Napoleon  

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Revision as of 13:20, 4 July 2022

Communards pose with the statue of Napoléon I from the toppled Vendôme column

Napoléon Bonaparte abdicated in Fontainebleau (1845) by Paul Delaroche

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Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821), was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics from 1804 to 1814.

Image

cultural depictions of Napoleon

Napoleon has become a worldwide cultural icon who symbolises military genius and political power. Since his death, many towns, streets, ships, and even cartoon characters have been named after him. He has been portrayed in hundreds of films and discussed in hundreds of thousands of books and articles.

During the Napoleonic Wars he was taken seriously by the British press as a dangerous tyrant, poised to invade. A nursery rhyme warned children that Bonaparte ravenously ate naughty people; the 'bogeyman'. The British Tory press sometimes depicted Napoleon as much smaller than average height and this image persists. Confusion about his height also results from the difference between the French pouce and British inch—2.71 and 2.54 cm respectively; he was about 1.7 metres tall, average height for the period (see also Sade's appearance).

In 1908 psychologist Alfred Adler cited Napoleon to describe an inferiority complex in which short people adopt an overaggressive behavior to compensate for lack of height; this inspired the term Napoleon complex. The stock character of Napoleon is a comically short "petty tyrant" and this has become a cliché in popular culture. He is often portrayed wearing a comically large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture—a reference to the 1812 painting by Jacques-Louis David.

Trivia

In 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest of the anonymous author of Justine and Juliette

See also

• Napoleon's love life
  • Ne te lave pas... J'arrive!
• Mémoires autour de Napoléon I
• Le grand vainqueur: Anonymous caricature of Napoleon
• Napoleon in Caricature
• English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I
• Code Napoleon

Film, radio and television

[[File:Choumoff - Albert Dieudonné Napoleon.jpg|thumb|Albert Dieudonné as Napoleon]]

Film

• The Battle of Waterloo (1913), played by Ernest Batley
• Napoléon (1927), played by Albert Dieudonné
• Napoleon at Saint Helena (1929), played by Werner Krauss
• The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), played by Paul Irving
• It Happened One Night (1934): Ellie says to her father "I hope you're not comparing yourself to Napoleon. He was a strategist. Your idea of strategy is to use a lead pipe."<ref>It Happened One Night screenplay dailyscript.com; retrieved June 10, 2021</ref>
• Invitation to the Waltz (1935), played by Esme Percy
• Hearts Divided (1936), played by Claude Rains
• A Royal Divorce (1938), played by Pierre Blanchar
• Conquest (1938), played by Charles Boyer
• The Fire Devil (1940), played by Erich Ponto
• The Young Mr. Pitt (1942), played by Herbert Lom
• Kutuzov (1943), played by Semyon Mezhinsky
• Kolberg (1945), played by Charles Schauten
• Napoleone (1951), played by Renato Rascel
• Scaramouche (1952), played by Aram Katcher (uncredited)<ref>{{

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• Désirée (1954), played by Marlon Brando. Laurence Olivier was impressed by Brando's interpretation of Napoleon, praising on The Dick Cavett Show that, "[It], I think, was immeasurably the best ever Napoleon [...] I have ever seen. Simply marvelous, simply because of his own particular quality of being so easy, so easily bringing a sense of genius to a character who was a genius."<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
• Napoleon (1955), played by Daniel Gélin and Raymond Pellegrin
• Napoleon Bunny-Part (1956): Napoléon (voiced by Mel Blanc) matches wits with Bugs Bunny
• War and Peace (1956), played by Herbert Lom
• The Story of Mankind (1957), played by Dennis Hopper
• Austerlitz (1960), played by Pierre Mondy
• War and Peace (1968), played by Vladislav Strzhelchik
• Waterloo (1970), played by Rod Steiger
• Eagle in a Cage (1972), played by Kenneth Haigh
• Love and Death (1975), played by James Tolkan
• The Loves and Times of Scaramouche (1976}, played by Aldo Maccione
• Time Bandits (1981), played by Ian Holm
• Adieu Bonaparte (1985), played by Patrice Chéreau
• Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987), played by Armand Assante
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), played by Terry Camilleri
• The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), played by Ian Holm
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), played by Alex Norton
• Monsieur N. (2003), played by Philippe Torreton
• Napoleon and Me (2006), played by Daniel Auteuil
• Napóleon (2007), played by Tom Burke
• Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), played by Alain Chabat
• Minions (2015): one of the Minions' former masters was Napoléon
• Kitbag (2023) played by Joaquin Phoenix

