MovieChat Forums > Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) Discussion > Why Root for the British?

Why Root for the British?

posted 12 years ago by ballston54
71 replies | jump to latest

Just caught this again a few days ago (after seeing it when it first came out) and something occurred to me that didn't previously: as an American why should we root for the British, who of course are meant to be the good guys here? After all, it was only a couple of decades prior, that the U.S. and Britain fought each other in the American Revolution. A few more years down the road, they would clash again in the War of 1812. And the British are fighting the French in the movie (Napoleonic Wars), who were our ally in our Revolution. Kind of ironic I think.

[–] DurakSuka 8 years ago

Spoken like a true 'Murrican. This is a movie where the protagonist is British. Get your head out of your arse and realise that movie are made for worldwide consumption, not just for inbred imbeciles like yourself.

Hama cheez ba-Beer behtar meshawad!

[–] liscarkat (17147) 6 years ago

Because in this movie the British are the good guys, and the movie is based on a series of books in which the British are the good guys.

[–] ProfezorCudulz (34) 3 years ago

Because the film is being told from their perspective.

[–] TheArgentinian (6666) 3 years ago

You shouldn't. They are colonizing scum.

[–] janoss (208) 3 years ago

We're allies now. We speak the same language. Why not?

It was a different fight. The French were on our side in the Revolution, then they were mad at us for a bit, then they were friends again, then they were upset again, then we've been friends since.

In this circumstance, we have no skin in the game. As I recall, in the book, the ship was American but that wouldn't play well for US audiences.

[–] liscarkat (17147) 3 years ago

"Ironic" does not mean what you seem to think it means.

Now that that's out of the way, reasons to root for the British:

The movie is about a British crew. They are the heroes of this movie. Of course the audience is meant to root for them.

The movie was not intended only for U.S. audiences.