A Contentious Kingdom of Heaven : A comparative analysis on the usage of history in Ridley Scotts epic Kingdom of Heaven

The following study is a comparative analysis on the usage of history in Ridley Scott’s epic Kingdom of Heaven. Based on the thesis that this movie has a lot to say about contemporary political values, it compares the theatrical version from 2005 with the 45 minute extended Director’s Cut, which came out on DVD in 2006. Firmly based in the popular-cultural context I tried to evaluate whether these changes related in any way, to matters concerning the current gender debate and post-colonial theory. The comparison was made in order to try and determine whether the changes made in-between the two versions contained significant political hotspots, which in turn related to my scientific theories. In a contemporary context characterized by gender issues as well as religious warfare, secularism and multiculturalism, I found this movie particularly interesting to analyze. Concerning the results of my analysis, I found the extended version to be containing a significant amount of political hotspots, which were cut out of the theatrical version. From a gender perspective I found the roles of gender to be problematized in the extended cut, especially when one takes into account that the movies female protagonist became more multifaceted than in the theatrical cut. Regarding the postcolonial, I found the extended version to be heavily influenced by contemporary values in the matter. The secular humanistic and multicultural-affirming message which defined both versions was made more obvious in the Director’s Cut. Fundamentalism was heavily criticized regardless of the characters’ cultural origins