Radio

• His Father's Sword (BBC Regional Programme, 1937), portrayed by Terence De Marney
• The Dynasts (three-part series) (BBC Home Service, 1943), portrayed by Malcolm Keen
• The Dynasts (six-part series) (BBC Third Programme, 1951), portrayed by Robert Harris
• The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel: "The Vicomte De Villier is to be Executed"
• Children's Hour: "The House of the Pelican" (six-part serial) (BBC Home Service, 1954), portrayed by Robert Harris
• England's Harrowing (two-part series) (BBC Third Programme, 1960), portrayed by Malcolm Keen
• Animal Grab: "La Foire d'Empoigne" (BBC Third Programme, 1962), portrayed by Malcolm Keen
• Napoleon in Love (BBC Radio 4, 1969), portrayed by Marius Goring
• Five Morning Comedies: "Keep Your Hands Off My War" (BBC Radio 4, 1970), portrayed by Clive Swift
• The Dynasts (seven-part series) (BBC Home Service, 1970), portrayed by Maurice Denham
• St. Helena (BBC Radio 4, 1972), portrayed by Lee Montague
• Midweek Theatre: "Eagle and Spider" (BBC Radio 4, 1973), portrayed by Cyril Shaps
• The Day of Destiny (BBC Radio 4, 1974), portrayed by Barry Foster
• Napoleon Aboard HMS Bellerophon (BBC Radio 4, 1975), portrayed by Cyril Shaps
• Vanity Fair (ten-part serial) (BBC Radio 4, 1978), portrayed by Harold Kasket
• The Man of Destiny (BBC Radio 4, 1981), portrayed by David Suchet
• Thirty-Minute Theatre: "Shaggy Sokolov" (BBC Radio 3, 1984), portrayed by Michael Graham Cox
• Betsy and Napoleon (BBC Radio 2005), portrayed by Alex Jennings
• Napoleon Rising (BBC Radio 3, 2012), portrayed by Toby Jones
• Tsar - "Alexander I: Into the Woods" (BBC Radio 4, 2017), portrayed by Charlie Anson
• Billy Ruffian (BBC Radio 4, 2018), portrayed by Adrian Scarborough

Television

• Amoureuse Joséphine (France, 1974), played by Pierre Arditi
• Bewitched: "Samantha's French Pastry", Uncle Arthur tries to conjure up a French Pastry, but instead conjures up Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Henry Gibson.
• Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999), played by Simon Russell Beale
• Clone High: Napoléon is a recurring character; Abe Lincoln claims he has a Napoleon complex.
• Dad's Army: "A Soldier's Farewell", a soldier (Arthur Lowe) dreams he is Napoléon at the Battle of Waterloo
• Deadliest Warrior featured Napoleon in their third season, squaring up against the first American president George Washington. Washington was the victor.
• Fairly OddBaby: Jorgen Von Strangle proposes the name "Napoléon" for Poof The Baby
• How the Brigadier Won His Medals (1954), played by Booth Colman
• Histeria!: Napoléon is a recurring character who speaks like Hervé Villechaize
• I Dream of Jeannie: "My Master, Napoleon's Buddy", Jeannie sends Tony back in time to advise Napoleon (played by Aram Katcher), who suspects Tony of being a spy and plans to execute him
• Jack of All Trades: Napoléon is a recurring character, played by Verne Troyer
• Joséphine ou la comédie des ambitions (France, 1979), played by Daniel Mesguich
• Napoléon (2000): 4-part documentary series narrated by David McCullough
• Napoléon et l'Europe (France, 1991), played by Jean-François Stévenin
• Napoléon: la Campagne de Russie (France, 2015), played by Marc Duret
• Napoléon (2002), played by Christian Clavier
• Napoléon & Joséphine: A Love Story (1987), played by Armand Assante
• Napoleon and Love (UK, 1974), played by Ian Holm
• Robot Chicken: "Napoléon Bonamite", character is a cross between Bonaparte and Napoleon Dynamite
• The Love Story of Napoleon (1953), played by James Mason
• Time Squad: "Napoléon the Conquered", Napoléon is forced to take care of the house after Joséphine takes up fine arts
• War and Peace (UK, 1972), played by David Swift
• War and Peace (France/Italy, 2007), played by Scali Delpeyrat
• Horrible Histories (UK, 2009 - 2015), played by Jim Howick
• War and Peace (UK, 2016), played by Mathieu Kassovitz
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Jéan-Louis Bonaparte is based on the cliché of Napoléon