Line #115 Main/HollywoodHistory


1	-> ''"There is a popular belief that where history is concerned, Hollywood always gets it wrong -- and sometimes it does. What is overlooked is the astonishing amount of history Hollywood has got right, and the immense, unacknowledged debt we owe to the commercial cinema as an illuminator of the story of mankind."''
2	-->-- '''Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser''', ''The Hollywood History of the World''
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4	''[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with the actual]] HistoryOfHollywood.''
5
6	In the real world, each era of time throughout history has its own distinctive style and ''zeitgeist'', based on, among other things, what came before it. It also leaves an indelible mark in all of the eras that come ''after'' it. In this way, all periods of history are inextricably linked, and in order to thoroughly comprehend one, one must endeavor to study and understand them all.
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8	Obviously, things get pumped up for movies. Whether or not you believe this is an {{acceptable break from reality}} or [[SeriousBusiness THE]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks WORST THING]] [[DarthWiki/RuinedForever TO EVER HAPPEN]] [[PunctuatedForEmphasis EVER]] depends on the viewer, not to mention the restraints of time[=/=]watchability of an event (most filmgoers won't be impressed with a slow, boring event, however world-changing -- and this isn't the LowestCommonDenominator we're talking about; many films have been blasted for this), invoking RuleOfDrama and so on. This isn't restricted to film -- ancient plays and literature have been doing this on and on.
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10	It is important to bear in mind that stories told in the media work with tropes, but history works with its own rules, and many times the real events and all their details get in the way of a good story. Stories are basically a more or less linear narrative. Everything that happens in history is the result of a complex set of causes, influences and factors (politics, economy, social issues, and a long etc.), and everything keeps influencing further events in all directions. Consider, for example, that WWII never happened, that it was instead a great war movie made up by some imaginative Hollywood studios. We have a BigBad conquering neighbour countries ForTheEvulz, we have Europe [[GondorCallsForAid calling for aid]], we have TheAlliance standing against the evil, an atomic bomb for the end, and AmericaWonWorldWarII. Hurray! But, wait a moment... the defeat of the big bad [[KeystoneArmy does not mean that the war is over]]? Why are the 'Russian' DirtyCommunists in the Alliance, if they will be the villains of the sequel? Shouldn't the superweapon have been used against the big bad, [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil instead of just his minor allies]]? If there was a happy ending, [[NoEndorHolocaust shouldn't Europe have survived the war as good as new]]? And if the ultimate evil has been completely and utterly defeated, how come [[AndTheAdventureContinues that history is still going on]]?
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12	It should be noted that popular entertainment, whether TV, film, or print literature, are products of their times and cater to an audience of that time; thus, they will always bear more resemblance to the society that produces them than to the time period actually depicted. For instance, ''Series/HappyDays'', set in the 1950s, looks far more like the 1970s, the decade when it was produced, than does ''Series/That70sShow'', produced in the early 2000s. Likewise, ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'', a high school show produced in 1999, mostly looks and feels like late-90s high school life despite taking place in the early 80s. Even Aeschylus's depiction of the Trojan War depicts homoeroticism among the Achaeans because that was what was expected of manly aristocratic figures in the Athens of his day, despite the fact that it probably wasn't as big a fad at the time of the Trojan War. It's also why speculative fiction has such widely varying pictures of "TheFuture", and why ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' (originally produced in the 1960s) portrays a future of technological marvels, but still assumes the push-button kitchen of tomorrow will be presided over by an apron-wearing housewife; it was beyond comprehension that automation in the home would result in women having lives outside it.
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14	Note that many of these apply to Europe and the United States. Feel free to add the historical eras of other regions.
15	----
16	!!Tropes:
17	[[index]]
18	[floatboxright:
19	'''Genres/media:'''
20	* '''HistoricalFiction'''
21	* AlternateHistory
22	* CostumeDrama
23	* HistoricalFantasy
24	* HistoricalReCreation
25	* PeriodPiece
26
27	'''Subcategories:'''
28	* '''UsefulNotes/CommonHistoricalSettings'''
29	* AlternateHistoryTropes
30	** ThisIndexIsAnachronistic
31	* HistoricalDomainCharacter
32	]
33	* TheAbridgedHistory: {{Parody}}ing and shortening real-life History.
34	* AlternateHistory: Fiction has history depicted differently from how it happened in real life.
35	** AlternateLandmarkHistory
36	** AlternateTimeline
37	** AnachronismStew: Works taking place in the past feature technology, clothing, references, etc. that don't yet exist.
38	** ArtisticLicenseHistory: The work shuns historical accuracy for the sake of the plot.
39	* AmericaWonWorldWarII: America is framed as the heroes of World War II, usually to lord it over everybody else.
40	* BiographyAClef
41	* BrieferThanTheyThink
42	* DatedHistory: Depictions of history in fiction that have become either outdated by more recent events, or discredited by modern scholarship.
43	* DecadeThemedParty
44	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: A work taking place in the past ''doesn't'' [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory whitewash the unpleasant aspects of the past]], and has [[invoked]][[ValuesDissonance the backwards and politically incorrect views of that time]] being depicted in full.
45	* {{Demythification}}
46	* FamouslyMundaneFictionallyMagical
47	* FantasyLandmarkEquivalent
48	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Historical figures appear everywhere due to not being alive when likeness rights were a thing.
49	** HistoricalBadassUpgrade: A work makes a historical figure more impressive than they were in real life.
50	** HistoricalBeautyUpdate: A work makes a historical figure more attractive than they were in real life.
51	** HistoricalBiographySong: A song that is based, more or less rigorously, on a historical figure.
52	** HistoricalDowngrade
53	** HistoricalHeroUpgrade: A work makes a historical figure more heroic than they were in real life.
54	** HistoricalHilarity
55	** HistoricalInJoke
56	** HistoricalPersonPunchline
57	** HistoricalRelationshipOverhaul
58	** HistoricalUglinessUpdate: A work that makes a historical figure more ugly than they were in real life.
59	** HistoricalVillainDowngrade: A work makes a historical figure less evil than they were in real life, but doesn't necessarily portray them as good.
60	** HistoricalVillainUpgrade: A work makes a historical figure more evil than they were in real life.
61	* HitSoHardTheCalendarFeltIt
62	* HollywoodCostuming
63	* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe
64	** YeGoodeOldeDays
65	** NostalgiaFilter
66	** RoseTintedNarrative
67	* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: A work taking place in the past whitewashes or glosses over the unpleasant aspects of the past to avoid offending audiences.
68	* PopularHistory
69	* PublicDomainArtifact
70	* RenaissanceFair
71	* StillFightingTheCivilWar
72	* StockUnsolvedMysteries
73	* TwoDecadesBehind
74	* WrittenByTheWinners: Historical records are biased in favor of the people who wrote them (especially by the victors of a conflict).
75	* {{Zeerust}}: Predictions of what the future will be like that are out of date.
76	[[/index]]
77	----
78	''"[[Music/BillyJoel We didn't start the fire, But when we are gone, Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...]]"''

Context Main / HollywoodHistory