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tommy
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Topic: Why do the American movies seldom talk about the Us revolution Posted: 13-Sep-2005 at 14:00 |
![](smileys/smiley25.gif) why do the American movies seldom talk about the Us revolution.Us revolution is a great event in the American history. The event showed the national spirit of American people.American movies always reflect the national spirit.Why don't they talk about the revolution? Is it because of the pro-British altitude of some movie producers?May be there is another reason.Movie makers can not handle the problem of slavery. We know that when American showed for freedom loudly,theu didi not grant freedom to their slaves.even Washington and Jefferson were slaveholders,a great paradox.Movie producers do not know how to handle this paradox in the movie, if they glorified the revolution, this will anger the black community? Let discuss
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SearchAndDestroy
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Posted: 13-Sep-2005 at 16:22 |
Have you heard of the Patriot?
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"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." E.Abbey
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Constantine XI
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Posted: 13-Sep-2005 at 16:31 |
Originally posted by tommy
why do the
American movies seldom talk about the Us revolution.Us revolution is a
great event in the American history. The event showed the national
spirit of American people.American movies always reflect the
national spirit.Why don't they talk about the revolution? Is it because
of the pro-British altitude of some movie producers?May be there
is another reason.Movie makers can not handle the problem of slavery.
We know that when American showed for freedom loudly,theu didi not
grant freedom to their slaves.even Washington and Jefferson were
slaveholders,a great paradox.Movie producers do not know how to handle
this paradox in the movie, if they glorified the revolution, this will
anger the black community? Let discuss |
Hahah, no trust me, there is no pro-British attitude in Hollywood.
America's media is so efficient at producing tv and films on the US
revolution that most people in the English speaking world aside from
Americans have a basic understanding of the US revolution. In Australia
it was to our government's embarassment that more people knew who
America's first President was than our own first Prime Minister.
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Tobodai
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Posted: 13-Sep-2005 at 16:51 |
Originally posted by SearchAndDestroy
Have you heard of the Patriot? |
Shudders
Seriously though theres planty of revolutionary era documentaries, docu-dramas, movies, etc. If there is a decreasing popularity it may be because modern Americans are very conservative now that we are a world power, and they perhaps deep down inside might not be enthused about the very radical origins of the country. Also remember the areas that are most blantantly patriotic nowadays tend to be the areas of Loyalist strongholds and allies to the British back int he day. Compensation perhaps?
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pikeshot1600
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Posted: 13-Sep-2005 at 17:46 |
Originally posted by tommy
why do the American movies seldom talk about the Us revolution.Us revolution is a great event in the American history. The event showed the national spirit of American people.American movies always reflect the national spirit.Why don't they talk about the revolution? Is it because of the pro-British altitude of some movie producers?May be there is another reason.Movie makers can not handle the problem of slavery. We know that when American showed for freedom loudly,theu didi not grant freedom to their slaves.even Washington and Jefferson were slaveholders,a great paradox.Movie producers do not know how to handle this paradox in the movie, if they glorified the revolution, this will anger the black community? Let discuss |
In public schools, history of any sort is so poorly taught (if at all anymore) that the connection Americans have with their past has become very tenuous. In the universities, it is the other way round. History is well researched, eloquently taught, and very fine material is published.
Unfortunately, mass media is an entertainment delivery system, and a miniscule number of movie goers have studied history at university level. So we get "The Patriot" (Mel Gibson) or that piece of garbage, "Revolution" (Al Pacino of all people).
I think one of the best am rev films I have seen is a musical..."1776." It certainly showed in an entertaining way some of the major issues that caused the break with England.
From what I hear from teachers I know, the American War for Independence might as well be the Thirty Years War or the Peloponnesian War since American high school students don't know anything about them either.
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tommy
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Posted: 13-Sep-2005 at 23:39 |
Thank you for your replies. i will treasure your ideas. i know Patriots, I love this movie.I also know some other movie about revolution, such as John Paul Jones(the Admiral,not the singer),George Washington,and part of John Jakes 'Kent Family series mentioned US revolution(Bastards,Rebels0.The problem is as comparing to those movie about civil war ,wild West experiences.,World War 2,the number of revolution movie is relatively small.You may have same feeling,when I ask about Us revolution movie,You may mention one or two, Patriots,or 1776, but not more.But if I ask the movies of WW2(even Japan and Germany are the close friends of US,may be Germany nomore,after Iraq war?) ![](smileys/smiley1.gif) ,civil war, Wild West experiences,you may mention more
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Imperator Invictus
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 00:19 |
One explanation for your question is that the younger generations are
more facinated by Tanks and stuff, rather than boring men with gray
wigs. However, it is one of the most mentioned topics in American history (the Colonial period, the Civil war, and WWII).
