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Hollywood and HistoryThe movie industry may not always accurately represent history, but it has played a role in shaping it.by Melvin RhodesMost people today won't remember Mrs. Miniver, but she played a major role in swaying American public opinion toward Great Britain immediately before Pearl Harbor. Who was Mrs. Miniver? A figment of somebody's imagination, as played by actress Greer Garson. Mrs. Miniver, in the film of that name, was a middle-class English housewife in a remote country area caught up in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, when Nazi Germany came very close to adding Great Britain to its lengthening list of vassal states. America was neutral during the first 27 months of the war. Hollywood wanted to change that. The movie capital was then in its greatest and most influential period. The year war broke out in Europe, 1939, is still often referred to as Hollywood's greatest year, the year of Gone With the Wind, Stagecoach, Gunga Din, Wuthering Heights and The Wizard of Oz. Hollywood had so many English actors that the city boasted its own cricket team and the phone directory, oblivious to the ban on titles dating back to the beginnings of the American republic, carried a long list of titled stars. The younger actors deserted the city at the outbreak of war, returning to Britain, Canada and Australia, volunteering to fight for "King and Country." The women and older male actors were encouraged to remain to influence American public opinion. They were not the only ones wanting America to enter the war-the movie moguls had the same idea. Many were Jewish and were deeply concerned about Hitler's anti-Semitic policies, even before details of the extermination camps were revealed. These movie moguls set about changing public opinion, not an easy task when the 1940 election was fought on the issue of keeping America out of the war. Eventually they were helped, of course, by Pearl Harbor, but not before they had made some very influential movies. Patriotic movies, drawing on British and American history, were made throughout the war, inspiring the people to victory. Winston Churchill was so inspired by the 1941 movie That Hamilton Woman (British title: Lady Hamilton) that he watched the movie every night as he crossed the Atlantic to meet with President Roosevelt. The movie was set during the war against Napoleon, a previous European despot set on conquering the world. The power of film The power of film had been realized long before World War II. The 1915 silent movie Birth of a Nation, considered the most influential movie of all time, still influences racial thinking in America to this day. Nor were the United States and Britain the only nations to realize the power of film. Hitler's propaganda machine was churning out movies depicting Jews as the stereotypical fat, immoral bankers exploiting good-looking, blonde, blue-eyed Aryan "volk." Stalin's master of propaganda was Sergei Eisenstein who was asked to inspire the Russian people by drawing on heroes from their history, examples of Russian leaders who stood up to foreign conquerors as Stalin was doing. Movies like Alexander Nevsky (victorious over the Germanic Teutonic Knights in 1242) and Ivan the Terrible were made at this time. Eisenstein included his own propaganda against Stalin in the second part of Ivan the Terrible by showing the 16th century Russian leader's creeping insanity. The public could see the similarity with their wartime leader. The power of television and film cannot be doubted. Why else would advertisers spend millions of dollars for a few moments of television time? But do we realize how much we are influenced by what we see? Do we stop and think as we watch a movie, questioning its accuracy and asking ourselves what this film might be doing to us, how it could be influencing our minds? There's an interesting contrast between movies made in Hollywood's heyday and movies made in the last four decades. Morally, older movies were usually sound. Some did deal with adult themes like adultery, but the subject was usually handled discreetly, so that any children present in the theater would not be negatively affected. Today, movies are explicit and leave little, if anything, to the imagination. Politically, Hollywood has done a total about-face, a 180-degree turn. Movies made in the '30s and '40s often had a patriotic theme, glorifying American and British history. This served to unite the people and make them proud of their citizenship, preparing them for the inevitability of another conflict with the forces of despotism. Movies made in the last 40 years do the exact opposite-they expose and often exaggerate the mistakes of the past to advance a liberal agenda. Political correctness rules. Isaiah 5:20-21 could be applied to this time of political correctness and revisionist history. "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" Everything has been turned upside down. History has been rewritten. If you want to see what a difference 30 years made, watch the 1936 U.S. version of The Charge of the Light Brigade, then follow it with the 1968 British version. The two movies depict the same battle, but each with a totally different emphasis. Based on a true story? Hollywood is not in the business of teaching history. The 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress is famous for two reasons. One is that it was the only film to star the three Barrymores, famous in American theater at the time. The other reason it's famous is that the movie was besieged by lawsuits. The real murderer of the evil Rasputin, Russian Prince Felix Yousuppov, took MGM to court where he was awarded what was, in 1932, a princely sum of $1 million. MGM had taken considerable dramatic license depicting much fiction as fact. The movie led to the habit of most movies carrying a warning in small print after the credits: "The characters in this movie