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Topic:
History vs Movie: Now Disc. Spot the Anachronism: "American Graffiti"
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
4/30 4:30pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "The Patriot"
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^ ^ I disagree about KoH. I find it enormously compelling, both visually and emotionally. "Cowardly"? "Wimpy"? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. The movie has guts and acts of heroic sacrifice to spare.
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"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/1 12:37pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "The Patriot"
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The blogger on:
"#8.Cold Mountain (2003)
The Flick: Jude Law, as Confederate soldier W.P. Inman, must find his way back to his love, Ada, while overcoming a deadly wilderness, the ravages of war and having to look at Renee Zellweger for an extended period of time.
The Inaccuracies: While Jude only deserts his unit after a disastrous battle, the real W.P. Inman was arrested twice for "cowardly desertion of his post." Also, as Inman starts his journey from a hospital in Raleigh, NC, which is about 250 miles east of Cold Mountain, it's somewhat puzzling that he manages to reach the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 400 miles out of his way, before getting home.
Why It Would Have Sucked Otherwise: Despite everything mentioned above, by far the most movie-saving historical inaccuracy in Cold Mountain has to be the fact that women of the 1800s rarely, if ever, shaved their legs. Take every romantic scene between Ada and Inman and add the rustling sound of a six-month crop of leg hair, and you'll understand what we're talking about here."
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/4 2:17pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Cold Mountain"
- Date Edited:
5/4 2:19pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Zaz
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Next: the blogger on: #7.Marie Antoinette (2006)
"The Flick: Kirsten Dunst takes a break from being whiny and self-centered in modern-day Manhattan to be whiny and self-centered in 18th century France.
The Inaccuracies: One of the conflicts in the film centers around Marie and Louis' (Jason Schwartzman) difficulty in producing an heir. In the movie, Louis is afraid of sex. In reality, Louis had phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin of the penis cannot be fully retracted. This was later fixed with an operation, and the couple did in fact conceive.
Why It Would Have Sucked Otherwise: The only thing we want to see less than Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst argue about his extra penis skin is footage of the operation in which this skin is removed with all the benefits of 18th century medical technology."
In fact, they had four children, and Marie had at least one miscarriage. There were rumours at least one of the children wasn't Louis's, probably unfounded.
And yes, all Louis really needed was a circumcision, which apparently Marie's brother persuaded him to get. His younger brother, the Duc de Provence, also had this problem. He was childless, so I don't know if he, too, had it fixed.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/7 11:51am
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Marie Antoinette"
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Next, the blogger takes on: #6.Amadeus (1984)
"The Flick: Mozart, the leather-pants rock star of the Classical era, farts and bangs noblewomen while composing magnificent music at the drop of a hat, all to the chagrin of rival Salieri, who spends so much of his time deviously plotting Mozart's demise it's hard not to imagine Snidely Whiplash in the role.
The Inaccuracies: Sure, Mozart was a man who enjoyed the occasional diarrhea joke, but by all accounts he was far from the filthy-minded, giggling simpleton depicted in the movie. Also, most historians agree that his relationship with Salieri was one of "friendly rivalry, marked by mutual respect and admiration." And though the movie hints that Salieri may have killed Mozart by poisoning him, the truth is Mozart probably drank himself to death on good old-fashioned booze."
The point was the fury of worthy mediocrity (Salieri) faced by instinctive genius (Mozart). Yes, I get the point, but it's a pity a genuinely rather decent man was maligned here. And besides, Salieri was considered a genius in them there days.
Why It Would Have Sucked Otherwise: A movie about Mozart having a friendly rivalry with someone he respects and admires, then slowly drinking himself to death, would have been about as entertaining as home movies of me interacting with my father.
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
5/7 3:37pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Amadeus"
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I've noticed that Oliver Stone's Alexander -- any of the three available versions -- is not on this list. That's noteworthy because, while the film is as historically accurate as it possibly can be, audiences did not respond positively to the film. It seems that in order to make a period piece a viable commercial property, some liberties must be taken with the material.
-----signature-----
"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/7 3:56pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Amadeus"
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That's the idea here, but I think it depends upon what those liberties are.
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
5/7 4:26pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Amadeus"
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Granted. I don't mind seeing Salieri, for example, portrayed in a negative, even criminal light, as long as the end product is as compelling a work as Amadeus, which I consider one of the great films of our age. (I understand, too, that Salieri taught Mozart's children, and that he openly congratulated his "rival" at the opening of The Magic Flute, unlike the events depicted in the film.) "Is the movie any good or isn't it?" should be the ultimate question; if you want accurate historicity you can research the material for yourself. A tw-hour film wherein Mozart and Salieri are the best of friends, or even unacrimonious acquaintances, would make for very dull cinema indeed.
