History and Hollywood
“There is no truth, there is only you,
and what you make the truth.”
-Connor Oberst
Period Pieces
• From the beginning of the film industry, motion
pictures based on historical events or the lives of
historical figures have been made.
• Many of the most successful films in history have
been, well, about history, or at least some famous
historical incident or character from the past.
• Inevitably, the relationship between what
Hollywood portrays, and what actually happened,
can be a little murky, to say the least.
Historiography
• All historians approach history from a particular
perspective, i.e. political history, military history,
Marxist history, social history, etc. (there are many
more).
• The way to think about this, is to think of a dozens of
pairs of eyeglasses. Each one you put on is different
from the others, and allows you to see things you can
only see when you are wearing that particular pair.
• For example, Marxists historians view all of history as a
struggle between the rich and powerful bourgeoisie,
and the poor or working class proletariat.
Historical Bias
• Needless to say, some low quality historians can show bias,
that is, they can impose their own preference on the past.
This is a bad thing, and dangerous, but usually easy to spot.
• Another type of bias is the unconscious bias that causes a
person, acting in good faith, to ask one question instead of
another.
• Perhaps the most dangerous bias, is the bias of the
audience, that is, the desire to give people what they want
to see or hear.
• One way to avoid this problem is by approaching all history
with a sense of true detachment.
• In short, the ideal investigator is the person who wants to
find an answer, but doesn’t care what the answer is.
Academic History vs. “Pop” History
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Professional historians who try their best to be detached investigators of the past, spend
thousands of hours in the library, in archives, or on location, pouring over primary sources,
getting the best information from the existing secondary sources, and interviewing eye
witnesses or experts, do so in the name of their profession.
While a good living as an academic, and a measure of prestige, may await them, huge
fortunes almost never do, because very few people ordinary people want to read what they
are publishing.
Most of the “history” books you see in a Barnes and Nobles, are what we refer to as “pop”
history.
“Pop” history is written and marketed to a huge audience, with the hope of making a lot of
money.
Some legitimate, respected historians write “pop” history, but most of it is written by
amateurs or quasi-professionals, and not typically researched as thoroughly as academic
history.
The argument in favor of “pop” history is that it gets many more people familiar with history
than does academic history.
The problem with “pop” history, is that when someone is writing primarily to gain a wide
audience, they will give that audience what they want, and typically be prone to bias.
Back to Hollywood
• By its very nature, a major motion picture is designed to make
money. No studio or producer would finance a project without the
idea of making at least some cash.
• Anytime they get a script, they need to make sure it is going to
appeal to as large an audience as possible.
• This can lead to many scripts being adjusted, and certain facts and
details being omitted, all to ensure the best reception.
• Therein lies the problem with period pieces: Stories may be
changed, crucial facts and details are omitted.
• Of course some film makers are terribly biased, and literally work to
impose their preferences on the historical events they depict,
essentially making propaganda.
• Even the most conscientious film makers, who hire professional
historians to ensure accuracy, can fall victim to bias.
The Cost of Bad Historical Films
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You may be thinking to yourself, “Aww, who cares if history gets a little glossing
over, if it makes the story better. Why do I care if some director has a character
shooting a rifle that didn’t exist when the movie was supposed to take place?”
• The problem is that many people learn all they are ever really going to know about
history, from the few period pieces they see.
• In some ways, our collective sense of history is affected by Hollywood in a way that
professional historians could never touch.
For example:
• If a film maker has a long standing admiration for a certain figure, he makes a film
that glamourizes that character, and leaves out flaws.
• If a film maker has a prejudice against certain groups, that can appear in his work.
• If a film maker has a particular political or social agenda, they can make a film that
advances that agenda in a way that appeals to a mass audience, convincing people
to believe something they wouldn’t normally believe, or take action they wouldn’t
normally take.
The Most Famous Example of All Time
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In 1915, brilliant film maker D.W. Griffith released the silent film The Birth of a
Nation.
