World History
Yahoo! has an article up titled 10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies. The subtitle notes, "Films that make your high school history teacher cry." Here are the ten that made the list:
1. 10,000 B.C.
2. Gladiator
3. 300
4. The Last Samurai
5. Apocalypto
6. Memoirs of a Geisha
7. Braveheart
8. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
9. The Patriot
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey
I do not think that 10,000 B.C. belongs on this list. It is not an attempt at history. It is straight out fiction set in a fictional remote past. 2001 is science fiction and doesn't belong either. Yes, the predictions made didn't happen but it is not a history movie. We known the Star Trek is science fiction too and not a history. Obviously, there were no Eugenic Wars and a leader known as Khan either in the 1990s. If the Star Trek movie franchise is not confused as history, why put 2001 on the list?
Films associated with Mel Gibson make the list three times. However, one of them (Braveheart) won best picture at the Oscars. They may have historical inaccuracies but these Gibson films have stimulated interest in history and given those cringing high school history teachers a tool to motivate discussions on historical topics.
I get annoyed by bad history presentations by Hollywood too. However, I do think it is OK for writers and directors to take some liberties with history to tell a good story. How much liberty they take is a matter which can be be fairly debated but I think most people are alright with some deviance from reality.
Any other films which should be on this list? Are there some which should be removed?
- The Mirror Crack’d-history Reflected By Hollywood
Academic Exchange Quarterly has an interesting article titled The Mirror Crack?d-History Reflected by Hollywood. It is by Paul D?Amboise and Avery Plaw. This article examines how mainstream (Hollywood) history films can be productively incorporated into...
- Ten Scientifically Scientific Innaccurate Movies?
Yahoo has a nice article up titled Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies. The article notes: If movies were completely scientifically accurate, they'd probably be as interesting as a Physics 101 lecture. In real life, there are no explosions in...
- Top 3 Worst War Films
Back in September, The Osprey Publishing Blog had a post on the Top 3 Worst War Films. I discovered this post via the 7th Military History Carnival. The carnival author noted, "I asked what the Top Three Worst War films were and what war films our readers...
- The Mirror Crack’d-history Reflected By Hollywood
The Mirror Crack?d-History Reflected by Hollywood. This is an article on how teachers can use films to teach history. It uses the premise that Hollywood is not always accurate in showing historical events. I am shocked. Do you mean that the Emperor Commodus...
- End Of The Year: Night At The Museum
There are some movies that work really well for history classes, and some that do not. After watching a Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum 2 this weekend, I put it in the category of works really well. I did not find really any discrepancies...
World History
10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies?
Yahoo! has an article up titled 10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies. The subtitle notes, "Films that make your high school history teacher cry." Here are the ten that made the list:
1. 10,000 B.C.
2. Gladiator
3. 300
4. The Last Samurai
5. Apocalypto
6. Memoirs of a Geisha
7. Braveheart
8. Elizabeth: The Golden Age
9. The Patriot
10. 2001: A Space Odyssey
I do not think that 10,000 B.C. belongs on this list. It is not an attempt at history. It is straight out fiction set in a fictional remote past. 2001 is science fiction and doesn't belong either. Yes, the predictions made didn't happen but it is not a history movie. We known the Star Trek is science fiction too and not a history. Obviously, there were no Eugenic Wars and a leader known as Khan either in the 1990s. If the Star Trek movie franchise is not confused as history, why put 2001 on the list?
Films associated with Mel Gibson make the list three times. However, one of them (Braveheart) won best picture at the Oscars. They may have historical inaccuracies but these Gibson films have stimulated interest in history and given those cringing high school history teachers a tool to motivate discussions on historical topics.
I get annoyed by bad history presentations by Hollywood too. However, I do think it is OK for writers and directors to take some liberties with history to tell a good story. How much liberty they take is a matter which can be be fairly debated but I think most people are alright with some deviance from reality.
Any other films which should be on this list? Are there some which should be removed?
- The Mirror Crack’d-history Reflected By Hollywood
Academic Exchange Quarterly has an interesting article titled The Mirror Crack?d-History Reflected by Hollywood. It is by Paul D?Amboise and Avery Plaw. This article examines how mainstream (Hollywood) history films can be productively incorporated into...
- Ten Scientifically Scientific Innaccurate Movies?
Yahoo has a nice article up titled Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies. The article notes: If movies were completely scientifically accurate, they'd probably be as interesting as a Physics 101 lecture. In real life, there are no explosions in...
- Top 3 Worst War Films
Back in September, The Osprey Publishing Blog had a post on the Top 3 Worst War Films. I discovered this post via the 7th Military History Carnival. The carnival author noted, "I asked what the Top Three Worst War films were and what war films our readers...
- The Mirror Crack’d-history Reflected By Hollywood
The Mirror Crack?d-History Reflected by Hollywood. This is an article on how teachers can use films to teach history. It uses the premise that Hollywood is not always accurate in showing historical events. I am shocked. Do you mean that the Emperor Commodus...
- End Of The Year: Night At The Museum
There are some movies that work really well for history classes, and some that do not. After watching a Night at the Museum and Night at the Museum 2 this weekend, I put it in the category of works really well. I did not find really any discrepancies...