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Historical Accuracy of Movies Set In the Classical Period
Posted on 3/18/19 at 6:57 pm
Posted on 3/18/19 at 6:57 pm
I’ve been listening to a podcast with a bunch of classical historian and they’ve been doing movie rewatches for historical accuracy.
They’ve done a few but the most recent ones were 300, Gladiator, and Alexander.
Needless to say, they were just slightly critical.
300: The only thing they give the movie credit for is including some of the famous witty dialogue from the battle. Otherwise, as you can guess, they said everything was wrong.Some of them did find it stupidly entertaining
Gladiator: they hated gladiator (most of them at least). They said it it just barely was more realistic than 300. They said the only accurate things in the movie was proper nouns of places and they even got that wrong at times. They said the costumes were just simply insulting for a movie that has any integrity. Supposedly the historical consultant has had their reputation damaged for this movie. They did appreciate that it did interest more people in ancient history even if just for a short bit. They said most people left when they’re told there is nothing factual about the movie but some stayed on.
Alexander: This they said was incredibly accurate from a cinemographic standpoint. The costumes, the architecture, the weapons are all extremely well done. They just thought the narrative does not do its subject matter justice. Why is reading a historical account from 2500 years ago more moving than watching it on screen. The movie had a lot of historical characters who mean nothing
They’ve done a few but the most recent ones were 300, Gladiator, and Alexander.
Needless to say, they were just slightly critical.
300: The only thing they give the movie credit for is including some of the famous witty dialogue from the battle. Otherwise, as you can guess, they said everything was wrong.Some of them did find it stupidly entertaining
Gladiator: they hated gladiator (most of them at least). They said it it just barely was more realistic than 300. They said the only accurate things in the movie was proper nouns of places and they even got that wrong at times. They said the costumes were just simply insulting for a movie that has any integrity. Supposedly the historical consultant has had their reputation damaged for this movie. They did appreciate that it did interest more people in ancient history even if just for a short bit. They said most people left when they’re told there is nothing factual about the movie but some stayed on.
Alexander: This they said was incredibly accurate from a cinemographic standpoint. The costumes, the architecture, the weapons are all extremely well done. They just thought the narrative does not do its subject matter justice. Why is reading a historical account from 2500 years ago more moving than watching it on screen. The movie had a lot of historical characters who mean nothing
This post was edited on 3/18/19 at 8:13 pm
Posted on 3/18/19 at 7:02 pm to athenslife101
300: a movie that manages to be homophobic and homoerotic at the same time. Absolute garbage. The real story is so much more interesting and begins w/ Darius and Marathon really.
Posted on 3/18/19 at 7:30 pm to athenslife101
Any chance you name the podcast?
I like History Buffs, remember him having similar opinions.
I like History Buffs, remember him having similar opinions.
Posted on 3/18/19 at 7:36 pm to athenslife101
The phrase historical accuracy is a bit contradictory to be fair
This post was edited on 3/18/19 at 7:49 pm
Posted on 3/18/19 at 7:38 pm to wildtigercat93
I thought Amadeus was pretty good...
Posted on 3/18/19 at 7:59 pm to athenslife101
quote:
Alexander: This theybsaid was incredibly accurate from a cinemographic standpoint.
Posted on 3/18/19 at 8:00 pm to DanglingFury
Ancient Warfare Podcast.
To be fair, it’s a bit of a an acquired taste as most the podcasts I listen to are.
Very interesting but very very very academic
To be fair, it’s a bit of a an acquired taste as most the podcasts I listen to are.
Very interesting but very very very academic
Posted on 3/18/19 at 9:11 pm to athenslife101
Alexander could have been so much better. Just by replacing Colin Farrel and dropping the homo writing could have made the movie great. Battle scenes were gritty, and well done though.
Posted on 3/18/19 at 9:18 pm to DanglingFury
quote:
I like History Buffs
He eviscerates The Patriot.
(Which is understandble.)
Posted on 3/18/19 at 9:49 pm to athenslife101
To be fair, how many watch 300 for its historical accuracy?
Posted on 3/18/19 at 9:54 pm to JohnnyBgood
The historians brought up the movie probably didn’t lean into that enough. We don’t know as much about Alexander’s sex life other than his mother got a bit pissy when she bought him a nice prositute and he didn’t sleep with her very much. But we do know a ton about his father Phillip’s sex life. And Phillip fricked many women and men. And most Macedonians were probably the same way. They didn’t see sex the way we do. They didn’t have any emotional attachment. They saw it as a natural act.
Posted on 3/18/19 at 11:02 pm to athenslife101
This is innacurate:
Thumbs up would have meant kill, hiding the thumb or thumbs down would have meant live.
Thumbs up would have meant kill, hiding the thumb or thumbs down would have meant live.
Posted on 3/18/19 at 11:28 pm to rebelrouser
quote:
300: a movie that manages to be homophobic and homoerotic at the same time. Absolute garbage. The real story is so much more interesting and begins w/ Darius and Marathon really.
300 is an awesome spectacle and the real story begins with the Ionian revolt.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 12:17 am to biglego
300 is what it is. It is a fantastical retelling of an important skirmish of a war.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 1:36 am to DCtiger1
quote:I like to watch good historical films, the same way I like to read good historical novels. A movie like The 300 Spartans is interesting to me b/c whatever it's historical accuracy, it seems plausible and doesn't throw its absurdity in your face like 300 does.
To be fair, how many watch 300 for its historical accuracy?
Posted on 3/19/19 at 7:00 am to athenslife101
quote:
300 is what it is. It is a fantastical retelling of an important skirmish of a war.
Wrong.
It is the film version of a graphic novel, right? It's not the film version of a history textbook. And IMO it did its job better than most any other movies based on graphic novels (or even comics to a degree). It's a hyper-sensationalized version of a historical event, nothing more. Anybody watching 300 for anything other than pure entertainment is doing it wrong...especially if they are expecting historical accuracy. I mean, there are monsters and goat-people smoking dope for chrissakes.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 7:17 am to CocomoLSU
i have shat on 300 since it came out but for alleged historians to criticize it is fricking stupid
it's a fantastical telling of a story that happened in history. it has fricking monsters and shite in it
it's a fantastical telling of a story that happened in history. it has fricking monsters and shite in it
Posted on 3/19/19 at 7:20 am to CocomoLSU
Isn’t that exactly what I said?
Posted on 3/19/19 at 7:26 am to athenslife101
Gladiator was friggin fiction. I'm a Roman history nut and loved the movie. I knew what I was watching. The scenes and acting were well done.
Posted on 3/19/19 at 7:27 am to athenslife101
quote:
Isn’t that exactly what I said?
Sort of. But that is what the graphic novel is, and the movie is based on that. I guess my point was that it is based on source material, and that source material is not historically accurate...on purpose.
And I wasn't trying to disagree with you as much as I was trying to point out that historians picking it apart and disliking it due to it not being factually accurate is missing the entire point of it.
This post was edited on 3/19/19 at 7:29 am
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