Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Found this interesting article online, and am curious to see what other
Brits living stateside think of it.

LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood film
studios are guilty of a "grotesque distortion of history" which is
destroying Britain's national identity, a newspaper on Sunday quoted
British historians as saying.
The chief executive of English Heritage,
the government body responsible for the historic environment, told the
Independent on Sunday film-makers' "sloppy" and "formulaic" approach to
history had left a generation of children confused.

"One of my
principal concerns is that the majority of children now leave school
with the sketchiest of chronology about English history," Simon Thurley
said, adding that they turned to films for knowledge.

Antony Beevor,
Britain's best-selling author of popular history, told the newspaper the
Americanization of British history was a particular problem.

"You
can't turn every hero in the world into an American," he said.

The
historians singled out "Saving Private Ryan," based on the Normandy
World War II landings, "U-571" about submariners, and "Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves" as prime offenders.

In "Saving Private Ryan" all
mention of British or Allied troops was omitted, while the British
submariners at the heart of the real action were replaced by Americans
in the film "U-571."

"Robin Hood" was accused of distorting of
Britain's medieval past.

Beevor described the trend as "shameless and
totally irresponsible -- a grotesque distortion of history."

Classical
historian Bettany Hughes said it was not just British history that had
been misrepresented.

"Hollywood has committed some terrible crimes
against history," she said, describing the Hollywood epic "Troy" as a
"travesty of mismatched cultural references."

"Dead heroes in Greco-
Roman dress were cremated with coins on their eyes -- before money had
been invented," she said.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Your talking about a country whos president lies to go war so of course
Hollywood is going to lie!


The really worrying thing about this is
that we let them, King Arthur is about as close to the legend as the
remake of Italian job to the original

Apparently, the story of Billy
Fisk is not going to be an "how one american won the battle of britain"
but a plain telling of the story of Billy Fik (a rich american who won
an olympic medal then joined the RAF at the out break of WWII and flew
hundreds of combat missions before dying from burns sustained in crash
landing.

The downside is Billy Fisk is being played by Tom Cruise.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Hollywood has been warping history for over 100 years. That's because
Hollywood is in the entertainment business, not the education business.
I shudder to think that people actually believe the things they see on
the screen.
Oh yeah, that goes for Michael Moore, too. Heh-heh.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

EVERY Hollywood Studio starts off their screen-writing process by hiring
on a EXPERT in that era, or period of critical history.

That person
works with the screenwriter to write up the script. These experts are
well-renowned and quite respectable in their field. They can come from
far away as Britain or Italy.

The consultant is hired to retain
"accuracy" in certain aspects of the film. The producer/screen-writer
match that with embellishments required to add "entertainment" value to
the picture.

If these so-called "experts" who are whining so much in
that article, really were "experts" -- why were they not hired in
various Hollywood movies??? I work here in Hollywood and never heard of
these guys.

If you want historic accuracy -- go watch A&E
documentaries. If you want exciting visual "depictions" of history,
filmed with heroics, love and awe-inspiring cinematic excellence --
watch Hollywood films.

btw: I hope they know that sometimes *their*
belief of how "history" went down -- sometimes conflicts with OTHER
experts in the field's view of history. I wonder why they didn't
mention that little fact. Who made them God to become the foremost
authority of EVERYTHING British in history??? Are they history
professors, or just guys wanting to get "hired" and make money by
whining in the press???

I think the latter. The hidden agenda is
oozing in that article.

-= nav =-


--
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Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

experts my arse, it's all about putting bums on seats.

Even the
Scottish thought that Braveheart was pants.


