The Elizabeth Code...

I recently watched the film, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was a dazzling film, filled with remarkable costumes, breath-taking sets, great performances and inspiring music—in other words, not a bad film. However, I couldn’t help but be disturbed by the underlying message of the film-makers. The movie was used as a political soapbox and historical allegory to attack recent British and American foreign policy. Am I reading into things too much? Am I cursed with an over-analytical “English major” mind? Let me tell you what I saw and you can be the judge…

All of the points below are “sort of” true… a dash of historical truth mixed a great deal of “updating”…

1) Elizabeth was presented as a promoter of 21st century tolerance. She accepts everyone, even the dread pirate Raleigh. She was also portrayed as a “modern”—i.e., subtlety cynical about traditions and religion.
2) Mary, Queen of Scots, on the other hand, was intolerant, power hungry and manipulative… and a devote Catholic.
3) Philip of Spain was also intolerant and portrayed as a religious nut who declares Roman Catholic “jihad” on England.
4) If Elizabeth had only been tolerant of those who differed with her, then there would be peace. Unfortunately, she executed Mary, Queen of Scots, for attempting to assassinate her… which ultimately precipitated the Spanish invasion.

The only glitch to this tidy recreation of events is the fact that Elizabeth wasn’t tolerant of the invading Spanish Armada. They had to include that part, though, because of the cool special effects. The role of God in the defeat of the Spanish Armada is also downplayed.

To sum up the hidden meaning... Christians a few centuries ago are just like Muslims terrorists today. Therefore, the US should abandon religious squabbles and be tolerant of different perspectives. Also, if the US would stop declaring revenge war on the Islamic extremists/fanatics, then maybe we could all get along… Lastly, the Spanish Armada can be seen as a metaphor for US military excess, especially in Iraq. They should stop that too.

The moral of the story is that "history repeats itself"---especially when a film-maker re-writes history to prove his point...