Final blog post

Final Blog Post
Hollywood's interpretation of history has changed others views about the past. When making a movie, the directors and writers of any given film normally focus on the plot and how appealing the movie will be to a wide range of audiences to bring in income. Sometimes the history aspect of the films are inaccurate.
A lot of people think whatever Hollywood produces and the information provided must be true even if it is false. However, there are movies where the history is accurate. In viewing multiple films throughout the quarter, I have seen both accuracies and inaccuracies.
The film "The Patriot" starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger exemplifies the inaccuracy that Hollywood tries to portray as history. A lot of the characters in that movie did not represent one persons personality. Hollywood combined characteristics of real life generals and people of high authority into one character such as Benjamin Martin. Another representation of more than one person wrapped up in one character would be the only African American in the militia. He represents the life of most slaves. He had to enlist in the militia for 12 months in order to receive his freedom. In history there were many slaves fighting in the Revolutionary War. Most of which were enlisted by their owners because they either couldn't or did not want to fight. There were also a few inaccuracies on the battles that occurred. There is a scene where they burned a church with the villagers inside. That never occurred during the Revolutionary War. Another inaccuracy was when Aunt Charlotte owned multiple properties without having a husband or father around. In that time period, women did not have the right to own property. The movie did have some accuracies. For example, the character Tavington. He was a real person in history who was known for his brutality and harsh tactics. He was correctly represented in the film. "The Patriot" seemed to create more of a story out of the Revolutionary War, which is what Hollywood meant to do.
A movie that we viewed that had a lot of accuracies was "Forrest Gump". Set around the mid 1900's many historical events occurred and Hollywood accurately represented those events in the film. In the beginning, young Forrest has problems with his legs. They were fixed with leg braces. In the film many questioned why he was different. In that time new solutions in medicine were emerging. The situation was accurately written. The movie shows the  rise of Elvis Presley's fame. The film includes actual clips from one of Elvis's performances. In the timeline of the movie, the Vietnam War was occurring. It was common for people to enlist, like Forrest did. In the short time the film focused on the War, it showed the struggles of living in fear and fighting in a platoon. The movie showed the weather conditions and attacks and encounters. The All American Ping Pong team was also in the movie. The writers put Forrest in the story to be a professional Ping Pong star who met the president. The directors included real footage from the team meeting the President.  The film also included footage from the JFK and RFK assassination. Throughout the film you could see the different time periods. The movie showed the hippie time period. This movie took real and famous events in history, incorporated it into the story, and accurately represented those events. This is an example where Hollywood did not change the way people think about history.
Movies are created so the viewers will be entertained with the story. In most movies, history plays a big role. Some manipulate the story to incorporate history, and others change the history to fit the story.  Both are shown in movies still made today. It's all up to knowledge and interpretation on what they should and shouldn't believe.