Line #76 WebVideo/HistoryBuffs


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/historybuffs.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Hello, history buffs!"]]
3	''[[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggHoXaj8BQHIiPmOxezeWA History Buffs]]'' is an ongoing Website/YouTube series hosted by Nick Hodges which evaluates the accuracy of historical feature films and television dramas. It generally deals with how filmmakers utilize the ArtisticLicenseHistory trope and how this can be a good or bad thing, often providing proper context to events that Hollywood has ignored.
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6	!!Trope Buffs:
7	* AbledInTheAdaptation: In his ''Film/GoodFellas'' review, he points out that Henry Hill had serious learning disabilities. Since he went to school in the 1950s, he didn't have the supports available today, and so he disliked school and had trouble academically. Because the movie doesn't mention this, it gives the impression that young Henry was just a troublemaker and a delinquent. (Then again, it wasn't until ''[=GoodFellas=]'' was released that Henry Hill was the target of interviews and he was able to relate the ValuesDissonance of TheFifties and the modern era.) [[invoked]]
8	* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: ''Film/Apollo13'' had the astronauts panicked and bickering during the malfunctions. Footage of the actual disaster showed the astronauts ''extremely'' [[TheStoic non-emotional and businesslike]].
9	* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: He calls out ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' for doing this on William Wallace by claiming Wallace's family were peasant farmers and Wallace himself got his military skills from traveling over Europe after his parents' deaths when in fact Wallace's family were minor Scottish nobility and got his military skills from his noble upbringing and working as a mercenary with the English.
10	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Nick criticizes ''Film/FromHell'' for having Inspector Abberline played by Creator/JohnnyDepp, since the real Abberline was a plain old man who was not as young and handsome as Depp.
11	* AdaptationalUgliness: Nick shows side-by-side images of Creator/JoePesci and the much more handsome Tommy [=DeSimone=] in the ''Film/GoodFellas'' review.
12	* AdaptationalVillainy: In his ''Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' review, Nick is quick to point out that the Babington plot never got to the point of Anthony Babington attempting to assassinate Elizabeth in church. Instead, like every other plot against Elizabeth in the past, it was discovered and thwarted by the investigative efforts of Elizabeth's spymaster Francis Walsingham well before there was any threat to Elizabeth's safety.
13	* AdaptationInducedPlotHole:
14	** ''Series/{{Rome}}'': Instead of fleeing Rome after Caesar's assassination and staying in Alexandria until the end of the resulting upheaval as she did in RealLife, the second season has Cleopatra visiting the divided capital with Caesarion, her son with Caesar, and the two visiting Mark Antony and Octavian -- both of whom are trying to succeed Caesar and would have good reason to immediately kill a third competitor like Caesarion.
15	** ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' never explains Ike Clanton's grudge against Wyatt Earp. What happened was that Ike had previously sold out an outlaw gang (who'd tried to rob a stagecoach) to Wyatt in exchange for reward money, something Wyatt hoped would allow him to beat Johnny Behan in the election for Sheriff. Even though the wanted men were killed in another state, Ike became paranoid after fearing that Wyatt would reveal Ike's betrayal to the Cowboys, explaining his hatred for Wyatt in the film.
16	** ''Film/{{Elizabeth}}'' killed off the Jesuit priest John Ballard (played by Creator/DanielCraig), which means that in ''Film/ElizabethTheGoldenAge'', a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute named Robert Reston had to be created to perform Ballard's role in the Babington Plot.
17	* AdmiringTheAbomination: At the start of the ''Film/ThreeHundred'' review, Nick states that he is fascinated by the history of Sparta despite disliking [[TheSpartanWay its cruel society]].
18	* AlasPoorVillain: During the ''Film/GoodFellas'' review, Nick empathizes with Henry Hill's dyslexia growing up, which ultimately led to him being effectively raised by the mob. He also seems to sympathize with the fact that Hill was forced to relive the horrible things he did in the mob long after he got out.
19	* AllThereInTheManual: Nick usually begins his videos by giving some background information of the history or events of the film or TV show he's watching before the review begins.
20	* AnachronismStew:
21	** In ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'', Nick points out that 13th-century Scots are wearing kilts, which weren't invented until the 16th century.
22	** The presence of turkeys in Spain at the start of ''Film/FourteenNinetyTwoConquestOfParadise'', even though the continent the turkeys are from hadn't been discovered yet and its discovery is the ''plot of the film''.
23	** The presence of [[spoiler:Spaniards]] at the end of ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'', even though [[spoiler:Mayan civilization had long since collapsed by the time the Spaniards arrived in RealLife]]. That this should be set in 1511 would have put the matter to rest were it not for the Classic Mayan trappings the movie uses that puts the whole thing into question.
24	** The opening lecture in ''Film/{{Timeline}}'' where it's suggested that English troops wore red uniforms and French troops wore blue uniforms during UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar. The English did not adopt red uniforms until the 17th century, while the French did not adopt blue uniforms until the 18th century.
