Cultural depictions of Napoleon explained

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, has become a worldwide cultural icon generally associated with tactical brilliance, ambition, and political power. His distinctive features and costume have made him a very recognisable figure in popular culture.

He has been portrayed in many works of fiction, his depiction varying greatly with the author's perception of the historical character. On the one hand, Napoleon has become a worldwide cultural icon who symbolises military genius and political power. For example, in the 1927 film Napoléon, young general Bonaparte is portrayed as a heroic visionary. On the other hand, he has often been reduced to a stock character and has frequently been depicted as a short and "petty tyrant", sometimes comically so.

Literature, theatre, and film

Napoleon plays an indirect yet utterly important part in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The novel starts in 1815 with Napoleon exiled on the island of Elba. Here we learn that he hands a letter to the protagonist Edmond Dantès to give to one of his chief (fictional) supporters in Paris - Noirtier De Villefort, the president of a Bonapartist club. Dantès is unaware that Villefort is an agent of the exiled Emperor and that the letter Napoleon handed him contained instructions and plans about Napoleon's planned return to Paris. Dantès' rivals include Mr. Danglars, his long-time unspoken rival and shipmate, who first reports Dantès to the authorities as a Bonapartist, and Gérard De Villefort, the opportunistic son of Noirtier and staunch royalist, who, in order to protect his father from being outed as a Bonapartist, burns the letter and uses its former existence to frame Dantès and have him imprisoned in the Château d'If until his escape after 14 years and seeks vengeance upon those who wronged him.

Napoleon features prominently in the BBC Doctor Who Past Doctor Adventure World Game, in which the Second Doctor must avert a plot to change history so that Napoleon is victorious. In an alternate timeline created by the assassination of the Duke of Wellington prior to Waterloo, Napoleon is persuaded to march on to Russia after the victory at Waterloo, but he dies shortly afterwards, his empire having become so overextended that the various countries collapse back into the separate nations they were before, thus degenerating into a state of perpetual warfare. (This situation is made worse due to the intervention of the Doctor's old enemies the Players).

In 2013, Applied Mechanics produced Vainglorious, an epic, 26-actor immersive performance with Mary Tuomanen portraying Napoleon.[1]

Depictions of Napoleon in literature include:

In film:

Computer and video games

Culinary

Film, radio and television

Film

Radio

Television

Places

Geography

Hospitality

Military

Music

Other

Recurring themes and stereotypes in popular culture

Napoleon's height

British political cartoons of the period depicted Napoleon as a short man and the image of him as being short continues to be widespread today.[17] Confusion has sometimes arisen because of different values for the French inch (pouce) of the time (2.7 cm) and for the Imperial inch (2.54 cm).;[18] he has been cited as being from 1.57m (05.15feet), which made him the height of the average French male at that time,[19] and up to 1.7m (05.6feet) tall, which is above average for the period.[20] British Rear-Admiral Frederick Lewis Maitland, who had daily contact with Napoleon on Maitland's ship for twenty-three days in 1815, states in his memoirs that he was about 1.7m (05.6feet). Some historians believe that the reason for the mistake about his size at death came from use of an obsolete French yardstick.[19] Napoleon was a champion of the metric system (introduced in France in 1799) and had no use for the old yardsticks. It is more likely that he was 1.57m (05.15feet), the height he was measured at on St. Helena, since he would have most likely been measured with an English yardstick rather than a yardstick of the Old French Regime.[19]

Napoleon's nickname of le petit caporal has added to the confusion, as some non-Francophones have mistakenly interpreted petit by its literal meaning of "small". In fact, it is an affectionate term reflecting on his camaraderie with ordinary soldiers. Napoleon also surrounded himself with the soldiers of his elite guard, required to be 1.83 m (6 ft) or taller, making him look smaller in comparison.

Napoleon's name has been lent to the Napoleon complex, a colloquial term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people who are physically short. The term is used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives.[21]

The Napoleon Delusion

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most famous individuals in the Western world. As delusional patients sometimes believe themselves to be an important or grandiose figure (see delusion), a patient claiming to be Napoleon has been a common stereotype in popular culture for delusions of this nature.

