MovieChat Forums > Made of Honor (2008) Discussion > Offensive towards scottish

Offensive towards scottish


I love Scotland, it is the most beautiful place on the earth and I find Scottish people warm and friendly.I hated the way movie tried to make fun of things I love so much. The main characters of this movie come across as very shallow and narrow minded.

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I don't know, I thought this film might of been heavily sponsored by some Scottish tourism agency? The scenery was incredible. I was wanting to take a trip to Scotland after watching the movie.

Some stuff played on cliche stereotypes that we ought to know doesn't apply to everyone. This movie actually played on all kinds of cliche stereotypes from the bridesmaids to relatives and so forth.

I've only been to Scotland twice on very quick trips in Glasgow. It's like any other metropolitan area. This movie did play up the tourist's idea of Scotland.

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I recently saw this on TV after hearing Craig Ferguson mock it. Yeah, it's pretty insulting to Scottish culture in how it played every stereotype. Scottish food is gross, bagpipes are obnoxious, Scottish men are "manly men" with have big you-know-whats, Scots-speaking Scots sound like they're talking gibberish, all Scots are somehow royalty (hah!) and love all that old timey traditions, living in an unspoiled, idyllic world seemingly immune to globalization and modern tastes (double hah!). I'm surprised they didn't manage to get in something about sheep shagging.

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[deleted]

You aren't British, are you? If you were, you'd know it's the Welsh that shag sheep..

AndrewSparkes.co.uk

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You aren't British, are you? If you were, you'd know it's the Welsh that shag sheep..

Clearly, it's the inhabitants of New Zealand that shag sheep.

It's never over, all my blood for the sweetness of his laughter

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Ausies too. Did actually see a blow up sheep in a sex toy store we went into for laughs when in Melbourne. Hopefully just a gag gift for bachelor parties.

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Its a well known thing that people from Aberdeen shag sheep.






Mistaking a group of garishly dressed men for pirates, Tobias boarded a van full of homosexuals.

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Clearly, you've never been to Montana: where the men are manly, the women are homely, and the sheep are scared.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this was offensive toward the scottish: not only though did it make a mockery out of their culture it also made them out to be bad guys. For example Patrick Dempsey's character comes to hate the scottish just because his love interest is marrying one of them. Now blaming a race for your problems is sadly something a lot of people can relate to but the problem is the movie seemed to portray him as being right for doing this not as someone who was overreacting.

I call movies that are considered 'bad' hated movies.

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Well I for one would like to congratulate the makers of this film for making it so accurate. I thought I would just pop on here to post this comment while I have a spare moment between bagpipe practise, wild game hunting and long distance swimming with Nessie in Loch Ness. Love those swims! The cold water does the trick in getting rid of any "whisky head" from the night before. Heavens knows what I must have been getting up to last night on those single malts. My best tartan kilt was all torn and I woke to find a burly, red headed man in my bed and the remains of a deep fried Mars Bar supper. Wild!

Must go now - have to tell cook to get a move on making the haggis. We are expecting more than 50 people at the castle tonight!! Can't wait for that Scottish dancing!

Hooooeeeeech!

PS - I hear the guys who worked on Braveheart did a great job too. Maybe I'll swing by that board to congratulate them also.





Oh well I don't mind if you don't mind
Cause I don't shine if you don't shine

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[deleted]

Americans (most of them) should learn that Europe has the most amazing traditions, history and culture. They mock Europeans all the time, Russians are always terrorists, Brits are stiff, Poland is poor, French are rude... to name a few stereotypes...

Because it's not a stereotype AT ALL to think that Americans are ignorant about other cultures. Nor do other people from other countries EVER mock Americans or spout stupid American stereotypes.

Also, it's a bit arrogant to think that Europe has the best traditions, history and culture, especially since Asia (specifically, the Middle East) is the cradle of civilization. To engage in a bit of stereotyping myself, I've found many Europeans to be a bit arrogant in thinking their cultures and societies are so superior to all others.

"He's already attracted to her. Time and monotony will do the rest."

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is says most of them

and you are wrong about the Mid East. China and Japan have the longest traditions and they were far more advanced than Mid East.

BUT, Europe IS and always will be a continent that brought most the influential poets, musicians, etc.

Apart from Indians, America is a continent of former Europeans. That's one of the reasons most of them SHOULD learn to respect Europe, not mock it. Most of you came from Europe.

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Most movies stereotype or are offensive to a group of people. I'm black and 80% of movies have a horrible stereotyped, ignorant view of black people and not all of us are like that. But you just kind of have to deal with it.

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Maybe they should have chosen Ewan McGregor to do the role of Colin instead.

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I like that suggestion!

But being a Scot, I just laughed at the scenes, they were so stereotyped that it was a classic. Almost as good as the 4 weddings and a funeral scottish wedding! Honestly I wasn't offended, it was so clearly tongue in cheek.

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+1
Not Scottish but Dutch though.
I love Scotland and its people.
About the food: every country has its traditional dishes, which - in general - are poor man's food, made with the then locally available ingredients. Nowadays, most of those would hardly appeal to anyone other then those who are grown-up with them.....

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Really?? Ewan is too short and small-framed to out-man Dempsey the way McKidd did. With his well-built frame and deep voice, he was well-cast.