25	** During the scene in ''Film/Midway2019'' when the U.S. launches the Dolittle bombing raid at Tokyo, U.S. sailors at Pearl Harbor listen to a Tokyo Rose broadcast from NHK, which was part of the Japanese government's propaganda initiative designed to demoralize the U.S. However, the Tokyo Rose broadcasts didn't begin until 1943, a year after the Dolittle raid.
26	* ArtEvolution: Earlier episodes show Nick's animated self moving only in still shots. In later episodes, the animation improved to where his lips and arms could move.
27	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: One of Nick's many sticking points with ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'', where the adult protagonist has never seen a large Mayan city before even though such cities were literally ''everywhere'' in the Mayan civilization.
28	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The whole point of the series.
29	** Occasionally it makes some of its own, if by accident. A good example is the review of ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', where Nick describes the arrival of Matthew Perry as being a kind of alien invasion since the Japanese were so isolated from the outside world. In actual fact, the Japanese had traded with the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English since the Sengoku and Edo periods respectively. Furthermore, when the Tokugawa shogunate imposed the isolationist policy of ''Sakoku'', they restricted the Dutch and other European foreigners to an area of Nagasaki known as Dejima where they controlled what they could do there. The Americans used Dutch accounts for research and guidance during their mission. The Japanese certainly knew quite a bit about the West even during the era of isolation.
30	** Discussed in several videos about historical authenticity vs. historical accuracy. Nick notes that if something is done authentically then it's understandable that some license to be taken with the events and accuracy isn't that big of a deal. This is especially important for historical films that are not documentaries as despite trying to be accurate, their first and foremost objective is to be entertaining, so some leeway is to be had. For example, in ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'', [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent none of the actors even attempt to use Russian accents despite it being set in the Soviet Union]]. However, each person has an accent that would be analogous to a stereotype of the region they're from (such as Stalin having a Cockney accent due to him having a Georgian accent while speaking Russian). This makes the character's roots much easier to understand as well as avoiding the {{Narm}} of a bad Russian accent. Nick's usually fine with completely fictional characters who were based on existing people (so long as they're used in the correct historical context).
31	** In ''Film/{{Agora}}'':
32	*** Nick is disgusted with Cyril of Alexandria, who was later made a Saint and got away with inciting the murder of the Greek philosopher Hypatia. However, Nick seems to forget that the film is a fictional telling of Hypatia's life with some changes of her character, like Hypatia being an atheist rather than a pagan. Furthermore, Cyril never ordered Hypatia's death, as she was respected by all the higher-ups of Alexandria, and there was no evidence that Cyril was connected to her death. Most historians and scholars agreed that Hypatia was an unfortunate victim of the feud between Cyril and Prefect Orestes of Alexandria. Cyril's diehard followers, without speaking with Cyril first, murdered Hypatia for purportedly escalating the feud. For more information see [[http://math.coe.uga.edu/tme/issues/v06n1/4whitfield.pdf here]].
33	*** Nick falls victim to the whole "[[MedievalMorons Christianity/Dark Ages halted science progression]]" mindset, ignoring the fact that only the Western Roman Empire collapsed and the Eastern Roman Empire (later known as the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire) remained intact, preserved and expanded on Greek and Roman knowledge and survived for another thousand years. Even during TheMiddleAges, the Catholic Church and clergy (the successors to Rome in Western Europe)actively sponsored science and the study of Greek texts and founded many of Europe's universities, resulting in notions such as the Earth being round remaining common knowledge even among peasants. Science was also actively studied and utilized beyond Europe in regions such as China and the Muslim world, who got access to Greek and Roman knowledge from the Byzantine Empire.
34	** In ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'':
35	*** Nick calls it unrealistic and a continuity error that no one bats an eye at the cowboys' shooting their guns into the ceiling to deliver a standing ovation at the Birdcage Saloon. [[RealityIsUnrealistic Except the gunfire at the show is true]]. People would fire their weapons into the air as a way of showing their approval for the show. There are over 100 bullet holes in the Birdcage's ceiling as proof.
36	*** Nick says in his review after showing the Latin SnarkToSnarkCombat between Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo that it was unlikely Ringo would've spoken Latin given he was a dropout, when the truth was, he did. Though Ringo dropped out of school at 14, he did know the language a bit because he knew how to read well and wanted to impress girls.
37	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: In the movie ''Film/TheUntouchables'', Canadian Mounties help Eliot Ness and The Untouchables stop Capone's gang from transporting alcohol into the United States. While Nick admits it was a cool scene that evokes the image of a Western gunfight, the Mounties had no business being there. Prohibition was an American law, while buying, selling and transporting alcohol was always legal in Canada. So the Mounties wouldn't help the Untouchables in the first place since what Capone's gang was doing was legal (under Canadian law) and whatever happens to them once they cross the border into the US was none of their business.
