The past eventually all runs together into a blur.
Bobbi, in the other room with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade running on the boob tube, hollered "This dance number has the men in zoot suits and the women in flapper outfits! That's just wrong!"
And it is, you know. It's as wrong as having the men in pointy-collared polyester double-knit with snaggletooth necklaces and the women in tie-dye tees, bell bottomed denim, and beaded headbands.
On a somewhat related note, having been stuck in bed watching the incredibly farby Daniel Boone on MeTV, I was reminded that painstaking historical accuracy in the costume-'n'-prop department is a fairly recent development in Hollywood that has largely been made possible by the evolution of the historical reenacting hobby.
I would often hear other kids in school (back before electronics, etc.) complaining, "Why do we need to memorize dates of old stuff that happened somewhere else?"
ReplyDeleteWell, it turns out that one of the best answers to that plaint is, "So you can make fun of Hollywood's historical mistakes." With a side helping of being condescending to "journalists" and finding mistakes in the few remaining shows about history on the History Channel.
Happy Thanksgiving and get well to the both of you.
Damn all those historical reenactors! They mess up Hollywood's ability to just make crap up!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing chain mail that looked as though it had been crocheted.
ReplyDeleteto be fair, a lot of Hollywood screw ups were simply a matter of using what we knew at the time. my favorite example is "Ben Hur". the Roman helmets were designed from carvings on Trajan's column, which we now know were rather heavily influenced by artistic conventions of the day and didn't look at all what we've discovered from the phyisical historical record. second, our hero gets himself sentenced to slavery on a war galley: the term "galley" is middle ages; he would have been on a trireme, and the Romans didn't use slaves to row their war ships, but used professional crews of specialists. use of galley slaves was a middle ages Ottoman and (ahem) French practice. lastly the chariots in the race scene look like they were designed after Roman achitecture not the light, swift wicker baskets on wheels that racing chariots of the day actually were.
ReplyDeletethe folks who made the flick were trying to get it right but were relying on bad information.
Critter,
ReplyDeleteWell, to be fair, the reenactors provide two things: Extras, and effectively free crowd-sourced historical research.
But I thought we reached "The End of History" after the last Election.
ReplyDeleteHappy Turkey Day!
RE SHOW BIZ ONE HAS TO HAVE THE ABILITY
ReplyDeleteTO SUSPEND DISBELIEF AND IGNORE ALL THE
HISTORICAL BLOOPERS AND SIMPLY ENJOY THE
ENTERTAINMENT I HAVE A PROBLEM DOING SO
FOR INSTANCE
IN CASABLANCA WHY DOES MAJOR STRASSE (CONRAD VEIDT) WEAR A LUFTWAFFE UNIFORM WHEN HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GESTAPO ? WHY DOES PREFECT RENOILT (CLAUDE RAINES)A FRENCH VET OF WW I WEAR A AMERICAN WWI VICTORY MEDAL OUT OF PRECEDENCE NEXT
TO MEDALS FOR VALOR ( LEGION D HONOR COIX DE GUERRE AVEC PALM) ???
AND OTHER BLOOPERS
HISTORICAL ACCURACY MAY MAKE ONE UNPOPULAR BTW I WAS A REVWAR HISTORIC REENACTOR
FEEL BETTER HAPPY THANKSGIVING !
Farby-ing Hollywierd and the current media machine is a thankless and toothgrinding task.
ReplyDeleteBut what they hell, everyone likes laughing at them ...
Thanks to Dear Leader I recently had to cancel my Dish Network. I proceeded to hook the trusty old antennae back up and auto search turned up MeTv. I love it!
ReplyDelete2Dogs
I commend to your attention George MacDonald Fraser's "Hollywood History of the World."
ReplyDeleteHe posits that, on the whole, Hollywood does a very good job of doing history well.
http://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-History-George-MacDonald-Fraser/dp/0449904385
ah, Casablanca. story of my life.
ReplyDeletegreat movie and such terrible history. i can think of no way to get "chucked in a concentration camp" faster that waving around travel documents signed by General De Gaulle.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget all the Indians (who usually weren't) shooting arrows with plastic nocks!
ReplyDeleteIn just about every movie and TV show until...
gfa
Critter, they were actually signed by General Weygand, not DeGaulle. Lorre's accent makes it hard to hear it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Captain Renaults medals and ribbons are correct. Legion d'Honneur first, French (not U. S.) victory medal, then French WW1 medal.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Rains was a WW veteran, gassed and lost the sight of an eye with the British army.
Like tears in rain... I think I'll watch Blade Runner today. Thanks Tam.
ReplyDelete