The movies often do a good job of portraying historical events. The problem is, some of the audience may not know when the events portrayed are real and when they are fictional. A useful way to think of dramatizations of history or current events is "levels" of reality.
The first level, the most realistic, would be a portrayal of actual persons and events, as realistically done as possible.
The second level would be a movie in which fictional characters are set against a background of real history and historical events, as when fictional characters are introduced to tell the story of a real war.
The third level would be mainly fictional, but with accurate historical details to lend authenticity to the story.
The fourth level would be pure fiction.
The fifth level would add historical details that are not necessarily correct. Some of these are reasonably harmless, such as modern makeup on medieval women. Others are more confusing, and might give viewers a distorted view of history. Perhaps we could institute a system of rating movies for historical authenticity.
the facts and just the facts about diverse topics--the kind that involve at least a short explanation
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
lots of Kennedys
One form of ignorance believes in things that don't exist, like magic and clairvoyance. Another form of ignorance claims that things that really happened are fictional. The Kennedys are one example of this. People see the assassination of Robert Kennedy in an old movie, and assume that it is an error or a fictionalization of the assassination of John Kennedy. Wrong--both assassinations really happened. John Kennedy was shot while he was president, in 1963. Robert Kennedy, his brother, was killed while running for president in 1968. Another Kennedy brother, Ted ( Edward ) had a car accident in which a young woman was killed. Ted Kennedy survived the accident and served in the U.S. Senate for many years. The Kennedys were a large family, and many of them were involved in politics. One of the reasons movies show "clips" of famous events is to tell the audience the year. If you're not sure whether an event portrayed in a movie is real or fictional, try searching it on the internet.
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