38	* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: Calls out ''Film/{{Timeline}}'' for this. First the film assumes that people in 14th-century France spoke modern French, when in reality they spoke Middle French and Occitan. Then when the time travelers meet Lord Oliver, they are able to converse in modern English when Oliver would have been speaking either Middle English or Anglo-Norman French; likewise, Gerard Butler should have been speaking Norn, Gaelic, or Scots if he wanted to pass as a 14th-century Scotsman. Nick points out both times that the time travelers and the inhabitants of Castelgard should not be able to understand each other.
39	* ArtisticLicenseMilitary:
40	** Nick finds it absurd that in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'', the Scottish were able to defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling despite the fact the former didn't wear anything but fur and kilts, which should have made it much easier for the armored English to defeat them. Furthermore, the battle in question was actually called the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stirling_Bridge Battle of Stirling Bridge]] as it took place at a bridge and not an open field.
41	** One of Nick's only serious bones of contention with ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' is the suggestion that the 1860s Lakota-Sioux are completely unfamiliar with guns and have to be taught how to use them by John Dunbar. In reality, Native Americans -- including the Sioux -- were long accustomed to firearms and already used them in their conflicts with the U.S. government by the time in which the film is set.
42	** Nick points out two examples of this in ''Film/{{Timeline}}''. First, it shows both French and English archers using longbows, when actually longbows were only used by the English and Welsh while the French used short bows and crossbows. Secondly, he points out that the ArrowsOnFire trope in the film (and many others) doesn't work since rather than make the arrows powerful and deadlier, it just [[AwesomeButImpractical made them ineffective]] due to the extra weight. Furthermore, by the time the fire arrow reaches its target, the flames would have been blown out due to wind velocity.
43	** ''Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' depicts the relatively small English Navy being massively outgunned by the Spanish Armada of King Philip II, and suffering casualties as a result. In reality, the English had adapted significantly advanced techniques in shipbuilding and naval warfare by the time the two fleets faced each other, so they didn't even lose a single ship as they managed to repel the Spaniards. Likewise, the Spaniards didn't lose any of their ships when the English deployed their fireships; they simply cut anchor out of panic and fled.
44	* AscendedFanboy: If you were wondering why new videos are coming out slower, it's because Nick has been collaborating with the ''Series/{{Vikings}}'' cast on their podcasts.
45	* AsYouKnow: ''Film/Apollo13'' uses this trope since most viewers might not understand the science of space travel, so having it explained to them helps them understand the plot better.
46	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Nick points out how in ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', the Earps are depicted as heroes and the Cowboys as a menace, but the reality was not so simple. The gunfight at the OK Corral only served to divide the public of Tombstone, with some people seeing the Earps as heroes and others seeing them as cold blooded murderers. A lot of this, Nick points out, could be boiled down to simple politics: the more Democrat-leaning rural farmers and ranchers despised the influx of Republican businessmen, miners and merchants who'd moved into Tombstone, and were thus inclined to view the Earps as government enforcers who backed big business at their expense; meanwhile, the Republicans were intent on taming the Wild West and viewed the Earps as guardians of law and order. This division can be best seen when comparing the newspaper coverage of the gunfight by the Republican-leaning ''Tombstone Epitapth'' with that from the Democratic-leaning ''Tombstone Daily Nugget'' (who were sympathetic towards Sheriff Johnny Behan and the Cowboys as a whole).[[invoked]]
47	* BasedOnAGreatBigLie: Nick calls out the narrator of ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' for being a big liar, which ironically the narrator's claim that the English calling him a liar for his story is true, since most things in the film are not historically accurate and simply made up.
48	* BerserkButton: Abusing the ArtisticLicenseHistory trope and putting in idiot plotlines. Creator/MelGibson is deemed the most guilty of this with the exception of ''Film/WeWereSoldiers''.
49	** One film that pisses him off the most is ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'', since not only is the film historically inaccurate and lies to the audience by claiming the story is true, but it also uses HollywoodTactics like how the Scots defeated the English with no armor, a bad romance plot between Wallace and Queen Isabella (see ImprobableAge below), Gibson taking jabs at the English every chance he got, and the film disrespecting both the English and the Scots by ruining Wallace's character (this is because while Nick is English, he is also Scottish from his father's side of the family via Clan Robertson, hence why he makes a big deal out of this movie). You can tell how much he hated this movie by the constant anger displayed throughout the review.
50	** Nick also finds that ''Film/ThePatriot2000'' has an excessive anti-British bias, with all of the incessant references to "shooting redcoats." It gets exaggerated when the British are depicted as burning down a church with the entire population of a rebel village locked inside -- a scene which was inspired not by any real-life incident during the Revolutionary War, but by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre Oradour-sur-Glane massacre]] committed by Nazi troops during World War II.