Although the Colonial and revolution times don't get that much media
compared to WWII, it gets significantly more coverage than periods like
the Robber Barrons. If you ever visit Boston, Philadelphia, or
Williamsburg, you'll see that the revolution era history is very much
alive, literally.
Edited by Imperator Invictus
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Raider
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 03:44 |
Originally posted by pikeshot1600
Unfortunately, mass media is an entertainment delivery system, and a miniscule number of movie goers have studied history at university level. So we get "The Patriot" (Mel Gibson) or that piece of garbage, "Revolution" (Al Pacino of all people).
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I also dislike Patriot (Mel Gibson's charachter seems to me rather a terrorist than a freedom fighter), but what's the problem with Revolution? (With one exception I cannot decide that the injured son of Donald Sutherland dies or not.)
Is it inaccurate historicaly?
Edited by Raider
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cattus
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 03:54 |
Originally posted by Raider
Mel Gibson's charachter seems to me rather a terrorist than a freedom fighter |
Many here at AE would be very confused by this, to them there is no difference.
Originally posted by Raider
Is it inaccurate historicaly? |
no
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gcle2003
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 07:46 |
It's an awful long time since I saw a movie (did I ever?) about the English civil war. I don't remember much going on in the French movie scene about the French Revolution (as opposed to Napoleonic stuff).
Part of the trouble may be that any accurate description of the Revolutionary War wouldn't be too flattering, or live up to the way the revolution is talked about in schools and at historical sites. And the dependence of the outcome on the French army and navy probably wouldn't be all that welcome either.
Did anyone read Jimmy Carter's 'The Hornet's Nest'? Not a great novel but historically very good. I wonder if it will ever be filmed.
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pikeshot1600
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 08:18 |
Originally posted by gcle2003
It's an awful long time since I saw a movie (did I ever?) about the English civil war. I don't remember much going on in the French movie scene about the French Revolution (as opposed to Napoleonic stuff).
Part of the trouble may be that any accurate description of the Revolutionary War wouldn't be too flattering, or live up to the way the revolution is talked about in schools and at historical sites. And the dependence of the outcome on the French army and navy probably wouldn't be all that welcome either.
Did anyone read Jimmy Carter's 'The Hornet's Nest'? Not a great novel but historically very good. I wonder if it will ever be filmed.
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On the ECW, there is only "Cromwell" and the series "By the Sword Divided" that I can remember.
Cromwell was a waste of fine acting talent. Richard Harris overdoes it as Oliver C.; Frank Finlay and Robert Morley are completely wasted, and Alec Guinness plays a ridiculously clueless Charles I.
The series was OK but concentrated more on the personalities of the families than on history.
I really do believe that all these eras are receding so far into the past that people are too disconnected to relate to them. We see this in the forums:
Europeans committed "genocide" against the natives of wherever they went. That is an opinion of complete ignorance, but it gets a lively reaction.
Crusaders were "terrorists," "savages" or worse because they behaved and thought in terms common to most peoples of the eleventh and twelfth centuries......and so on.
It seems to me to be getting worse since the turn of a new millenium. History seems more irrelevant, or is increasingly distorted for purposes of agenda, that it is the perception that the whole discipline is nothing but a curiosity if not a waste of time and resources in the educational system.![](smileys/smiley13.gif)
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Paul
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 08:55 |
I thought the movie Cromwell was a classic though for one reason. An Irishman playing Cromwell.
Matched only by the film Michael Collins casting Liam Neeson in the lead.
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pikeshot1600
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 09:08 |
Originally posted by tommy
Thank you for your replies. i will treasure your ideas. i know Patriots, I love this movie.I also know some other movie about revolution, such as John Paul Jones(the Admiral,not the singer),George Washington,and part of John Jakes 'Kent Family series mentioned US revolution(Bastards,Rebels0.The problem is as comparing to those movie about civil war ,wild West experiences.,World War 2,the number of revolution movie is relatively small.You may have same feeling,when I ask about Us revolution movie,You may mention one or two, Patriots,or 1776, but not more.But if I ask the movies of WW2(even Japan and Germany are the close friends of US,may be Germany nomore,after Iraq war?) ,civil war, Wild West experiences,you may mention more |
tommy:
Just as a point of interest, John Paul Jones was, of course, an important figure in American naval history, but he was never an admiral in the U.S. navy. There were no U.S. admirals before the Civil War.
