Usually I would bluff my way through discussions of the film because I hadn’t seen it, and most people found that baffling, even disappointing (“How can you not have seen Braveheart?”). But overall, to be a Scot abroad then - and since - was to live in the shadow of Braveheart. “ Braveheart!” “Yes,” I’d say, “ Braveheart.” True, members of the older generation were familiar with Robert Burns in the Soviet era translations by Samuil Marshak, and quite a few people had seen Highlander (where the Scottish guy is played by a Frenchman rather than an Australian). So whenever Scotland has appeared in the media, or come up in conversation in the different places where I have lived, I have always found it interesting to think about what that says about my homeland, how it is perceived, and whether, after almost a decade and half of nationalist rule, those perceptions are changing.įor instance, in Moscow in the late Nineties, I learned very quickly that by far the most famous Scotsman as far as Russians were concerned was a wee Australian in blue face paint named Mel Gibson. In fact, I’d say that as far as small countries go, we don’t have it too bad - we’re certainly better off than the Belgians with their waffles, Tintin books and melancholy kickboxer.īut still, as Scots are few in number and comparatively rare beyond British shores, we remain quasi-mysterious to many.
Our whisky is also held in high regard, and many a golfer aspires to play at the Old Course in Saint Andrews. Despite this, awareness of Scottish symbols is high, thanks in no small part to Walter Scott cobbling together all that malarkey about clans and tartans in the 19 th century. They know that it’s not part of England, but the shared parliament and royal family and currency are confusing. For instance, in more than two decades spent living outside the UK, I have found that many people are quite foggy when it comes to my homeland’s precise constitutional status.
As for Scotland, I think this retconning might prove to be quite challenging, also.
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