51	** He goes nuts at ''Film/{{Apocalypto}}'', which while accurate in some ways in portraying the Mayans, gets some things wrong like: how the protagonists had never seen a Mayan city despite how Mayan cities were everywhere, a girl suffering from smallpox despite smallpox not yet appearing in the Americas at that point, the Mayans practicing Aztec human sacrifices, and finally -- [[BlueScreenOfDeath the one that broke the camel's back with Nick]] -- was [[spoiler:the final scene in which the Spaniards arrive, something that did not happen until long after the Classic Mayan civilization collapsed.]]
52	** He was also outraged by the blatant historical inaccuracy of both ''UsefulNotes/ElizabethI'' films starring Creator/CateBlanchett, and was worried in the review for the first film that they were being used to teach students in history classes. His fears proven quite founded in his ''Film/ElizabethTheGoldenAge'' review when he said a viewer told him ''Film/{{Elizabeth}}'' was indeed screened for him in class.
53	** Related to this idea is PoliticallyCorrectHistory. If a film wants to tell a real world event, it needs to be truthful to the times in which the film came out as much as it can, meaning it needs to show all the past [[DeliberateValuesDissonance things that are not acceptable by today's standards]]. Several films he talks about with it get him very frustrated because its needless change to fit a political agenda and nothing more, and just hurts the overall quality of the films attempt to be "historically accurate".
54	** He also has major dislike of movies depicting horrible historical figures or people as heroic, like ''Film/Midway2019'''s dedication to the Japanese sailors who died during the battle, despite the fact the Imperial Japanese Navy (along with the Imperial Japanese Army) committed horrible war crimes during their conquest of Asia; or Christopher Columbus being treated like a hero despite he and his men committed torture, rape and genocide against the native populace they met.
55	* BlackAndGrayMorality: ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' points out that the conflict between the Earps and the Cowboys was a little less clear cut than the movie made it out to be, with the Earps largely only being seen as "good guys" because they had badges.
56	* BrickJoke: Used with clips from the "shine box" scene in ''Film/GoodFellas'' to make fun of Creator/JoePesci's rap song (yes, you read that right).
57	* CompositeCharacter: As Nick notes, ''Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' seems to be combining Sir Walter Raleigh with Sir Francis Drake.
58	* CompressedAdaptation:
59	** As Nick notes, the real ''Maersk Alabama'' hijacking involved two failed attempts to attack the ship before the successful one, but the movie ''Film/CaptainPhillips'' reduced the number to one failed attempt.
60	** Much of the events of ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'' happened months apart (and were sometimes unrelated), but to have them jump back and forth with [[TimeSkip time skips]] would have probably taxed the audience's attention span.
61	** ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' has two notable instances.
62	*** The movie skips over the Earps' failed attempt to run a stagecoach business before they rejoined law enforcement. Also because they probably wouldn't look very heroic if it were shown that their return to law enforcement [[OnlyInItForTheMoney was motivated by money]].
63	*** The Cowboys' retaliatory attacks on Wyatt Earp's brothers, which result in Virgil being critically wounded and Morgan being killed, are depicted as happening on the same night, when in reality they were actually three and a half months apart (Virgil was shot on December 28, 1881; Morgan was killed on March 18, 1882).
64	* CoolChair: Nick -- or rather, the animated version of him -- has one.
65	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Nick praises shows or movies that correctly shows values and attitudes of the past which by our modern standards are appalling. Hence, he gives praise to ''Series/{{Vikings}}'' for not shying away from [[UsefulNotes/TheVikingAge protagonists of the show having no problem of killing, raping or enslaving]].
66	* DoesntLikeGuns: He calls out ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' for claiming the Samurai refuse to use guns as they found the weapon dishonorable, when in reality the Samurai had no problem with using guns when they were first introduced to them by Portuguese traders in 1543 during Japan's UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod -- to the point the Japanese were able to make local rifles known as the Tanegashima that were much better than the ones they imported from the Europeans. Even the RealLife event the movie was loosely based on, the Satsuma Rebellion, rebel Samurai were using guns against Government forces and were forced to switch to bows and arrows after running out of ammunition.
67	* DroitDuSeigneur: ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' claims the English nobility practice ''Primae Noctis'' on the Scottish commoners but Nick calls this out as the practice of Primae Noctis is fictional and never really existed.
68	* EnforcedPlug: Sometimes he stops the video by citing sponsored content. For an example ''War Thunder'' in his Robin Hood movie analysis.
69	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The entire series is unsurprisingly about a British history buff who reviews various biopics.
70	* ForWantOfANail: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in his review of ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'', where he contemplates the possibility that UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's decision to lead the American Revolution, and the resulting establishment of the United States of America, came about because of a PassedOverPromotion.
71	* HistoricalBeautyUpdate:
72	** In his review of ''Film/FromHell'', Nick notes that the real Inspector Abberline wasn't a young man, and certainly wasn't as attractive as Creator/JohnnyDepp.