-----signature-----
"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/7 4:30pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Amadeus"
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But it's most people's experience with Salieri, which is a bit hard on him. Just like most people's view of Scottish history is formed by the entirely absurd "Braveheart"
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/11 10:23am
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Amadeus"
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The blogger's opinion of: #4.Apocalypto (2006)
"The Flick: Mel Gibson wisely places himself behind the camera instead of in front, but not-so-wisely decides that it would be good for his image as a borderline-crazy racist to try and do justice to an entire ancient civilization in two hours.
The Inaccuracies: Although Mayans did occasionally engage in ritual human sacrifice, they were a far more civilized and complex culture than shown in the film. In fact, the Mayan sun god Kukulkan, to whom the sacrifice is made in the movie, never asked for and was never given such a sacrifice, so whatever priest was offering Kukulkan a human heart was probably just creeping him the **** out.
Why It Would Have Sucked Otherwise: Hey, if surrogate Mel Gibson is going to be on the run for half the movie and kicking ass for the other half, it better be because his heart's going to get carved out with a spoon, and not because the elders are going to hold a tribunal, mitigating his sentence to house arrest and temporary probation."
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
5/11 12:58pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Apocolypto"
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I saw this film with Mel Gibson literally sitting in front of me the entire movie. It was Harry Knowles' secret special movie at Fantastic Fest 2006, and Mel had sneaked in when the lights went down to watch it with this first-time audience. My friend, sitting next to me, snickered through the film; there was a silly scene with a snake leaping out of the bushes which she could not help but giggle at. Afterwards during the Q & A Mel made it a point to tell us this was a work in progress, and that certain scenes would get cut -- he said this looking directly at my friend! I never saw the movie again so I don't know if the snake scene made it or not. Anyway, I enjoyed it; historically accurate or not it's a very entertaining ride.
-----signature-----
"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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StarDude
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
5/11 1:01pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Apocolypto"
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This movie is like a Mayan Die Hard. I love it.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/13 12:15pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Apocalypto"
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The blogger moves on to:
3.Shakespeare in Love (1998)
"The Flick: The Bard of Avon meets his muse and imitates his own plays in what is essentially a RomCom for theater-folk. "Hilarious" references to the Shakespearean cannon are as plentiful as they are obscure.
The Inaccuracies: Basically everything, since Shakespeare is one of the most mysterious figures in English history. Historians still argue as to whether he was gay, a front for the Earl of Oxford and/or Sir Francis Bacon, or a cyborg from the future sent back in time to found western civilization, thereby hastening the creation of the McRib sandwich.
Why It Would Have Sucked Otherwise: There isn't much that is less cinematic than someone who may or may not be gay possibly writing a group of plays that may or may not be those attributed to him after his unremarkable death -- we think."
If there's anything that gives me the pip, it's those nimrods that spend their lives trying to prove that someone else wrote Shakespeare's plays. They always go for some dumb nobleman, too; like they've never heard of the "Upper Class Twit of the Year" contest. Bacon isn't dumb, but he's just as unlikely as the Earl of Oxford. Basically these people are saying, the son of glovemaker cannot be a genius. Yea, verily, he can, and he was. And just because he made little show, didn't mean that there wasn't much to show.
That said, I rather enjoyed "Shakespeare in Love."
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Gonk
Registered:
Jul '98
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Date Posted:
5/13 7:56pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Shakespeare in Love"
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Shakespeare in Love was a bit more about the accuracy of the PERIOD and the feel than an actual biopic of Shakespeare himself. There was a lot about it that was really quite accurate. Hey, I doubt Tom Stoppard would have attached himself otherwise. It just had that bit of corniness and fun to it, was all.
Personally what I feel would be an incredible film would be if someone were to do a very accurate biopic of Maxamillien Robespierre. That would be phoenominal, if you know the details.
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What shall we do to fill the empty spaces
Where waves of hunger gnaw?
Shall we set out upon this sea of faces
In search of more and more and more?
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/13 7:59pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Shakespeare in Love"
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Yes, it would.
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Thrawn1786
Registered:
Feb '04
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Date Posted:
5/13 11:19pm
Subject:
RE: History vs Movie: Now Disc. Most Historically Inaccurate Movies: "Shakespeare in Love"
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Zaz posted:
If there's anything that gives me the pip, it's those nimrods that spend their lives trying to prove that someone else wrote Shakespeare's plays. They always go for some dumb nobleman, too; like they've never heard of the "Upper Class Twit of the Year" contest. Bacon isn't dumb, but he's just as unlikely as the Earl of Oxford. Basically these people are saying, the son of glovemaker cannot be a genius. Yea, verily, he can, and he was. And just because he made little show, didn't mean that there wasn't much to show.
That irritates me as well! Why is it no-one ever questions Mozart's genius, yet Shakespeare is ripe for the picking?
True story: my sister was visiting different colleges for her Master's degree, which at the time would concentrate on Shakespeare. One possible school choice was the University of Alabama. We went to the campus, had a nice time, and when it was time to go, she told us(my mom, brother, and I), that she'd met the head of the English department, who taught all the Shakespeare classes, and personally did not believe Shakespeare wrote everything attributed to him. That was both scary and sad.
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