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Re: "Gods & Generals" Director's Cut to be Premiered
Right on target Ian. I just attended a mainstream event where the farbism was rampant. It never ceases to amaze me that people who presumably get into this hobby don't even research it thoroghly enough to even have a clue to what is an acuarate impression. They accept that any sutler out there is selling "good" stuff" when any cursory glance through any civil war pictorial would bear out that most of the stuff is crap!! Upon entering this hobby I joined a mainstream unit where most of the members were not even knowledgable about the unit they were portraying's history, yet they were disseminating information to the public at events as fact. It was and is a case of the blind leading the blind or the perpetuation of ignorance.
The problem with Hollywood is that to film a picture that portrays what really occurred is that the facts get in the way of entertainment. It also dispels the romanticism and chivalry that has been used to gloss over the carnage , idiocy, and waste of a generation in a conflict that could and should have been resolved internally. The truth also gets in the way of the populist version of history, wherein the winner gets to write the version of what transpired.
Let's face it, when it comes to history the American public is clueless. I was talking to my neighbor who is sixty. She grew up when American schools actually taught history. I was discussing the war and referred to Grant and she asked me, "...what side was he on?" Uh, he's on the fifty, he was an American president, what side do you think! Younger generations have become increasingly oblivious to history so to tell a story based on history it has to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
At least there is hope. The John Adams series on HBO proves that historical entertainment can still be produced. Maybe this is the best vehicle for it; a medium that generates revenue through subscritions that lends itelf to creativeness and truth that is not compromised by generating profit through ticket sales to an audience that thinks that Dumb and Dumber is classic American cinema.
Are we actually surprised Hollywood can't get it right? 90% of the Reenacting and Living History community can't even get it right, and these are the people that truly care about history!
What is it with the American movie going public that every film's story line has to be so obvious and dumbed down for anyone to follow?
What is it with the American movie going public that every film's story line has to be so obvious and dumbed down for anyone to follow?
Right on target Ian. I just attended a mainstream event where the farbism was rampant. It never ceases to amaze me that people who presumably get into this hobby don't even research it thoroghly enough to even have a clue to what is an acuarate impression. They accept that any sutler out there is selling "good" stuff" when any cursory glance through any civil war pictorial would bear out that most of the stuff is crap!! Upon entering this hobby I joined a mainstream unit where most of the members were not even knowledgable about the unit they were portraying's history, yet they were disseminating information to the public at events as fact. It was and is a case of the blind leading the blind or the perpetuation of ignorance.
The problem with Hollywood is that to film a picture that portrays what really occurred is that the facts get in the way of entertainment. It also dispels the romanticism and chivalry that has been used to gloss over the carnage , idiocy, and waste of a generation in a conflict that could and should have been resolved internally. The truth also gets in the way of the populist version of history, wherein the winner gets to write the version of what transpired.
Let's face it, when it comes to history the American public is clueless. I was talking to my neighbor who is sixty. She grew up when American schools actually taught history. I was discussing the war and referred to Grant and she asked me, "...what side was he on?" Uh, he's on the fifty, he was an American president, what side do you think! Younger generations have become increasingly oblivious to history so to tell a story based on history it has to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator.
At least there is hope. The John Adams series on HBO proves that historical entertainment can still be produced. Maybe this is the best vehicle for it; a medium that generates revenue through subscritions that lends itelf to creativeness and truth that is not compromised by generating profit through ticket sales to an audience that thinks that Dumb and Dumber is classic American cinema.
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