are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental." In more modern times, historical movies will often show the words "Based on a true story" near the beginning of the movie. This is the entertainment equivalent of a health warning. "Based on…" should read "Loosely based on…," because most such movies are far from factual. While researching a recent article on the 55-day siege of Western embassies in Peking that took place a century ago, I watched the 1962 movie 55 Days at Peking. Although a siege lasting 55 days did take place in history, there is little in the movie that is accurate. A Russian countess was even created just to provide Charlton Heston with a diversion while taking on the challenge of the Boxers. The recently released U571 caused quite a stir in England. The movie depicts an American submarine crew that captures a German U-boat in 1942 and breaks the Enigma Code—a major breakthrough in World War II. "Based on a true story," the actual incident involved a British submarine crew and took place in 1941 before the U.S. entered the war. Hollywood sent researchers over to England to research the story, interviewing the British commander. Nothing was said about the significant change that was to be made in depicting this exciting story. An upcoming movie on the German wartime prison of Colditz depicts American escapees when no Americans were ever incarcerated there. British prisoners of war did, in fact, escape from the prison. Another recent movie has led to considerable criticism on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean. The movie The Patriot shows Mel Gibson taking on the British army during the Revolutionary War. The movie depicts a number of atrocities by the British, including the burning of a church full of innocent civilians, mostly women and children. The nature of war brings out atrocities on all sides, yet there is no recorded instance of anything like this occuring during the American Revolution. It wasn't until 1943 that such an incident took place, when Nazi forces burned down a church full of French civilians. As one reviewer on National Public Radio put it, "If we depict the British as Nazis, then the Nazis become ordinary." Here lies the danger Just as movies in the '30s and early '40s tended to bring the United States and Great Britain together, recent movies can only undermine an alliance that was pivotal to the peace and stability of the world during the last century. When the British (or rather, the English) are depicted as Nazis in movies like Braveheart and The Patriot, it's easy to understand how people in Washington can overlook the history of nations like Germany and Japan and seek closer alliances with them at the expense of their traditional ally in London. What should a Christian do? The Bible says a great deal about "truth." One of God's grievances against Israel in Hosea chapter 4 is that "there is no truth" in the land (Hosea 4:1). The following verse reads like a description of contemporary movies: "By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed." Movies built largely or solely on such gratuitous content should be avoided by all Christians—and we should be circumspect about any movie that we watch. Philippians 4:8 reminds us that "whatever things are true… noble… just… pure… lovely… of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things." When it comes to truth, realize that no movie has depicted historical events with total accuracy. The degree of accuracy varies from movie to movie. The book of Proverbs tells us to "buy the truth, and do not sell it" (Proverbs 23:23). The verse adds "also wisdom and instruction and understanding." An interesting movie can inspire us to seek further instruction and understanding which, in turn, lead us to greater wisdom on the subject. When you've seen a movie depicting historical events, while it's fresh on your mind, take a few minutes to read up on the subject in an encyclopedia or a biographical dictionary, two useful tools to have around the house. I did this recently after watching the movie Gladiator, set in the reign of the Roman Emperor Commodus (180 to 192 A.D.). While the gladiators in the movie were all fictional characters, the emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus were not. I looked up both in my biographical dictionary and found that the movie portrayed the characters of the two men accurately, but not in every detail. It only took a few minutes and the facts soon replaced the fiction in my mind. The same with Braveheart. I looked up William Wallace and Edward I. I discovered that Wallace died two years before the arrival in England of the Princess of Wales with whom he had a romantic relationship in the movie. In other words, they never knew each other. There were other historical inaccuracies, which I will leave you to discover. The movie Elizabeth, centered on the life of Elizabeth I, was fairly accurate but you would never have guessed she was called "the Virgin Queen" from the movie. Yet a recent biography by Alison Weir, The Life of Elizabeth I, gives some sound historical and psychological reasons why she was justifiably given that title. Frequently Hollywood will assume that the morals of people in history were no different from people today. Remember that Hollywood is there to entertain you. Movies are out to make money, not to teach the facts about history. Never leave the theater or switch off the television thinking that you have the facts. It's far more likely that you haven't. Coincidentally, the day that I am writing this, newspapers and TV are carrying reports of research on the brain that shows a definite link between reading and remaining mentally alert into old age. The same research says that too much television and movies cause the brain to "go into neutral" and make Alzheimer's more likely in later life. It sounds like a good time to quit watching movies and check out some history books at your library! WNP |
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