[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: History and the Movies...it's (almost) Friday!



Vis-a-vis Ms. DKG --

I hope some/lots of you caught the very droll New Yorker cartoon last issue
with the lady of the house answering the phone, and calling out to her
husband (in an adjacent room), "Oh, its just Doris Kearns Goodwin wanting to
know how we feel about the Presidency!"

Kevin (using my sixth sense to give my .02 cents worth) Bunker
Student Assistant
California State Archives

> ----------
> From:
> Charles_D_Piotrowski@SEAGATE.COM[SMTP:Charles_D_Piotrowski@SEAGATE.COM]
> Reply To:     Archives & Archivists
> Sent:         Thursday, June 29, 2000 2:02 PM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      History and the Movies
>
> Does anyone know who the "historical consultant(s)" was on The Patriot?  I
> fully expect it to be Doris Kerns Goodwin - you know there are really many
> of her!  Baseball Doris, McNeil/Lehrer Doris, First Lady Historian Doris,
> Hilary Watcher Doris, Boston Doris, New York Doris, Academic Doris,
> Casually Intellectual Doris, and Presidential Historian Doris.  Could
> there
> be a Revolutionary War Doris as well?
>
> Please don't misread my comments I think she is a great writer/historian
> and even better persona for the historical profession.  At least the media
> cares enough to ask her!  She, unlike many of her colleagues, is not too
> elitist to speak coherently on the relationship between history and
> current
> issues.
>
> I agree that the movies often get it wrong when it comes to "accurate"
> history, but we should give the movie industry some credit in at least
> asking the pros about what and how it happened.  Even if they choose to
> ignore their advice.
>
> Yet, set design budgets for movies like Sleepy Hollow, Saving Private
> Ryan,
> and Gladiator, are more than any exhibit budget, and more folks will see
> the past through Hollywood, than through the Smithsonian.  I thought the
> movie Sleepy Hollow was uninteresting, but I marveled at the attempt  to
> recreate early Federal New York.  It was better than any exhibit I have
> seen.  Hopefully, the trend toward accuracy will get stronger based upon
> the success of these movies.
>
>
> Finally, because we all  light our Cubans with Benjamins, plate our Dixie
> cups with platinum, and fill our pools with caviar,  California may not be
> the place to find 1500 extras willing to work for Hollywood's
> less-than-competative pay scales.  Noting the shortage of labor, the
> ethnic
> composition of the service industry and the socioeconomics here the
> writers
> of the Patriot would have to figure out how 1500 undocumented laborers,
> hippies and blond, tan and buff surfers wound up at Cowpens!  The British
> would have fire engine red hair, not red coats, and fix their bayonets
> through their nostrils (amongst other places!).  Now that would be
> revisionism.
>
> Eureka!
>
> Chuck Piotrowski
> Waiting for my Hair Design Team to fly in from Stuttgart.
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
>       In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
>                     *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
> To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu
>
> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
>
> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>