use of "Belgium" in a screenplay
Posted by Jessamyn on September 11, 1997 at 00:34:36:
In response to Fault in S&S2, written by Tineke on September 09, 1997 at 15:12:54
] Last time I watched S&S, I noticed a fault in the film. It's not that important, only Belgians would notice. It's in the scene where Edward and Elinor try to persuade Margareth to stop hiding under the table. Edward comes up with the idea of the atlas. They're wondering where the spring of the Nile is. Elinor believes it's in Belgium. But Belgium didn't exist at that time, it only exists since 1830. So Jane Austen couldn't possibly have known Belgium. Emma Thompson should have written Flanders, the Lower Countries or whatever. But again, it's not such a terrible mistake, I don't really mind.
Have you ever read Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series? Somewhere in one of the later books, the hero, Arthur Dent, goes to a party on another planet where someone has just won an award for Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium" in a Screenplay.
It turns out that although everyone he meets out in the rest of the universe is incredibly jaded and doesn't turn a hair at any earth swear-words, "Belgium" means something so awful that no one can even bear to explain it to him. "Belgium?" says Arthur incredulously, and goes on to describe it as a completely innocuous country in Europe about which he knows almost nothing. Everyone at the party is appalled.
I think Emma just won the award.
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