~Be patient! God hasn't finished with me yet!~

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You do know McKidd is Scottish, right?

"You can fire me, but bitch don't think you can take me."

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The point of comedies is not to provide accurate descriptions of nationalities. Every nation that is ever mentioned in any film is at least slightly misleadingly potrayed.

Wait! Does this also mean putting out doesn't get you love?

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Im Scottish

the film is crap and full of cliches and is utterly predictable, but i did find the stereotyping of the Scots hilarious in this film, difference is the scots can laugh at themselves other nationalities take offence to the slightest thing. Scots have the best sense of humour in the world

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Umm, American television constantly makes fun of Canadians and we don't seem to bitch about it.

"You can fire me, but bitch don't think you can take me."

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That's because Canadians are the nicest people in the world ^_^

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I spent some time in Scotland and your statement is what I observed. Some of the friendliest and funniest people I've met. Great sense of humor about themselves and funny in general. I've traveled throughout the world and Scottish people won my heart & envy(wish I was a Scots lol).

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oi! don't ye put word in me mouth scot!

... at least I find French and Icelandic stereotypes funny XD

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I'm so glad this post was made, I've been meaning to come on here for ages after watching this abomination of a movie!!

Being Scottish myself and having been to America several times I can tell you we are no different at all, we eat the same food, wear the same clothes, live in the same houses, go to the same schools, work in the same jobs, I have never met anyone in my life who lives in a castle, comes from the "McDoogal Clan" wears Kilts on a daily basis and chases Haggis around a field!!

I swear this movie made me so mad and as well if they are going to have a leading Scotsman to play the part couldn't they have chosen someone who isn't only famous for playing the Junkie that died in Trainspotting!!

Rant over!!!!!!!!!!!!

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And of course, most comedy films have main characters that are very deep and extremely open-minded, right? Hardly. It's a comedy. It wasn't made as an insult to Scotland. It was made to generate laughs and it succeeded.

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I'm Scottish too and didn't find it offensive either. Yes, it played on every Scottish sterotype there is (btw I've known two people who do wear a kilt every day and most Scottish weddings involve every male in kilts, preferably of their own tartan) but, as pointed out, every film does that to some extent.

I've never heard of the hen party tradition they show with the bride having to kiss every guy in a pub and don't know anyone who hunts but other than that I thought it was pretty close. Apparently they castle they used is an ancestral home of some clan and still in use, and people still live in Glamis Castle, which is close to where I live. That's the castle the Queen Mother spent a lot of her childhood in. Balmoral castle is also still lived in at times by the Royal Family. Highland games still take place too. If a Glaswegian and an Aberdonian meet they can barely understand each other with the different accents and if someone speaks Scots, which some Highlanders probably still do, it does sound like gibberish. We also speak more quickly than a lot of Americans which makes it even harder. btw I understood most of what that character said so it was accurate. :)

They didn't try to say every Scot lives like that but people who live like that do exist. So no, I didn't find it offensive, it was tongue in cheek. I've been a lot more offended by other portrayals of Scots and Scotland.

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The hen party tradition was where you dressed the bride up and all the party marched through the town banging pots and pans on their doing the different pubs where you then kissed any man who was willing to make a monetary donation, usually stored in a baby's potty. My sister had one, I fortunately declined.

Ok, it was twee in a Brigadoon kind of way but harmless and probably helped with the tourist industry.

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No matter what his true feelings for Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) were, what Tom (Patrick Dempsey)did was still wrong. You should not "steal" the bride. His friends also gave him the wrong advice. Instead of helping him to move on, they even encouraged him to do the wrong thing. And that's why this film has a low IMDB rating.

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>>No matter what his true feelings, what Tom did was still wrong. You should not "steal" the bride. <<

WHAT? You DO steal the bride (or groom, for that matter) if you love that person and feel they are marrying the wrong person!

I think the film did a good job making it clear that Hannah started having doubts about marrying Colin. And it's much better that Tom expressed his feelings to get Hannah's reaction BEFORE the wedding (versus having an affair with her after the fact). The bottom line is that it takes two to tango. If Hannah truly loved Colin, no one, not even Tom, could've stolen her.

Recommend seeing My Best Friend's Wedding with Julia Roberts.

-Jane

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There are a number of Scottish castles still in residence, and though not all Scots are nobles, many clans do have chiefs still, and some with titles like Earls and such.

Kevin McKidd was in Brave, he did the voices of the McGuff's. Young McGuff sounds like jibberish to many, but in an interview, Kevin said that he was speaking Doric, a dialect from North Eastern Scotland. Its a form of Scots his grandfather spoke, and is still spoken by people in Elgin and areas. The castle the movie is set in, is in North West Scotland, but not that far from Elgin really. The tartan he wears in this movie actually looks similar to the Runcic family tartan (The Mckidd's don't have tartan, but his grandfather was George Runcic, a famous Scottish folk singer, and the Runcic's are part of clan Buchan)

I am Canadian with Scottish heritage. I watch many American television shows and movies where we are all loggers and hockey players, who say Aye every second word it seems and speak with Newfie accent no matter where we are, and have never been put off. I do laugh when I have met Americans, who believe some of us live in igloos.

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Wait? What? You've met Americans who thought you live in igloos? That's just funny. Everyone knows Alaskans, that country all the way to the top left corner of Canada us where people live in igloos.

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