--
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Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by dgsyd1
    > Found this interesting
article online, and am curious to see what other Brits living stateside
think of it.
    >
    > LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood film studios are guilty
of a "grotesque distortion of history" which is destroying Britain's
national identity, a newspaper on Sunday quoted British historians as
saying.
    > The chief executive of English Heritage, the government body
responsible for the historic environment, told the Independent on Sunday
film-makers' "sloppy" and "formulaic" approach to history had left a
generation of children confused.
    >
    > "One of my principal concerns is
that the majority of children now leave school with the sketchiest of
chronology about English history," Simon Thurley said, adding that they
turned to films for knowledge.
    >
    > Antony Beevor, Britain's best-
selling author of popular history, told the newspaper the
Americanization of British history was a particular problem.
    >
    > "You
can't turn every hero in the world into an American," he said.
    >
    > The
historians singled out "Saving Private Ryan," based on the Normandy
World War II landings, "U-571" about submariners, and "Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves" as prime offenders.
    >
    > In "Saving Private Ryan"
all mention of British or Allied troops was omitted, while the British
submariners at the heart of the real action were replaced by Americans
in the film "U-571."
    >
    > "Robin Hood" was accused of distorting of
Britain's medieval past.
    >
    > Beevor described the trend as "shameless
and totally irresponsible -- a grotesque distortion of history."
    >
Classical historian Bettany Hughes said it was not just British history
that had been misrepresented.
    >
    > "Hollywood has committed some
terrible crimes against history," she said, describing the Hollywood
epic "Troy" as a "travesty of mismatched cultural references."
    >
"Dead heroes in Greco-Roman dress were cremated with coins on their eyes
-- before money had been invented," she said.


How can anyone
be astonished by this? Hollywood has been doing this for dacades.


--
Aluminium pronouced the American way.


Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by supernav
    > EVERY Hollywood Studio
starts off their screen-writing process by hiring on a EXPERT in that
era, or period of critical history.
    >
    > That person works with the
screenwriter to write up the script. These experts are well-renowned
and quite respectable in their field. They can come from far away as
Britain or Italy.
    >
    > The consultant is hired to retain "accuracy" in
certain aspects of the film. The producer/screen-writer match that with
embellishments required to add "entertainment" value to the picture.

    > If these so-called "experts" who are whining so much in that article,
really were "experts" -- why were they not hired in various Hollywood
movies??? I work here in Hollywood and never heard of these guys.
    >
If you want historic accuracy -- go watch A&E documentaries. If you
want exciting visual "depictions" of history, filmed with heroics, love
and awe-inspiring cinematic excellence -- watch Hollywood films.
    >
btw: I hope they know that sometimes *their* belief of how "history"
went down -- sometimes conflicts with OTHER experts in the field's view
of history. I wonder why they didn't mention that little fact. Who
made them God to become the foremost authority of EVERYTHING British in
history??? Are they history professors, or just guys wanting to get
"hired" and make money by whining in the press???
    >
    > I think the
latter. The hidden agenda is oozing in that article.
    >
    > -= nav =-

Nav, I think you're missing the point here, the problem is not
'mistakes' creeping in, it is the wholesale rewriting of history. I
think we can all agree that there were British, Canadian, Polish etc
troops involved at Normandy, as well as Americans (Saving Private Ryan),
and that U-571 actually involved the British Navy rather than the US -
there is no esoteric disagreement between rival 'experts' here.

Think
about it this way - how would most Americans feel about a remake of the
Alamo that featured the heroic British Grenadiers coming to the rescue
and routing Santa Anna???

Cheers,

Pat


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by superpat
    >
    > Think about it this
way - how would most Americans feel about a remake of the Alamo that
featured the heroic British Grenadiers coming to the rescue and routing
Santa Anna???
    >
    > Cheers,
    >
    > Pat

Since many of Santa
Ana's soldiers were Irish rather than Mexican, it could put a whole new
light on it.
;)


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by dgsyd1
    > Found this interesting
article online, and am curious to see what other Brits living stateside
think of it.
    >
    > LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood film studios are guilty
of a "grotesque distortion of history" which is destroying Britain's
national identity, a newspaper on Sunday quoted British historians as
saying.
    > The chief executive of English Heritage, the government body
responsible for the historic environment, told the Independent on Sunday
film-makers' "sloppy" and "formulaic" approach to history had left a
generation of children confused.
    >
    > "One of my principal concerns is
that the majority of children now leave school with the sketchiest of
chronology about English history," Simon Thurley said, adding that they
turned to films for knowledge.
    >
    > Antony Beevor, Britain's best-
selling author of popular history, told the newspaper the
Americanization of British history was a particular problem.
    >
    > "You
can't turn every hero in the world into an American," he said.
    >
    > The
historians singled out "Saving Private Ryan," based on the Normandy
World War II landings, "U-571" about submariners, and "Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves" as prime offenders.
    >
    > In "Saving Private Ryan"
all mention of British or Allied troops was omitted, while the British
submariners at the heart of the real action were replaced by Americans
in the film "U-571."
    >
    > "Robin Hood" was accused of distorting of
Britain's medieval past.
    >
    > Beevor described the trend as "shameless
and totally irresponsible -- a grotesque distortion of history."
    >
Classical historian Bettany Hughes said it was not just British history
that had been misrepresented.
    >
    > "Hollywood has committed some
terrible crimes against history," she said, describing the Hollywood
epic "Troy" as a "travesty of mismatched cultural references."
    >
"Dead heroes in Greco-Roman dress were cremated with coins on their eyes
-- before money had been invented," she said.

