its films. I’m eager to see the country produce good work and be recognised for doing so, but I’m not particularly keen to see it produce bad work and be told it’s an achievement because, you know, you’re just starting out. If it’s bad, it should be deemed so. Hopefully, that should mean that when Scotland makes good films, the praise actually means something.

What I shall be doing is looking at a variety of films that are generally regarded as identifiably Scottish, and considering each of them both on their own merit and within the greater pantheon of filmic product of Scotland. Hopefully, from this, we can get a better sense of what image Scotland is projecting onto the world stage through its films, what kind of talent and facilities we have at our disposal, and how changing times have been reflected in our films... if at all.

Now, this will inevitably cause some degree of straining the boundaries and rules about what actually is a "Scottish film." Consideration will be given to talent (both on- and off-screen), setting (how much is set in Scotland itself), production (how much of the work surrounding the film is done in Scotland), and funding (where the money for production was attained.)

This could be interesting, or a complete disaster. We shall just have to try and see.