73	** He also points out an inversion in ''Film/GoodFellas''; the real-life counterpart to Tommy [=DeVito=], Tommy [=DeSimone=], was a tall, well-built, ruggedly handsome man. Creator/JoePesci, on the other hand, is not. He did note that at least Pesci matched his real-life counterpart in ''Film/{{Casino}}''; there's a reason Anthony Spilotro's nickname was "Tony the Ant".
74	** Nick also points out that during the period in which ''Elizabeth: The Golden Age'' is set, Queen Elizabeth I was much older (in her mid-fifties) than she is portrayed and had long moved past considering suitors.
75	* HistoricalHeroUpgrade:
76	** Nick is disgusted by the portrayal of UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus in ''Film/FourteenNinetyTwoConquestOfParadise''. Contrary to the film's depiction of Columbus as a benevolent rogue and visionary, Nick rightfully points to abundant evidence that the real Columbus was a borderline AxCrazy war criminal and profiteer, and not just by today's standards either; there's evidence that even back then he was considered a criminal. He is also baffled that people still insist Columbus was a hero despite his genocidal actions and the fact that he neither discovered the Americas or proved the Earth was round.
77	** Also at issue is the treatment of the American Revolution in ''Film/ThePatriot2000'', especially where slaves are concerned. The movie suggests that UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's promise to free black men who fought for the Revolution embodied the American ideal of equality. In reality, that promise was the result of the Americans being desperate to counteract a similar offer made to the slaves by the British and stop them from gaining an advantage. Not only did American ideals not apply to non-whites at the time of the Revolution, but most of the black men who fought for the Americans ended up never being freed. Creator/MelGibson's character Benjamin Martin technically counts, as one of the inspirations for the character, Francis Marion, was a slave-owner whose slaves fled his plantation and willingly enlisted with the British... which, as Nick points out, tells you he was pretty despicable as a person.
78	** UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat gets a couple of ones by omission in Creator/OliverStone's ''Film/{{Alexander}}'', most notably the incident where he marches his men back to Babylon through the perilous Gedrosian desert and ends up losing 12,000 men. The film depicts this as a blunder made by Alexander, when most scholars agree that Alexander was [[BadBoss deliberately punishing his army]] for threatening to revolt over not being able to return home.
79	** In ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', Moritsugu Katsumoto is portrayed as an honorable warrior who refuses to use guns and rebels against the Japanese government out of noble intentions as he feared his country was losing its traditions as a result of the government's modernization programs. In reality, the man Katsumoto was based on, Saigo Takamori, had no problems in using guns and was an early supporter of the government's modernization programs. His reasons for rebelling were more selfish as he opposed the government's plans to end the special laws and privileges the samurai used to enjoy, like the right to kill peasants with impunity.
80	** ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' does this to the Sioux, corresponding with a HistoricalVillainUpgrade for the Pawnee. While the film portrays the Sioux as victims of harassment by the Pawnee, the reality was the other way around. Historically, the Pawnee were a small, weak tribe that were oppressed by the much larger neighboring tribes, including the Sioux. Nick [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] this by suggesting that John Dunbar is giving a [[UnreliableNarrator biased account]] favoring his friends the Sioux.
81	** ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', along with other films about Wyatt Earp and his posse, have always portrayed them as good lawmen fighting the Cowboys to protect the town of Tombstone. In truth, Wyatt and his posse were largely only viewed as the "good guys" because they had badges, and the Earp Vendetta Ride was them breaking the law to ruthlessly kill Cowboys as revenge for the maiming of Virgil and the death of Morgan.
82	*** Additionally, the reality of the Earps' return to law enforcement was that it was not motivated by a sense of morality, but rather, purely by the fact that it paid better, since their attempt at running a stagecoach hadn't panned out.
83	** In ''Film/CaptainPhillips'', despite the film portraying Phillips as a heroic character who allowed himself to be taken hostage by Somali pirates to save his crew, Phillips didn't do that. Furthermore, the film omits out the fact that Phillips was responsible for the pirates attacking his ship in the first place, as he ignored warnings from his superiors to avoid the area with high pirate activity to save time and money.
84	** One of his largest criticisms of ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' is that the film portrays Saladin and his Muslim Army as being reasonable and kind people who are the victims of the evil Christian Crusaders, where in reality Saladin was more ruthless than the film shows, and he committed acts as harsh and gruesome as the Crusaders in his pursuit of the holy land.
85	** In ''Film/{{Elizabeth}}'':
86	*** The newly crowned Queen Elizabeth I is portrayed as a naive woman who is unaware that her longtime lover, Robert Dudley, is already married. In reality, Elizabeth wasn't naïve. She was fully aware that Dudley was married, and continued their affair regardless. Even if she could marry Dudley after his wife died in mysterious circumstances, she didn't because his family name was tainted from being involved in a plot against the Monarchy in the past. While Dudley himself was found innocent, he still carried the stigma of his family's treason, which would have undermined Elizabeth's rule if the two married.
