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"Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 05 Jun 2019, 10:03
by tj doxa
What is your opinion of the calls historical films? Should they adjust in atmosphere, clothes and argument to events or should they allow artistic "licenses"? As far as these licenses are tolerable (and I'm thinking of films like R. Scott's Gladiator, or A. Parker's Evita ... or in trash like King Scorpion or 10,000 BC).
Often these films are used as teaching material in class (and in those cases, the teacher should make his objections to his students).
But in most cases, the only approach people have to history is through the silver screen.
And I do not mean an unambiguous account of history, or the old apothegm of narrating the facts "wie es eigentlich gewesen ist".
I mean certain bullish and intentional changes like making Comodus die in the arena or mammoths building pyramids.
Is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Re: "Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 10 Jun 2019, 02:34
by Only1Cola
I think movies/filmmakers can and will take artistic license over accuracy for the sake of entertainment. Money talks in Hollywood. Teachers who use films to educate need to make the inconsistencies, between the film and the true history, clear to their students.
Re: "Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 10 Jun 2019, 03:51
by Nisha Ward
I think it depends on the purpose of the film in question. For something like Scorpion King, historical accuracy needs to take a backseat to the other aspects of the film because it's primarily a fantasy genre. In something like Gladiator, though, I think accuracy should be strived for as much as possible without sacrificing the entertainment value of the film.
However, when using films to teach history,it would be irresponsible not to point out the inaccuracies inherent to the film because then you're creating false equivalents between truth and fantasy
Re: "Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 12 Jun 2019, 07:20
by SunVixen
tj doxa wrote: ↑05 Jun 2019, 10:03
What is your opinion of the calls historical films? Should they adjust in atmosphere, clothes and argument to events or should they allow artistic "licenses"? As far as these licenses are tolerable (and I'm thinking of films like R. Scott's Gladiator, or A. Parker's Evita ... or in trash like King Scorpion or 10,000 BC).
Often these films are used as teaching material in class (and in those cases, the teacher should make his objections to his students).
But in most cases, the only approach people have to history is through the silver screen.
And I do not mean an unambiguous account of history, or the old apothegm of narrating the facts "wie es eigentlich gewesen ist".
I mean certain bullish and intentional changes like making Comodus die in the arena or mammoths building pyramids.
Is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
You forgot rhinos in the Persian army and bikini during the WWII!
Of course, you are right. The so-called "historical" movies often contradict history as a science. When I watch something like this, I just try to think of this as an AU. In AU, rhinos can be domesticated and participate in battles, no problem.
Re: "Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 14 Jun 2019, 03:00
by -Tinuthien-
I think artistic license should be there and serve to entertain in historical movies, but not conflict with the facts that are actually documented (although history books can also have their artistic licenses). Entertainment should be there (romance etc) because otherwise people will lose interest, but not make them believe gross factual inaccuracies (like that every woman in the 19th century tightlaced her corset, which is absolutely untrue). Good costuming will do a lot to improve a film, in my opinion, and it isn't so much more difficult to do than sloppy costuming.
Re: "Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 14 Jun 2019, 16:46
by Gabriel Merêncio
This conflict between factual rigor and entertainment doesn't have to exist in the first place. Creativity involves finding interesting ways to tell a story and coming up with novel solutions to problems, so restraints are not only not a problem, but an invitation to be creative. Sure, taking artistic liberties here and there is inevitable to a certain extent, but most of the time people just use them as excuses to take the easy way out. Since these movies are more concerned about pleasing the audience and making money, it's fine as long as most people don't complain.
Re: "Historical movies": is historical rigor at odds with entertainment?
Posted: 19 Jun 2019, 16:27
by Heatholt
This is something I had an issue with in the “Mary, Queen of scots film” that recently came out. To make the cast more diverse they used Asian characters in places where the character was white then created a whole fake story line about a gay character. As a gay man, I love to see gay characters in film but this was so inaccurate it was distracting for me. I am usually open minded and understand trying to diversify film roles but this really bothered me. The movie receives 0 stars for me.