'Mary, Queen Of Scots' posters criticised for historical inaccuracies

The reaction to the cool new Mary, Queen Of Scots posters (one featuring Saoirse Ronan as Mary, and one featuring Margot Robbie as Elizabeth) was generally pretty positive. That is, if you don’t have a history degree.

Twitter user @brandonlgtaylor does have a solid knowledge of the true-life story of the Scottish queen, and he’s not happy.

Never before have a couple of taglines – ‘Born to Fight’ for Mary and ‘Born to Power’ for Elizabeth caused so much rage.

Here’s a sample quote: “BORN TO FIGHT. MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS WAS QUEEN OF SCOTLAND AND QUEEN CONSORT OF FRANCE. SHE WAS RAISED IN THE FRENCH COURT AMONGST THE HIGHEST NOBILITY. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.”

And he’s right, those privileged surroundings mean Mary wasn’t born to fight – it’s actually more accurate to say she was born to power, which means a simple tagline switch could’ve fixed the problem.

Those ALL CAPS were Brandon’s, by the way. You can expect a LOT of them in the full thread, which you can read below.

Our favourite bit? The Steven Universe gif, to express a feeling of *muffled screaming.*

We wonder what Brandon would make of the full synopsis, which runs as follows: Mary, Queen of Scots explores the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart. Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. But Scotland and England fall under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I.

Each young Queen beholds her “sister” in fear and fascination. Rivals in power and in love, and female regents in a masculine world, the two must decide how to play the game of marriage versus independence. Determined to rule as much more than a figurehead, Mary asserts her claim to the English throne, threatening Elizabeth’s sovereignty. Betrayal, rebellion, and conspiracies within each court imperil both thrones – and change the course of history.

No word from the Mary, Queen Of Scots‘ impressive cast about how they feel about these LYING posters, but they’re probably a bit busy. In the film, Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie are joined by Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, Gemma Chan, Martin Compston, Ismael Cordova, Brendan Coyle, Ian Hart, Adrian Lester, James McArdle, with David Tennant, and Guy Pearce.

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