HISTORY GOES TO THE MOVIESGreg Caggiano

Instructor, Brookdale CC

"Our writers and directors tend to know as little about the country's history as the audience, so when they set a story in the past, the characters are just like us except they're in costume. But the past is another country, and to bring it to some sort of dramatic life takes a capacity for which there is no English word. It was not until the eighteenth century that a German, J.G. Herder, coined 'Einfuhlen'-- the act of feeling one's way into the past not by holding up a mirror but by stepping through the mirror into the alien world."- Gore Vidal

What to look for: Historical accuracy

How faithful is the film to depicted events? Histrionics

Is the story over-dramatized or exaggerated? Dramatic License

How much was changed to the story? Contemporary Political Correctness

Do past characters find themselves in “modern” positions or having modern viewpoints?

Entertainment Factor Was it a good movie?

American History Textbook Syndrome

The blind portrayal of American characters as heroes, and everyone else as exaggerated villains

Current example: “Turn” on AMC Popular themes:

British soldiers are evil and malicious Confederate soldiers are all slave owners Indians are unintelligent savages and bloodthirsty

Surprising NON-EXAMPLES: “The Alamo” (both the 1960 and 2004 versions)

Other non-examples: “Gods and Generals” and “Gettysburg” portraying BOTH sides as being right

Racism in Early Hollywood

Racist and stereotypical portrayals were accepted and encouraged Reflected the views of the film-going majority

African Americans, American Indians, and Asians were very rarely played by actors of that descent

Women also shown negatively, as weak or characterized as damsels in distress

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Despite being hideously racist, it was an exceptionally well-made movie

Introduced new camera techniques such as panning, and wide-angle shots

Superb editing One of the first true “epics” and actually

told a story Portrayals: northerners as evil

carpetbaggers, blacks as sex-starved animals, women as weak, and white men as true American heroes

“It’s like writing history with lightning. My only regret is that it is all so terribly true.”

-Woodrow Wilson, upon screening The

Birth of a Nation at the White House

Video Clip: The KKK saves the day

Besides giving birth to a nation, this film also helped to give birth to the second incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan, which had been dead since the 1870’s

Set the tone for racism to be perfectly fine in Hollywood movies for decades to come

Inspired white people into action against blacks (there were riots in which black people were killed by angry whites after they saw the movie) as well as black people to protest

Helped keep minorities in their place in a society where white people had all the power

Alamo Movies

Is it the most-filmed battle of all-time? The Immortal Alamo (1911) Martyrs of the Alamo (1915) Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo (1926) Heroes of the Alamo (1937) The Alamo: Shrine of Texas Liberty (1938) The Last Command (1955) The Alamo (1960) The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987) Alamo: The Price of Freedom (1988) The Alamo (2004)

Battle also featured in Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955), Houston: The Legend of Texas (1986), Texas (1994)

A tale of two Alamos…

Comparison

The 1960 and 2004 versions of the Alamo story are a great example of how one battle can be viewed by many different angles

1960: a grand spectacle; historical epic; showing the Alamo defenders as heroes; little regard for accuracy; Cold War Era-feel

2004: a push for accuracy; humanistic view of the Alamo defenders; brutally honest; eliminated many elements of the story

The one thing they have in common? Both films BOMBED at the box office

Why did they fail?

1960 version: too long, too much dialogue, very political

2004 version: bloodless fighting; doomed for failure because of PG-13 rating (Thanks Disney!), an almost antagonistic approach toward portraying famous heroes

Film clip: Crockett’s “Republic” Speech (1960)

Clip: 1960

Clip: 2004

Which is better?

Both films feature incredible battle scenes, film scores, costuming, and sets

Wayne’s, overall, is more entertaining and feel-good

Hancock’s is more accurate, but sometimes goes too far out of its way to demystify the heroic aspects of the Alamo defenders

“The 2004 version is by far and away a better film than the 1960 one, but that does not mean it is my favorite of the pair.”- Ned Huthmacher

Clip: “Woe unto you” Clip: “Created equal?”

Accuracy

Probably the most historically accurate film to come out of Hollywood in decades

Some of the final votes were changed to make the scene more tense and dramatic

Opening scene of black soldier reciting Gettysburg address would have never happened

Opening “battle” scene in the rain most likely never would have happened

TURN AWAY FROM “TURN”!

