Hollywood is known for changing details of historical events in movies. Sometimes preserving historical accuracy is simply too complicated, unimportant, or confusing to replicate. The Eagle is a prime example of this, as there are many examples of details that had to be changed due to the aforementioned constraints. However, there are also many facets of the movie that do abide to the events in history – or at least do so well enough to not be an issue. In The Eagle, the events that exemplify such accuracies and inaccuracies are: the purpose of the Hadrian’s Wall, the utilization of the Roman Salute, and the notion of a “thumbs down” signifying death for a Roman gladiator. In The Eagle, the text at the beginning states that Hadrian’s …show more content…
The opponent looks to the crowd to determine the fate of Esca – thumbs up meaning Esca lives, and thumbs down meaning that he dies. Aquila manages to convince many members of the crowd into “voting” thumbs up – enough to save Esca’s life. According to Evan Andrew’s article, “10 Things You May Not Know About Roman Gladiators,” thumbs down, as well as a closed first with two fingers out or a waving handkerchief, would have meant to spare the defeated man. Ironically, the thumbs up signal signifies that the audience was not satisfied and that they want for the gladiator to be slain. This historical inaccuracy completely changes how the scene would’ve played out, assuming the signals meant what they actually did. Esca would have never been saved and later enslaved by Aquila, and this means that Aquila would’ve never have gone on the journey with Esca salvaged the Eagle standard from the Northern Britons. This inaccuracy makes sense though. Since many people think that thumbs up means live, it would be very confusing to watch when Esca is killed because the audience was giving the thumbs up. However, The Eagle did get one concept right in this scene – what the audience was shouting. Traditionally, audience members are supposed to shout what they believe should happen to the defeated opponent – whether it be “free him,” or “let him die.” Many of the
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist’s anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, “The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000”1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny Tremain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood “spices” was added to the movie for viewing pleasures.
Classical Hollywood Cinema is a chain of events that has a cause – effect relationship within a time and space. The environment looks realistic and believable to the viewers because the style is predictable, and the time is linear throughout the film. Each scene with the development of the plot and story is motivated by cause and effect. The filmmaking process involves four major steps that cut across the board. The process revolves around these levels that make it orderly to every individual involved in filming. The process has the following stages: Idea and Development, Pre-Production, Production and Post- Production. In Idea and Development it is normally
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that, examining post classical at which time the relationship between them will become evident. It is my intention to reference films from both movements and also published texts relative to the subject matter. In order to illustrate the structures involved I will be writing about the subjects of genre and genre transformation, the representation of gender, postmodernism and the relationship between style, form and content.
Before the Second World War began Hollywood’s purpose lied within entertainment for the American people. After the war started, the main focus shifted to wartime propaganda. Film was used to display the war in a way that did not show its true colors—including the censorship of soldier causalities and other negative connotations that are a simple fact of war. There was even a time in which some actors became better known to America than politians. Through films, Hollywood began to make a statement of their anti-Nazi beliefs. They began to make motion pictures for American recruitment into the Army as well as many that supported the war effort, and intended to make other Americans more aware of the war’s effect on the United States, and how people can get involved. Many European countries banned these Hollywood films, as they began to affect not only America but many other countries that were involved in the war as well.
There are many adaptations and interpretations on how the English arrived to the Americas and established their colonies. The 2005 film “New World”, written and directed by Terrance Malick, is a film based off the English settlers and how they settled in the Americas in 1607, and the forbidden relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas. Although the film highly exaggerates on some scenes in order to make the history seem more interesting, the film still holds most historical accuracy and is an enjoyable film.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
America has come a long way with how people are treated as opposed to how things use to be not so long ago. In the film American History X (1998) we see how some parts of America were not adjusting to change in their towns which resulted in violent outbreaks and many deaths. Although throughout the movie we see the main character, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) that at the beginning of the film is in a “white power” gang and later transforms as a character to protect his brother and the rest of his family from being hurt and corrupted by the racist world that they were living in.
It is no doubt that Martin Scorsese has heavily influenced the emulating of American film making from European influences. He is a prime example of a ‘New Hollywood Cinema’ director, not only from his ethnicity and background, but from his sheer interest in this form
As time and people are continually changing, so is knowledge and information; and in the film industry there are inevitable technological advances necessary to keep the attraction of the public. It is through graphic effects, sounds and visual recordings that all individuals see how we have evolved to present day digital technology; and it is because of the efforts and ideas of the first and latest great innovators of the twentieth century that we have advanced in film and computers.
N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 25 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard The "Life of a Gladiator.
1. The film I chose that has the Seven Tenants of Classic Hollywood Cinema is The Lucky One. This movie adapted from a fictional book by Nicholas Sparks. As a romance movie, it continues to follow each one of the Seven Tenants of Classic Hollywood Cinema. The first tenant listed is the idea that the film is set in present day, the audience is an observer.
This essay will focus on common perceptions of gladiator games, and analyze graffiti and dipinti related to gladiators from Pompeii as well as other cities of the Roman Empire, grave epitaphs, skeletal remains, and the works of numerous scholars to shed light on whether being a
Classical Hollywood Cinemas placed high emphasis on editing techniques such as continuity editing to put together a film. In this, various different edits and fragmentations of space were used to put together a scene that would direct the viewers attention towards one particular aspect of the film. The cuts were vital since they helped to build an association from previously taken shots to the next shot. This all was used to help the director produce a sort of continuity and set the mood and tone of the film. The director uses the cuts to produce a more continuous flow of images. The director creates space and then in the editing process he connects these spaces to guide its audience and to achieve spatial continuity. There are two types of continuity, spatial and temporal. While spatial represents continuity in an entire film, temporal is used to represent continuity in a scene. It is through this type of continuity that the director will establish and maintain a narrative. Classical Hollywood type of cinema also uses shot reverse shot
The gladiator’s appearance depended on if they were fighting that day. If a gladiator wasn’t fighting, they ...
Cinematic realism is a very subjective theory. As are most theories when it comes to cinema. The idea that a film can be entertaining, yet showcase and represent the world around us, is a fascinating subject. What’s most interesting though, is the subjections that comes with realism. Does a film have to be a completely accurate picture of the world in order to realistically represent it? There are arguments for both sides, but ultimately realism in cinema is subjective, because people’s view of the world is subjective. Reality for you can be completely different for someone else. The same way a movie can be an accurate representation to you, but the complete opposite to someone else.