History films have often been criticised by academics and journalists as inaccurate depictions of the past. Yet there is no denying the fact that blockbuster history films are increasingly influential in shaping our understanding of historical people and events thanks to the accessibility of the medium. Producers of these films often take liberties with facts to tell a more dramatic, engaging and entertaining story. They have a basis in truth but are greatly influenced by the writers’ and directors’ desire to envelop the audience in the story and to entertain. They focus the visual and auditory senses of the viewer on the subject being studied creating a stimulating and forceful impact on the viewer, therefore engaging their interest. Popular films have undoubtedly increased interest in history and many historical feature films contain much accurate information about the period in which the film is set and portraying the events which took place in vivid detail; something which no text book can achieve. For this reason historical films are extremely valuable as they open up the past to the masses.
The Patriot (2000) is a dramatic and affectionate film depicting a determined man’s quest to defeat British forces during the Revolutionary war with the assistance of his local militia. According to historian David Horowitz, The Patriot, he writes, “reassembles the elements of the national myth into a powerful homage to liberty and to the American colonists who gave their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to its cause.” At the start of the film the audience are introduced to Benjamin Martin, played by Mel Gibson, an everyday American intent on remaining neutral. Martin, a South Carolina legislator, greets news of the Declarati...
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...orically appropriate” according to Miller . Furthermore, in reality Proctor was a victim of town rivalries, not a scorned lover. The Crucible is able to show the audience life in the Puritan colonial period better than any other historical source therefore making history accessible to everyone wishing to learn more about the period.
Films of the past have invaded the classroom in recent years. Whether they are historically valuable or not will be debated amongst historians for years to come. With the growth of this media, historians have now become involved in the process of making films; acting as advisers on film projects, dramatics and documentaries. Film creates a historical world with which the written word cannot compete, at least for popularity, therefore making them valuable as they open up history to everyone with an interest; whether in education or not.
Films are necessary in our time period because the human eye can articulate the message intended through sight allowing visual imagination to occur. In the book, world 2 by Max Brooks, he creates a character by the name Roy Elliot who was a former movie director. Roy Elliot manages to make a movie titled “Victory at Avalon: The Battle of the Five Colleges” and some how it goes viral. Similarly, Frank Capra’s film, “Why we Fight” expresses a sense of understanding the meaning of wars. Films do not inevitably portray truth because they display what the film director views as important and beneficial for people to know.
Miller presents the character of John Proctor in an important way to show two sides to his character. These qualities make him have the most important role in ‘The Crucible.’ The key events that show him in this way is when the audience find out about the affair, how he tries to defend his wife, his confession in court and his hanging for the sake of others. Through the events in The Crucible, Miller then portrays John Proctor’s character with tension and suspense. This then makes the audience question whether or not he is a good man.
I’m sure you’ve debated with yourself many times the book or the movie. This essay proves to you why the movie version is so much better. John Proctor was without a single doubt the best character in The Crucible. The film did an impeccable job of conveying a much better picture of what truly happened in the years 1692 and 1693. Even though many people may consider the book to be the better version of The Crucible their reasons do not compare to the reasons I have written to prove that the movie is the best version. The movie did a much better version of giving us more details and more personality out of the characters such as John Proctor. In the book, John Proctor was a dry and dull character but in the movie, he is incredibly influential.
Corruption has always existed in our society since the beginning to present time due to conspiracies such as the witch trials and the communism era. The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written during the era of communism to mere the hysteria. The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. It’s a corrupt witch trial in Salem that’s due to false accusations of witchcraft for personal gains. John Proctor is the protagonist in the story The Crucible who goes through the ultimate test by choosing his reputation over integrity. He also had an affair with a young girl named Abigail who is the antagonist and is the main reason the bloodshed is occurring in Salem. Initially, Proctor hesitates to deal with his sin, but as the play progresses, he begins to understand its effects; this ultimately leads him to find goodness in himself as he stands for the truth.
The Patriot was a Hollywood version for the story of Francis Marion and the Swamp fox. The swamp fox was a group of men who fought the British Army using Guerrilla warfare. “Marion and his irregulars often defeated larger bodies of British troops by the surprise and rapidity of their movement over swampy terrain”. 2 The Hollywood version of the Swamp fox was quite close; the main Character Benjamin Martin w...