However, after the war with Britain, Jones was an admiral in (of all navies) the RUSSIAN navy of Catherine the Great, conducting operations against the Turks in the Black Sea.
Another example of how things that seem so odd today were common practice in other eras.
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morticia
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 11:20 |
Pikeshot wrote:
"I think one of the best am rev films I have seen is a musical..."1776." It certainly showed in an entertaining way some of the major issues that caused the break with England."
Agreed!!!! I am surprised that "1776" did not get better reviews. I enjoyed it immensely!!!
Morty
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Tobodai
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Posted: 14-Sep-2005 at 17:43 |
Originally posted by Raider
Originally posted by pikeshot1600
Unfortunately, mass media is an entertainment delivery system, and a miniscule number of movie goers have studied history at university level. So we get "The Patriot" (Mel Gibson) or that piece of garbage, "Revolution" (Al Pacino of all people).
| I also dislike Patriot (Mel Gibson's charachter seems to me rather a terrorist than a freedom fighter), but what's the problem with Revolution? (With one exception I cannot decide that the injured son of Donald Sutherland dies or not.)
Is it inaccurate historicaly?
|
Its wasnt unnacurate, it was just a bad movie with bad acting. Battle scenes were nice. If there was one thing I did like about it was that it showed un un-idealized picture of war. There may have been one side shown in a worse light than the other but the movie was good enough to show war as soemthing that has no sparkling pure good guy. Anyway, the samrt people in the revolution fought in the most cruel fashion, considering hte might of the British army.
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I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value."
-Alexander Hamilton
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cattus
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Posted: 15-Sep-2005 at 00:19 |
Yes, would not call it a historicaly accurate movie either. Was it based on anything? I cant remember if it was, but cant forget it was bad.
I realize, Americans dont like to watch themselves in movies shooting Brits, perhaps? In school, those redcoats were evil though.
Agree, men in this era are.. or portrayed as restricted, harsh and boring.
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Tobodai
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Posted: 15-Sep-2005 at 13:28 |
I dont know I think the media has way to overloaded on WW2, Now I think WW2 is the most boring and overtaught part of history ever because its EVRYWHERE. Its ironic because WW2 was the whole reason I got into history but now its certainly my least favorite thing. Id much rather cover the colonial through industrial period than so much as turn on the "Hitler" channel
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I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value."
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pikeshot1600
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Posted: 15-Sep-2005 at 13:49 |
Originally posted by Tobodai
I dont know I think the media has way to overloaded on
WW2, Now I think WW2 is the most boring and overtaught part of history
ever because its EVRYWHERE. Its ironic because WW2 was the whole
reason I got into history but now its certainly my least favorite
thing. Id much rather cover the colonial through industrial
period than so much as turn on the "Hitler" channel |
Good point. Go to any bookstore and look for books on German history:
The Nazis
Hitler
Hitler's Generals
Hitler's Pope
Hitler's Sex Life
Hitler's Car
Hitler's Boots
Hitler's Dog
The fascinating 2,000 year history of an entire people is reduced to some screwball paperhanger who was important for 12 years.
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tommy
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Posted: 15-Sep-2005 at 14:30 |
In the past ten years, in mainland china, the movies and tv showsalways talk about the anti Manchus revolution and the Communist revolution. But they seldom talk about the anti Japanese war. The reason I think is that In China, most of the movies and tv shows are made by government.In the last decade, China still ask Japan for financial help. But bow the situation has changed, China becomes richer and stronger, does not so depend on the Japanese money, so more and more movies now talk about the anti japanese war. Movies are always influenced by the political situation, at least in China.
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Tobodai
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Posted: 15-Sep-2005 at 20:58 |
It is probably a fact no single Chinese person in the world knows, and indeed isnt a commonly known fact, that even though Japan stubbornly refuses to apologize to China, as it should, they have also contributed more development money to China than any other nation, by the 1980's it was billions upon billions of dollars. SO my question is, if they already have effectively paid reparations, why the hell cant they acompany that with an apology?
And yes Pikeshot, just turn on the history channel, today in history Hitler ate a bagel (vegetarian of course) followed by Hitler walking the dog with Eva Braun the next day! I hate the History Channel so much!
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