My history teacher raised a valid point today in class. Well, he raises many good points every day, but this one was especially relative to the wide world of Hollywood today. When asked about Hollywood's portrayal of the crusades in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, my professor sighed and shared a few ideas about the problems he had with the film. He then sarcastically remarked that the most accurate crusade-era film is Disney's hippie-influenced cartoon Robin Hood. Lastly he followed that up by sharing a pet peeve of his with all epic and historical movies in general: nearly every one of them has a sex scene (or implied one) the night before a turning point or huge battle. What the heck, right? I totally understand his frustrations on a historical level and personal level. For one thing, these historical figures are probably not as sexually active as Hollywood desires them to have been. Romance, particularly in the Middle Ages and before, is hardly Hollywood worthy. Marriage, after all, was generally arranged for money and status purposes more likely than love. And as seen in Kingdom of Heaven, Troy, 300 countless other recently-produced epics, these guys are probably not having rampant sex before some of the most critical moments in their lives. Women are far away from all things related to battle in the these time periods.
It got me thinking about historical film in general. Now that I have studied some history stuff and interacted with professors who have to constantly debunk Hollywood-born myths about history, I find myself irritated at the Hollywood drama stuff which often clouds the way I understand historical events. I mean, just the other day, I watched Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (a really disturbing movie for one thing), which ends with our man character Mayan guy seeing Spanish ships landing in the new world. No, Mel... You have it wrong. You could have done the entire movie and based it upon the Aztecs and been OK... but you just chose to go ahead with it. Shame on you! And your movie-maker friends too. Seriously, Ridley Scott... you end Gladiator by indicating Rome is about to become a republic again in A.D. 180. I say, do your homework. I realize that you have to heavily dramatize the events to sell movie tickets-- that's acceptable. But do a little research first and at least get the big picture stuff right. And keep the sex out. That leaves an obvious late 21st century handprint on any movie you make.
No comments:
Post a Comment