Guess what made the "Top 10 Historically Inaccurate Films" list?

[Scotus]

I agree with sharpdressedscot. Take 10,000 B.C., for example. I loved that movie! I mean... you can't go wrong with a movie involving Wooly Mammoth hunts! But when it comes to movies like Braveheart, people, unfortunately, believe that is how it all really happened, what they really wore, etc. When you go to see a movie involving Wooly Mammoths helping in the building of the great pyramids...(again, very cool)... you know you're watching something that came right out of someone's imagination.

[Bob C]

Mel Gibson never claimed he was making documentaries.

[muirkirkca]

A couple of my grand kids saw 10,000 B.C. and thought it was great. A movie with Scottish Picts shearing the woolly mammoths for their wool and making them into kilts and then fighting invading Romans would be a good Braveheart sequel. The Picts could even ride the mammoths into war.

[macwilkin]

Mel Gibson never claimed he was making documentaries.

That's always the excuse, Bob, but I don't buy it. Filmakers frequently consult with historians and others to get the "feel" of a particular period in history. There are plenty of good examples of films that reach a happy medium between historical documentary and ripping yarn -- the aforementioned "Ghost Soldiers", "The Alamo" (the recent incarnation), etc.

So yes, we all know -- filmakers aren't necessarly making documentaries, but most people watching their films aren't necessarily aware of that. As the late Adlai Stevenson replied to the woman who said to him, that every "thinking American" was voting for him, "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!".

T.

[Bob C]

It's not an excuse, Todd. These movies are entertainment, not documentaries.

Where's the factual analysis for Harry Potter?

[macwilkin]

It's not an excuse, Todd. These movies are entertainment, not documentaries.

Where's the factual analysis for Harry Potter?

Come by my library, and I'll show you several books we have on the shelves that deal with the various myths, legends and folklore that can be found in the Harry Potter stories. And in terms of the "factual analysis" for Potter, you might wish to read about the "Wizard of Gordonstoun":

http://www.houseofgordonva.com/Gordonstoun.html

Granted, the links are tenuous.

There's no law that says that entertainment can't be educational, btw. Some of us are actually entertained when we are educated.

T.

[Panache]

... When you go to see a movie involving Wooly Mammoths helping in the building of the great pyramids...(again, very cool)... you know you're watching something that came right out of someone's imagination.

One hopes that people know they are watching something out of someone's imagination!

There has always been a balance between truth and what makes a good story. I think it is important to somehow clue the audience into exactly what they are watching.

For example, while I found the costumes in 300 idiotic (though oddly my lovely Flame-Haired Celtic Amazon Goddess had no problem with them ) I was fine with the other historical inaccuracies. This was because of how the begining and end of the movie framed the story of the Battle of Thermopylae as a tale. One told to rally the Spartan Troops as they prepared for battle. The "Tall Tale" aspects worked and we the audience were clued in that this is the story of the King Leonides and his 300 Spartans, rather than their history. For the record I still like the old "The 300 Spartans" better though.

I also think that dinosaurs building the pyramids would have been way, way cooler than Mammoths!

Cheers

Jamie

[sharpdressedscot]

One hopes that people know they are watching something out of someone's imagination!

There has always been a balance between truth and what makes a good story. I think it is important to somehow clue the audience into exactly what they are watching.

For example, while I found the costumes in 300 idiotic (though oddly my lovely Flame-Haired Celtic Amazon Goddess had no problem with them ) I was fine with the other historical inaccuracies. This was because of how the begining and end of the movie framed the story of the Battle of Thermopylae as a tale. One told to rally the Spartan Troops as they prepared for battle. The "Tale Tale" aspects worked and we the audience were clued in that this is the story of the King Leonides and his 300 Spartans, rather than their history. For the record I still like the old "The 300 Spartans" better though.

I also think that dinosaurs building the pyramids would have been way, way cooler than Mammoths!

Cheers

Jamie

What's funny about the Movie 300 is that it's based on the Frank Miller comic book which is based on the older movie, the 300 Spartans or something like that. I don't know where it got lost in the transition, but there you have it.

Leather speedos! LOL, what cooler than going into battle in a speedo. It proves you don't need any armour and you'll frighten the enemies!

[davedove]

I also think that dinosaurs building the pyramids would have been way, way cooler than Mammoths!

Yeah, I can just imagine a brontosaurus in harness and being used a s a crane. The crane operator would ride on the creature's back and use ropes and pulleys to get the creature to do its job.....

Wait a minute!!! The Flintstones already did that.

[elrond]

Filmakers and directors are surely much more interested in the money they can earn from the emotions that people can feel looking at the "wrong fact" than in the reality of the fact itself.
It is evident that some scots dressed with trousers or other garments than the great kilts would have been more real, but surely less appealing for the "cinema fans"....

I think that sometimes we have to realize that accuracy and truth are characteristics that are no good for cinema, that is however always a "fiction"...