So historically inaccurate it might as well be set on another planet

REAL characters in places they would not have been, saying things they would not have said

The British seen as evil, sadistic, and bloodthirsty

Despite decent costuming and great cinematography, “Turn” is exceptionally boring and brutishly slow

Character Assassination

Victim: John Simcoe Portrayed as: bloodthirsty, malicious, lacking in

conscious, wants to rape a colonial woman In real life: was seen as a decent officer, respected

by his own men AND the enemy. Brilliant strategist who specialized in surprise attacks “Referred to as ‘brave, humane and honest’ by the Duke

of Northumberland, John Graves Simcoe was known as chivalrous and compassionate to enemy soldiers. He did not see a need to kill, unless it was justified.”

Eventually became Lt. Governor of Upper Canada and oversaw the movement towards the abolition of slavery

Other Gripes

British soldiers free slaves based on a law that was not written until more than 50 years after this time period, then give the female slaves as “gifts” to officer and impress the men into military service

Washington speaks with a British accent and is seen as a Christ-like figure

Show extremely confusing even for Rev-War buffs; script drifts from brilliant to horrific

Clip

The worst of all?

Al Pacino’s accent The “United States Army” has

ammunition crates labeled “USA” Bayonets, swords, and pike blades bend

when stabbed into someone Random women and children running on

the battlefield Accuracy aside, this is a TERRIBLE movie No film clip for you!

Better than “Turn”

Aside from Cornwallis, most of the characters are fictitious or had their names changed Maj. Villeneuve = Von Steuben/ Lafayette Col. Tavington = Banastre Tarleton

Allows more room for creative license British are borderline evil; the burning of a

church with civilians never would have happened

Characters very politically correct and modern

Highly entertaining

A mistake, insulting in its reasoning…

Battle/Fight Portrayals

Decent depiction of guerilla warfare which was becoming more prevalent during the Revolution

Final battle is LOOSELY based on the Battles of Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse (1781) in which the Continentals tricked the British by sending militia to the front line with regulars hidden below a hill behind them

Tarleton was at Cowpens, Cornwallis was at Guilford Courthouse. Both in the movie’s final battle

Film clip: Battle Scene

"The Holocaust was life without light. For me the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black-and-white.“- S. Spielberg

A Little Bit of Everything

Perfect for classroom viewing Portrays the essentials of the Holocaust in

small or large ways Ghetto life Factory life Life on the streets of Nazi territory Death camp showers Auschwitz The looting of Jewish-owned homes for art The repossessing of Jewish-owned homes Violence and cruelty Destruction of remains

Portrayals

Schindler (Liam Neeson) is the hero and we sympathize, but the film does a great job in showing him as an extremely flawed man and womanizer

Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) really existed but his role was expanded to include duties of several accountants

Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) was exceptional in portrayal, so startling that survivors who met him on set were reported to have trembled with fear because he looked just like him

Girl in the Red Coat “Schindler had previously rationalized to himself that the reports of

atrocities were just the isolated acts of individuals, but now realizes that if such atrocities are occurring in full view of this little girl, the Nazis must be acting with the full knowledge of their superiors, with the approval of the highest authority. Schindler identifies with the little girl in red, as she makes her way, aimless and alone, past the madness and chaos in the street. A woman is machine-gunned behind her. Schindler loses sight of the small figure as she walks behind a building, but then he glimpses her again, walking by a file of Jews being herded down a sidewalk. During the roundup, a Nazi soldier fires at a single-file lineup of men, killing several with one bullet. Stricken by the nightmare below, Schindler sees the little girl in red entering one of the empty apartment buildings. There, she climbs the stairs and crawls under a bed for cover in a ransacked room. An individual victim, lost. Schindler´s soul is touched by the child, he feels her pain, cries for her. The plight of the one little girl in red touches him in a way the shear numbers make unreal, it is easy to get lost in numbers. He transforms the faceless mass around him into one real palpable human being. This one child is a symbol of all the 6.000.000 victims, exposed to ruthless slaughter. Each was an individual, who had dreams, who had a life, who had a family.”

Spielberg’s explanation, a symbol of how America and other nations knew the Holocaust was coming, and ignored it:

"It was as obvious as a little girl wearing a red coat, walking down the street, and yet nothing was done to bomb the German rail lines. Nothing was being done to slow down ... the annihilation of European Jewry, so that was my message in letting that scene be in color.“