Mistakes in Film & TV

[George Watt]

On 10/12/2022 at 07:12, The Hallucinating Goose said:

The 24th Foot were not a Welsh Regiment either as depicted in the film. They were the 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. There was 32 Welsh soldiers in the Regiment of approximately 120 soldiers. 

Zulu had lots of inaccuracies including the fact that Rorke's Drift was 100 kms away from where the film depicted it to be.

I visited the actual battle site in 1967 when I lived in South Africa for a couple of years.

[Tommygilf]

I tend not to get too bothered by historical inaccuracies, as given my interest and area of study it would make almost every historical film or TV show unwatchable! Most historical events need a bit of tinkering or spicing up to be more entertaining too, so I'm good with that as well.

That said, when some films go out overtly to make a point based on a terribly flawed "historical" premise, then it is very annoying. 

[Derwent]

In The Graduate Benjamin Braddock is meant to be driving across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Berkeley. But he is driving on the top deck which is actually for traffic going to San Francisco.

[hw88]

7 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I tend not to get too bothered by historical inaccuracies, as given my interest and area of study it would make almost every historical film or TV show unwatchable! Most historical events need a bit of tinkering or spicing up to be more entertaining too, so I'm good with that as well.

That said, when some films go out overtly to make a point based on a terribly flawed "historical" premise, then it is very annoying. 

The trouble is that people believe the inaccuracies and take them as fact.

[Tommygilf]

44 minutes ago, hw88 said:

The trouble is that people believe the inaccuracies and take them as fact.

Indeed, which is most annoying. That said genuinely good historical reproductions are praised, and are notable by their exception.

Best practice is to see every work of fiction, non-fiction and even theoretical discussion as first and foremost a production of its own time - then as an attempt to understand or portray the past. 

[Tommygilf]

Can we just include all of Season 8 of Game of Thrones here? And 7, and most of 6, and 5...

[The Hallucinating Goose]

10 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Can we just include all of Season 8 of Game of Thrones here? And 7, and most of 6, and 5...

I never even watched any of it after series 3. Got through about 2 and half of the books as well and gave up. The thing that initially appealed to me about Game of Thrones was it was fantasy without all the magic. At least it was for a season or so then all the usual facets of fantasy crept in.

[Bostik Bailey]

3 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I never even watched any of it after series 3. Got through about 2 and half of the books as well and gave up. The thing that initially appealed to me about Game of Thrones was it was fantasy without all the magic. At least it was for a season or so then all the usual facets of fantasy crept in.

Off topic but Joe Abercrombie’s stuff is worth a read if you want fantasy without the too much (unexplained) magic. 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, hw88 said:

The trouble is that people believe the inaccuracies and take them as fact.

It is certainly where the maintaining of so many national stereotypes come from and that is one thing that really gets on my nerves. 

I've watched and read a lot of stuff since the pandemic about foreign opinions and stereotypes of Britain and you get all the usual stuff like bad food, bad teeth, all speak King's English, really polite etc etc.

The origin of most of these stereotypes comes from what American soldiers saw in Britain when they were stationed here during WWII and obviously at that time we did have pretty bland, basic food and dental care would have been worse and so on but when they went back to America they told others of these things and thus this portrayal of the British made it's way to Hollywood and since then the film industry has often maintained these stereotypes. 

And so to link to your point about people believing historical misconception, they also consume so much media built on these stereotypes about other cultures and believe it and don't feel they should educate themselves on the facts and this is what irks me. 

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

I never even watched any of it after series 3. Got through about 2 and half of the books as well and gave up. The thing that initially appealed to me about Game of Thrones was it was fantasy without all the magic. At least it was for a season or so then all the usual facets of fantasy crept in.

I don't think it was ever "fantasy without all the magic" tbh, it is fantasy where magic exists but isn't an insta fix or overly present, and is more closely associated with quasi-religiosity than Harry Potter. It certainly is far less apparent than in other shows cited as equivalents like the Witcher.

It is also a bit more gritty, the medieval fantasy is certainly there - "what was Aragorn's tax policy" is what drove LOTR fan GRRM to write them in the first place. When it is on stuff like that, the books and show are at their best.

[Josef K]

I watched Saving Private Ryan (Again) last night and i was wondering how realistic it was to what went on in WWII. 

[Tommygilf]

Luke Skywalker's lightsaber in the Wampa cave early in Empire Strikes Back clearly says " NEW YORK" on the bottom of the hilt.

[Tommygilf]

14 hours ago, Josef K said:

I watched Saving Private Ryan (Again) last night and i was wondering how realistic it was to what went on in WWII. 

It was on after the England vs France game so I've watched it recently too.

In short it is pretty realistic to some aspects of the Second World War, better than many films in fact. I don't think a single piece of media has defined WWII more than that opening scene. 

That opening scene also exemplifies what I mean about accuracy. A section of Omaha beach was like that yes, but for most soldiers landing on D Day it was more of a stroll frankly (including some other sectors of Omaha). So D Day was like that and it wasn't. The films inclusion of Czech and Polish conscripts in the Normandy Coastline defences is also an interesting historical add in that the film brought to light.

The final battle isn't real, but dramatic effect is needed sometimes to keep things interesting.

[jacksy]

16 hours ago, Josef K said:

I watched Saving Private Ryan (Again) last night and i was wondering how realistic it was to what went on in WWII. 

SPR in the fist landing scene the coxwains are American but in reality it was RN men.

Edited December 14, 2022 by jacksy

[Futtocks]

The @RAF_Luton Twitter account would trigger so many of you guys, even if you knew it was a parody.