87	*** Elizabeth puts on heavy white makeup to become her Virgin Queen persona in order to give up her personal happiness for the sake of her country. In reality, Elizabeth put on heavy white makeup to hide her smallpox scars and used the Virgin Queen persona to explain the makeup to her people.
88	** Elizabeth gets this treatment again in ''Film/ElizabethTheGoldenAge'':
89	*** When she releases Sir Walter Raleigh and Bess Throckmorton from the Tower of London. The film suggests that Elizabeth did this as a magnanimous gesture of forgiveness. In reality, Elizabeth only (reluctantly) released Raleigh when his men found out he was imprisoned and threatened to withhold the queen's share of the spoils from the Battle of Flores, and released Bess out of guilt over the fact that the baby she conceived with Raleigh died of plague while she was in the Tower. ([[ImprobableInfantSurvival The baby stays alive]] [[SparedByTheAdaptation in the film.]])
90	*** The film also omits how, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth kept typhus/dysentery-afflicted English sailors sequestered on their ships because she was too cheap to pay for their medical care.
91	** Takes issue with how the [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan Imperial Japanese]] were memorialized in ''Film/Midway2019'', and how their many, ''many'' war crimes during their conquest of Asia were glossed over, even though the film still treated them as antagonists.
92	** In his ''Film/ThirteenDays'' review, he makes note of how most of the movie's biggest artistic liberties over the Cuban Missile Crisis concern the role of Kenny O'Donnell. The movie makes it seem like O'Donnell was the central staff figure during the crisis, suggesting for instance that JFK would've flubbed the blockade address without O'Donnell's pep talk; or that JFK only trusted the diplomatic offer from Aleksandr Fomin because of O'Donnell's hunch that Fomin and Nikita Khrushchev were friends. Most Kennedy administration officials note that in reality, O'Donnell played a very minor role in the crisis and took no part in any of the strategy discussions; it was actually JFK's speechwriter Ted Sorensen who pulled the administration together during the crisis. Ostensibly, the reason why O'Donnell's role in the crisis was expanded is because according to producer Peter Almond, they wanted to have a central protagonist who functioned as an {{audience surrogate}}, but Nick argues that a likelier reason is because O'Donnell's son Kevin had a controlling stake in Beacon Pictures, the company that produced ''Thirteen Days'', and advised writer David Self on the script.
93	* HistoricalVillainDowngrade:
94	** ''Film/GoodFellas'':
95	*** Paul Cicero is depicted as an intimidating but AffablyEvil [[EvilMentor mentor]] to Henry Hill who doesn't commit any violent acts onscreen. In reality, Paul Vario was just as vicious as Jimmy Burke/Conway and Tommy [=DeSimone=]/[=DeVito=], and Nick shows a documentary clip of the real Hill recalling an incident where Vario beat up a barmaid with a baseball bat.
96	*** While the film doesn't give this treatment to Tommy [=DeSimone=]/[=DeVito=] in the slightest, Nick does mention one incident he did that wasn't brought up in the film, though likely because Henry Hill was the only source for it: at one point while Henry was in prison, Tommy tried to rape Henry's wife Karen; Paul Vario, whom Karen was having an affair with at the time, [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend was enraged by this]] and sold Tommy out to the Gambino crime family for this and the murder of Billy Batts. The rest of the film is largely an aversion, however, and its realistic portrayal of UsefulNotes/TheMafia is why Nick favors it over ''Film/TheGodfather''.
97	** Also pointed out in his look at ''Film/{{Casino}}''. Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the real-life inspiration for Sam "Ace" Rothstein, was significantly more controlling and abusive towards his wife. In the movie, the worst Ace does to Ginger is [[PapaWolf threaten to kill her for tying up their daughter]]. Rosenthal, however, was significantly worse to his wife Geri, [[DomesticAbuse beat her]] and cheated on her. Unlike Rothstein, who reluctantly made Ginger wear a beeper after she tried to kidnap their daughter, Rosenthal made Geri wear a beeper ''before'' she tried to run off because he wanted to make sure he was in control of her. Nick points out that watching the movie knowing details like this make Ginger / Geri's affair with Nicky Santoro / Tony Spilotro more sympathetic.
98	** Gives special mention in the ''Series/{{Narcos}}'' review to Pablo Escobar's mother, Hermilda Gaviria, who is depicted as a relatively benevolent matriarch who always acts to protect her family. In reality, Hermilda betrayed Pablo to the rival Los Pepes cartel to save her own skin, and suggested that the Cali Cartel put a hit ''on her own grandson'' ([[KickTheDog who was in the room while she was saying this]]) so she could steal his share of Pablo's fortune.
99	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade:
100	** Nick also tackles examples of these, most notably the treatment of the English/British in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' and ''Film/ThePatriot2000'', both Creator/MelGibson films. He cites the church-burning scene in particular, pointing out that if such a thing really happened, it would have been a major rallying point for the rebels.