This cliché has itself been parodied:

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Talleyrand Ho! - Free Online Library. 2021-02-24. www.thefreelibrary.com.
  2. Daniel D. McGarry, Sarah Harriman White, Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels. Scarecrow Press, New York, 1963 (p.255-270)
  3. Gladir, George. Ruiz, Fernando. Lapick, Rudy. Grossman, Barry. Yoshida, Bill. Goldwater, Richard. Hungry Hurried and Harried. Jughead. 1. 338. Feb 1985. Archie Comics Group.
  4. Gladir, George. Ruiz, Fernando. Lapick, Rudy. Grossman, Barry. Yoshida, Bill. Goldwater, Richard. Hungry Hurried and Harried. Jughead's Double Digest Magazine. 90. Jan 2003. Archie Comic Publications. 37–42. 6. .
  5. A featured book in Book: Norris, Jill. How to Report on Books, Grades 3-4. December 2005. Evan-Moor. Monterey, California. 978-1-59673-085-4.
  6. Book: Dear Napoleon (review). Booklist. 15 June 2014.
  7. Web site: Napoleon Complex on Team Fortress 2 Wiki. Valve. August 16, 2024.
  8. Web site: Scaramouche (1952) - IMDb. IMDb.
  9. Sir Laurence Olivier on the 'Genius' of Marlon Brando . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/BAyG5a2I-QI . 2021-12-21 . live. Cavett, Dick (Presenter) . January 6, 2020 . YouTube . Global ImageWorks . YouTube video . September 20, 2020.
  10. Web site: The_Scarlet_Pimpernel.
  11. Web site: The_Scarlet_Pimpernel.
  12. Web site: The_Scarlet_Pimpernel.
  13. https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/succession-403-connors-wedding-2023.pdf Succession, "Connor's Wedding" 3/3/23 Final Shooting Script
  14. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Things_named_after_Napoleon "Things named after Napoleon"
  15. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Monuments_and_memorials_to_Napoleon_I_of_France "Monuments and memorials to Napoleon I of France"
  16. "Bogeyman ", "Period glossary", Napoleon.org. Retrieved 07-03-2007.
  17. Napoleon's height was put at just over 5 pieds 2 pouces by three French sources (his valet Constant, General Gourgaud, and Francesco Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy) which, using the French measurements of the time, equals around 1.69m. (Web site: La taille de Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoleon Bonaparte's height). 2002-11-25. 2008-05-28. www.1789-1815.com.) Two English sources (Andrew Darling and John Foster) put his height at around 5 ft 7 ins, equivalent, on the Imperial scale, to 1.70m. This would have made him around average height for a Frenchman of the time. (Web site: La taille de Napoléon (Napoleon's height). 2008-05-30. La Fondation Napoléon. Web site: How tall was Napoleon?. La Fondation Napoléon. 2005-12-18.) Nonetheless, some historians have claimed Napoleon would have been measured with a British measure at his autopsy, since it took place in St Helena, implying the 5 ft 2 ins is an Imperial measure, equal to about 1.58 meters. On the other hand, Francesco Antommarchi, Napoleon's personal physician, due to his hostility to the British, may never have used their yardstick to measure his emperor. (Book: Antommarchi, F. G . The Last Days of Napoleon: Memoirs of the Last Two Years of Napoleon's Exile . 2007-11-01 . 1826. H.Colburn. London. p157.)
  18. Web site: Weights and Measures. 2008-05-30. historydata.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20080521013422/http://www.historydata.com/miscellaneous.html#linear. 2008-05-21. dead.
  19. Book: Owen Connelly. Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns. 2006. Rowman & Littlefield. 7. 9780742553187.
  20. News: Sarkozy height row grips France. BBC . 8 September 2009. 13 September 2009.
  21. Sandberg. David E.. Linda D. Voss. September 2002. The psychosocial consequences of short stature: a review of the evidence. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 16. 3. 449–63. 10.1053/beem.2002.0211. 12464228.
  22. Garza, Janiss, Allmovie. "Mixed Nuts (1925)", Review Summary, The New York Times. Retrieved 09-25-2006.
  23. "Napoleon Bunny-part", Scripts, Delenea's Bugs Bunny Page. Retrieved 07-18-2007.
  24. French, Philip (The Observer). "The Emperor's New Clothes", The Guardian, 02-04-2004. Retrieved 07-19-2006.