The Crucible is in the format of a play. John Proctor is established as the hero through the use of Miller's contrast in characters. Upon his introduction, Proctor seems to be the only calm, sensible and logical character among the rising hysteria of Abigail's threats, Parris' damnations and babble of the Putnam's. Proctor is easily set apart from the other characters and the beginning of the play due to the obvious differences in character. Miller also builds up the climax throughout the book by making the conversations very quick paced and intense.
"The Patriot: Film Fact or Fiction." Welcome to The Patriot Resource. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. .
The Crucible is one of the most bizarre accounts of a historical event to date. The naïveté of the townspeople leads them down a road of madness and confusion, led by a shameless Puritan girl. Abigail Williams was a ruthless girl who showed no mercy upon accusing her victims of witchcraft. Knowing the entire town of Salem would believe her and the other girls, she would not hesitate at charging anyone she wished with the crime of the Devil’s work. However, a challenge arose to Abigail when she decided to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, and eventually her husband John, of witchcraft. The Proctor marriage was not just any simple marriage; it had its times of cold shoulders, heartfelt truth, and undying love.
It is a common mis-conception that films are merely entertainment, and serve no other purpose than to provide for the viewer a two-hour escape from reality. This is a serious under-estimation of the power, purpose, and potential of film, because film, upon reflection, revea...
Classic narrative cinema is what Bordwell, Staiger and Thompson (The classic Hollywood Cinema, Columbia University press 1985) 1, calls “an excessively obvious cinema”1 in which cinematic style serves to explain and not to obscure the narrative. In this way it is made up of motivated events that lead the spectator to its inevitable conclusion. It causes the spectator to have an emotional investment in this conclusion coming to pass which in turn makes the predictable the most desirable outcome. The films are structured to create an atmosphere of verisimilitude, which is to give a perception of reality. On closer inspection it they are often far from realistic in a social sense but possibly portray a realism desired by the patriarchal and family value orientated society of the time. I feel that it is often the black and white representation of good and evil that creates such an atmosphere of predic...
Another important work Miller wrote, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. It is a time when jealousy and suspicion poisoned the thinking of an entire town. Neighbor turned against neighbor when events happened that could not be explained. Accusations turned into a mad hunt for witches who did not exist. One of the main characters of the play is John Proctor, a well-respected man with a good name in the town. As the play develops, John Proctor’s moral dilemma becomes evident: he must decide whether to lie and confess to witchcraft in order to save his life, or to die an honest man, true to his beliefs.
...ctual roles, or adding in exciting events that revise the storyline. These changes are beneficial to producers because they engage a large audience and generate massive profits. In contrast, they do not always have a positive effect on viewers. Although they are entertaining which is an important aspect of theatre culture, they also are often misguiding. Many spectators take movies at face value, without considering that they may not exactly qualify as primary source material. Even when an historical event is fabricated to teach or enhance a moral message, it still doesn’t compensate for bending the truth. Moviegoer’s may have a positive experience and gain some skewed historical perspective, perhaps better than what they knew before the movie, but they loose out on the truth and therefore, a genuine understanding of the historical event, and its significance.
The Patriot was a historically inaccurate film based on the American Revolution. The Patriot incorrectly displayed the main character Benjamin Martin, Colonial Tavington, the British, Loyalist, slavery, military tactics, and factual errors.
“The biggest mistake we have made is to consider that films are primarily a form of entertainment. The film is the greatest medium since the invention of movable type for exchanging ideas and information, and it is no more at its best in light entertainment than literature is at its best in the light novel.” - Orson Welles
If a picture is worth a thousand words than how much is a moving picture, or movie, worth? In the study of history, the usage of movies as primary sources is controversial. Motion pictures are more commonly well-known as sources and created for entertainment purposes. Film is a creation of a reality. This has some valuable resources for the study of history in many respects. They may or may not be representational, and some may include writing or printing. Some can be categorized as fine art, others as documentary record. Originality may or may not be important, and the content may or may not be the primary focus. History is made by people - in a sense that it is written by people positioned in time and in location, living under a certain political regime, in a certain cultural arena, and having an access to certain interpretative schemes.