Why does
Hollywood give most of the baddies an English accent, even in cartoons?
What are they trying to prove?

I read an article about how Hollywood
completely changed the facts in a film called Enigma, which was about
breaking codes used by the Germans I think. It was a totally British
operation in WW2 but Hollywood twisted it round so that all the credit
and glory was given to the Americans. Do they really think the
British are stupid or what?


--
Lothianlad


Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by Lothianlad
    > Why does Hollywood give
most of the baddies an English accent, even in cartoons? What are they
trying to prove?
    >
    > I read an article about how Hollywood completely
changed the facts in a film called Enigma, which was about breaking
codes used by the Germans I think. It was a totally British operation
in WW2 but Hollywood twisted it round so that all the credit and glory
was given to the Americans. Do they really think the British are
stupid or what?

Hey, I live near Nottingham and honestly
everyone there does sound like Kevin Costner, he got that Nottingham
twang down exactly. What a great actor


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

So 2 things are clear:-

1)Historians can double up as staters of the
bleedin obvious,although they're a little slow on the uptake if they've
just realised....

2) the UK school system must doing a crap job of
teaching history if kids default to hollywood to gain knowledge!!


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by supernav
    > EVERY Hollywood Studio
starts off their screen-writing process by hiring on a EXPERT in that
era, or period of critical history.
    >
    > That person works with the
screenwriter to write up the script. These experts are well-renowned
and quite respectable in their field. They can come from far away as
Britain or Italy.
    >
    > The consultant is hired to retain "accuracy" in
certain aspects of the film. The producer/screen-writer match that with
embellishments required to add "entertainment" value to the picture.

    > <<snip>>
    >
    > -= nav =-

I don't doubt what nav says is
true (makes a change, heh? :) ) but then the studio bosses intervene and
determine if Americans will go and see such a film. Why is this so very
important? Answer- the US is the world's biggest film audience so film
makers must pander, sorry, market, to that audience, with little
consideration for other markets and also historical accuracy.

Plus, the
public should always bear in mind that anything seen in the cinema is
questionable as being accurate 'cos most of what is seen in cinemas
(especially multiplexes) are essentially "entertainment" so to speak.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by supernav
    > <<snip>>
    >
    > If these
so-called "experts" who are whining so much in that article, really were
"experts" -- why were they not hired in various Hollywood movies??? I
work here in Hollywood and never heard of these guys.
    >
    > If you want
historic accuracy -- go watch A&E documentaries. If you want exciting
visual "depictions" of history, filmed with heroics, love and awe-
inspiring cinematic excellence -- watch Hollywood films.
    >
    > <<snip>>

    > -= nav =-

The historical experts may well deliberately
distance themselves from Hollywood made "historical" dramas because they
fail to retain the facts. Otherwise, the expert will lose
credibility in his/her profession.

Also, it's not uncommon for authors
and screenwriters to ask for their name(s) to be removed from the
credits for similar reasons. i.e. their work has been distorted at the
editing stage or bears little resemblence to their contribution and they
don't want to be associated with the finished product.


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

I'm not surprised that Hollywood types re-write history to their own
agenda. Remember America fought WW2 all on their own, without any help
from the allies. LOL.


--
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Re: Hollywood Accused Of Distorting British History
 

Originally posted by manc1976
    > experts my arse, it's all
about putting bums on seats.
    >
    > Even the Scottish thought that
Braveheart was pants.


"G'day Y'all can take our lives but
you cant take our freedom, Have a nice day now, and through some shrimps
on the barbie and spark a tinnie"

This was true Scottish-American-
OZ(filmed in Ireland) acting at it's greatest.

I also thought that
America defeated Hitler on their own, I must stop watching them there
war films. :)

It is all about money!


--
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