Scotland Pa Movie Analysis

Scotland, PA, directed by Billy Morrissette, is a modernized version of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Macbeth. Instead of replicating a movie version, Billy Morrissette intended to introduce elements differed from the original work. First is the setting. He would rather set the play in 1970s and shift the geographical location from a huge Country to a small town, Scotland which is located in Pennsylvania. A fight for power, for the position of king is changed into a fight for the ownership of a small fast food shop in a small town. And the play is even changed from a tragedy to a comedy. The movie gives an “uneasy combination of "high" (Shakespeare) and "low" (popular consumer) culture”(Hoefer). However, this modernized version of Macbeth

hero worship spread rapidly because of the fast development and utilization of media, movie and television in twentieth century. In the movie, Macbeth is a typical representation of hero worship. He is very intelligent man and a hero to the small fast food shop. Macbeth kicks out two trouble maker in the fast food shop. And later he comes up with the landmark idea of Driving Through. This idea gives the small fast food shop a great amount of profits. After he is in charge of the shop, he changes the menu in the store to fit public taste and this action makes the small shop very welcome in the town. Also, Macbeth is a very cool guy in the movie. And he even changes the name of the shop to Mcbeth’s and makes every name of food on the menu containing Mcbeth.

Economic recession in 1960s to 1980s are still like the yesterday’s nightmare for most people in early twentieth century. During this period, , a big trade deficit was caused because more foreign goods floated into US market than capital floated from the US to developing countries. This phenomenon made the economy inside the US face a hard time. Meanwhile, American citizens began to pursue “one of the country’s most cherished myths, the American Dream-a fantasy of social mobility enabled by America’s putative rejection of the aristoristocratic heirarchy structuring the Old World societies of our ancestors”(Deitchman). Lots of people wanted to go from lower class to upper class in order to escape from the life which was becoming harder and harder. However, American dream has its dark side-“ the illusion of equal opportunity in an increasingly unequal society”(Deitchman). It was almost impossible for people, like Macbeth in the movie, living in lower class with few income to realize their American dream. In the movie, Macbeth does achieve his dream, but murder becomes the only chance. “And initially, they desire not to own Duncan 's restaurant, only to become management As Pat McBeth opines, ‘we 're not bad people, just under-achievers that have to