Scottish film group touts nation's ugliness

As if the country's official tourism slogan, "Welcome to Scotland," weren't underwhelming enough, now the Scottish film industry has developed a questionable campaign of its own, promoting the nation as a great place for filmmaking—because it’s such a grim and cheerless slab of land. “If we keep promoting Scotland as a country with lovely views and landscapes,” says Scottish Screen location manager Belle Doyle, “we are not going to rank too highly, because there are many other countries which are completely stunning.” A plan to celebrate one’s urban/industrial blight is so superficially dumb that it must be secretly genius (hey, it worked in Trainspotting), so it’ll probably make fools of all the naysayers. Knowing that, we’re prepared to jump on their bandwagon and call for Scotland to extend the idea and present its inhabitants generally as inarticulate, kilted louts who drink too much and make eyes with the livestock. Or worse, suggest that these guys are your average Scots.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

February 8, 2008 in Kiefaber | Permalink