101	** He also laments how due to the popularity of the movie ''Theatre/{{Amadeus}}'', Antonio Salieri is unfairly treated by the public as a jealous composer who hated Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart when in truth both men were friends in RealLife and respected each other's works (Salieri was even a music teacher to Mozart's son).
102	** Then there is the treatment of Servilia, Atia, and Octavia in ''Series/{{Rome}}''. The real Servilia was only tangentially involved in the plot to assassinate Caesar. Atia was not hyper-promiscuous but was in fact considered a role model of Roman piety. Octavia never had an incestuous relationship with Octavian and had a good reputation similar to Atia's.
103	** He also criticized ''Film/FromHell'' for its negative portrayals of Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline and Sir Charles Warren during the Jack the Ripper murders.
104	*** In the film, Abberline is shown to be an opium addict and has an affair with Mary Jane Kelly, Jack's last victim, even though the RealLife Abberline was never a drug addict and was devoted to his wife.
105	*** Warren gets it worse, being portrayed as an arrogant aristocrat who looks down on the lower class, an ObstructiveBureaucrat who constantly tries to stop Abberline's investigation, and a racist who is fine with scapegoating London's Jews for the murders (neglecting to point out that his command to destroy the graffiti blaming Jews for the killings was to prevent anti-Semitic riots) which is nothing like the RealLife Warren.
106	** In ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'', for all of Jordan Belfort's vices, he and his colleagues never threw dwarves at a giant bullseye, since they feared a lawsuit and bad PR if their clients knew about it. The film depicts this incident anyway.
107	** Geri [=McGee=] and Lenny Marmor (Ginger [=McKenna=] and Lester Diamond) in ''Film/{{Casino}}''. Contrary to the film's depiction of Ginger as a greedy ex-prostitute and Lester as her former pimp, Geri and Lenny were high school sweethearts who already had a daughter together by the time Geri met Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (Sam "Ace" Rothstein). Geri was also never a prostitute. Conversely, the film [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade omits]] Rosenthal's history of infidelity and domestic abuse to make Ace more sympathetic at Geri/Ginger's expense.
108	** Criticizes ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' for this in regards to the Christian Crusaders and Knights Templars. The film makes them cruel or evil to contrast them with Saladin and the Muslims. However, as he points out, the Christians were no more evil or good than the Muslim people living there, and that the film was pushing a heavy bias against Christians, which he feels hurts the quality of the film heavily because it turns a GrayAndGrayMorality story and period of history into the biased perspective of "The Crusades were just evil Europeans".
109	** With ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', Ike Clanton is depicted as a full-fledged member of the Cowboys when he was really more of a mere associate who purchased and re-sold stolen cattle from them. Similarly, the Cowboys are also shown shooting at the Earps' wives during their revenge hit on the Earps for the OK Corral, which never happened; they only went after Virgil and Morgan (and not on the same night; they actually were targeted three months apart). Also, the Cowboys in real life never [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything wore red sashes around their belts to identify themselves like Bloods]].
110	** Zig-zagged with Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, commander of French forces in North America during the Seven Year's War, in ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans''. The film presents Montcalm as being tolerant of Native American practices, whereas the real Montcalm regarded the Huron people as mindless savages. Conversely, the film depicts Montcalm implicitly giving Magua permission to carry out the Fort William Henry Massacre; not only did the real Montcalm not approve of this action, but he tried to stop the massacre and rescued several British soldiers and civilians, an act which permanently alienated him from the Huron.
111	* {{Hypocrite}}: Nick calls out writer Randall Wallace for saying it was perfectly okay to sacrifice historical accuracy for entertainment in ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' when the ''same writer'' took ''great pains'' to make sure ''Film/WeWereSoldiers'' was historically accurate to a tee.
112	* ImprobableAge:
113	** Nick calls out ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' for claiming William Wallace had sex with Queen Isabella, whose son became King Edward III, as a big lie and impossible since not only was Edward III born ten years after Wallace's death, Isabella wasn't married yet to King Edward II during the events of the film as she was still living in France and ''was nine years old!''
114	** Nick criticizes the opening scene of ''Elizabeth: The Golden Age'', in which Queen Elizabeth I is considering several suitors in 1585, on several levels. First, by 1585, Elizabeth had reached middle age and had long written off the idea of marriage. Second, two of the suitors presented to her, Eric XIV of Sweden and Ivan the Terrible, had ''long been dead'' by the time the scene takes place.
115	* InkSuitActor: His analysis of ''Film/{{Casino}}'' points out that the casting of Creator/JoePesci as Nicky Santoro wasn't just a creative decision by director Creator/MartinScorsese to work with actors he'd previously worked with on ''Film/GoodFellas'', but also because Pesci was a dead ringer for Tony Spilotro, the mafioso Santoro was based on, which he demonstrates with some side-by-side of press footage of Spilotro alongside footage of Pesci as Santoro. This is especially noticeable given Pesci's short stature also worked in his favor because Spilotro was also [[TheNapoleon short in stature]], to the point that many nicknamed him "the Ant".
