A Note on Brave

I did some checking on Wikipedia. Brave has wild bears, kilts and tartans. Wild bears became extinct in Scotland in the 9th or 10th century. Kilts date from the 16th century, tartans from the 17th century. And the horses are huge. They look like the chargers that carried armored knights in the 15th century. Earlier horses were more like ponies. So the movie is ahistorical in large ways. This blows apart any argument that we can't have people of color in the movie, because it's ahistorical.

The movie is a fantasy idea of Scotland. It doesn't have people of color, because our fantasy image of Scotland is white guys running around in kilts. Well, maybe this fantasy needs to be modified. The kilts and tartans and bears and big horses are all fun. Keep them. But make the people different colors.

Brown-skinned Scots are more likely than plaid kilts in the 10th century.

Note: My friend Ruth suggests that kilts and tartans probably existed before they were formalized in the 16th and 17th centuries. But I am pretty sure about the horses.