The film tells the story of the relationship between two families, the abolitionist
Stonemen’s from the North, and the Southern Cameron’s from the South.
Part I portrays the period previous to and during the Civil War.
In Part II, the era of Reconstruction is presented. In this portion of the film, freed
African Americans are given the right to vote, enter the legislature, and gain power
in the South, where they deprive whites of their rights.
They are depicted as lazy, incompetent, corrupt, and unable to control themselves.
In particular, black men are depicted as sex crazed savages, bent on sexual
conquest of white women.
To regain their rights, and to protect the South from the clearly “sub-human”
blacks, the Ku Klux Klan is formed by Ben Cameron.
Repeatedly in the film, the heroes are the Ku Klux Klan, and the villains are African
Americans.
Birth of a Nation
Birth of a Nation
Impact
• The film was a landmark achievement in cinema, ushering dozens
of advancements in film making.
• The Birth of a Nation was also the highest grossing film in history
until Gone With the Wind surpassed it in the 1940’s.
• Millions of people saw the film, reinforcing bitter racism in the
South, and legitimizing Jim Crow laws.
• Of course many people, who had little knowledge of Reconstruction
believed the film to be an accurate depiction of the period, and
many of the falsehoods portrayed are still etched in the collective
memory of our society.
• The Ku Klux Klan reformed in the South the year the film was
released, and eventually spread nation wide, reaching its peak with
4-5 million members in the 1920’s. Many historians believe The
Birth of a Nation inspired this resurgence.
Rebellion in Film
• One very popular subject for film, is the concept of rebellion.
• Some of cinemas most famous pictures have portrayed an
individual or group, rebelling, or standing against what appear to be
overwhelming forces.
• Sometimes this can be an individual rebelling against societal
convention, as in Marlon Brando’s Johnny in The Wild One, or James
Dean’s Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause, or Paul Newman’s Cool
Hand Luke.
• Other times, an individual rebels against the authority of a personal
nemesis, as does Jack Nicholson’s R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over
the Cuckoos Nest, or Charlton Heston’s Judah Ben-Hur..
• Quite often the rebels fight injustice, as does Gregory Peck’s Atticus
Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, Henry Fonda’s Juror #8 in 12 Angry
Men, Al Pacino’s Serpico, Brando’s Terry Malloy in On the
Waterfront, and Sally Field’s Norma Rae.
Rebels
Rebels
Particular Aspects to Films about
Rebellion
• Most films about rebellion make clear who the “good guys” are from the
outset, and work to make you sympathetic to them.
• Typically, the rebel is either a bold non-conformist or a humble individual
who takes a righteous stand.
• The villains are usually despicable, but oddly enough, have a strange sense
charisma, which makes the protagonist all the more sympathetic.
• Typically the film will present not just a villain to stand against, but an
entire system, which is portrayed with scorn.
• Many times the rebel will be particularly sensitive to female characters,
portraying a “soft” side to contrast with their “rough” rebellious exterior
and actions.
• Typically, the rebel either loses against overwhelming odds, or the story is
left open ended. This device often times works to add a sense of romantic
doom to rebellion, which ironically, makes rebellion more appealing.
Two Fine Examples
• The first example we will encounter is Spartacus (1960), starring Kirk
Douglas, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Charles Lawton, Peter Ustinov, and Gene
Simmons, and directed by the great Stanley Kubrick.
• In Spartacus, a gladiator in ancient Rome leads a slave rebellion against
the legions of Rome.
• The second example will be The Grapes of Wrath (1940), starring Henry
Fonda, Jane Darwell, and John Carradine, and directed by the great John
Ford.
• In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family loses their family farm in
Oklahoma to greedy bankers during the Dust Bowl, migrates to California
to work as migrant farm workers, where they encounter more corporate
greed and injustice.
• Both films offer interesting narratives on rebellion, and have influenced
our societies concepts of justice, and love of the underdog, all while we
embrace many of the same forces of injustice in our daily lives.
Spartacus
The Grapes of Wrath