116	* TheMafia: Calls out the trope as a whole for overly romanticizing "honor-bound" Italian-American gangsters -- especially as applied in ''Film/TheGodfather'' -- while ''Film/GoodFellas'' depicts their true colors: sociopathic thugs who terrorized everyone and routinely turned on each other out of pure greed.
117	* MisaimedFandom: In the ''Bohemian Rhapsody'' review, it's noted that when London Heathrow Airport management found out that the movie would briefly show Freddie Mercury's pre-Queen days working as a baggage handler there, they decided to cash in on it with their own dance tribute video. Nick suspects they probably didn't watch the movie first because they probably would've shied away after seeing how the movie accurately depicted their handlers as racist (one of them calling Freddie a derogatory slur that was very commonplace in the 1960s when his family first moved to England).[[invoked]]
118	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: He applauded ''Film/TheDeathOfStalin'' for having the actors use their own accents for the film, instead of them attempting to mimic Russian accents. For one, it would have detracted from the film, and for another, more importantly, he noted that Russia had a multitude of accents anyway, and was bemused that Stalin was given a Cockney accent, because Stalin himself had the Russian equivalent of one.
119	* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer:
120	** Nick feels the need to explain that, yes, Creator/JoePesci [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqn3NhlqoeA&pp=ygUOcGVzY2kgcmFwIHNvbmc%3D really did]] have a GangstaRap song.
121	** Does the same when he shows that, for real, [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]] composed a choral song called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9MN2WeqFY8 Leck mich im Arsch]]", about licking his ass.
122	* NotSoDifferentRemark: During his review of ''The Death of Stalin'', Nick notes that despite being personal and geopolitical enemies, Stalin and Hitler shared a paranoid hatred of Jews.
123	* ObviouslyEvil: In ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', the Cochise County Cowboys are made identifiable by wearing red sashes around their waists like they're Bloods. Nick posits that the movie took influence from gangsta films that came out around that time.
124	* PetTheDog: He closes his ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'' video with one of Salieri's piano concertos, in order to demonstrate that the man was ''far'' from a mediocre composer.
125	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: In his review of ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'', Nick takes a moment to criticize complaints about the movie lacking representation of women and people of color, pointing out that while both groups were instrumental in the war effort overall, very few were present at Dunkirk.
126	* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Another thing that Nick doesn't like, since it hides the fact the past wasn't that great for some people.
127	** A scene in ''Film/ThePatriot2000'' shows the Continental Army offering freedom to black men if they fight against the British, embodying the American ideal of equality. The Continental Army's motives for doing this were less than noble in reality, as they were trying to counteract a similar offer being made to blacks by the British. Most blacks who fought for American independence ended up being sent back into slavery.
128	** One of the wives of the soldiers in ''Film/WeWereSoldiers'' is white yet is shocked to learn stores outside of the Army base practice segregation. However, something like that should not have been unknown to her, since the movie is set during the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement, where the news reported about it.
129	** One of his largest issues with ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' was that it portrayed the Muslim people as overall good people who were more morally just than the Crusaders, who are portrayed as being either evil or sadistic. While the Crusaders definitely committed acts of violence on their march and after, he also points out that the Muslims were not as noble and moral as the film depicts them, citing the film as heavily bias in its depiction of the two sides.
130	* PopCultureOsmosis: Nick sets up the ''[[Film/TheDeathOfStalin Death of Stalin]]'' review by stating that while most people associate UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler with pure evil, the truth is that UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was just as terrible a person and it would have been perfectly appropriate to celebrate his death.
131	* RiddleForTheAges: Certain actions undertaken by the Earps during the OK Corral gunfight are so confusing that even the cast of ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'' wondered what exactly their intentions were in confronting Ike Clanton's group.
132	* SecondHandStorytelling / ShowDontTell: Nick criticizes the fact that a scene depicting Mark Antony's famous eulogy at Julius Caesar's funeral was cut from the second season of ''Series/{{Rome}}'', instead having a bit character give a secondhand summary of the speech. This not only removes a pivotal scene from what is supposed to be a depiction of events following Caesar's death, but the dumbed down substitute doesn't explain why Antony's eulogy was a masterpiece of political demagoguery.
133	* ShoutOut: In his review of ''Film/ToraToraTora'', he cites WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic for providing a basic and accurate summation of his feelings for ''Film/PearlHarbor''.
134	* TheStoolPigeon: In his ''Film/{{Casino}}'' review, Nick is inclined to agree with all the evidence that came out after Lefty Rosenthal's death that suggested he was a secret FBI informant, as it explains why Lefty never had to worry about jail time or his assets being seized by the federal government.
135	* TheSpartanWay: In the ''Film/ThreeHundred'' review, Nick goes through Sparta's child-rearing practices in detail.
136	* SympathyForTheDevil: Nick admits in his ''Film/GoodFellas'' review that he sympathizes with Henry having a difficult time in school due to his learning disabilities, saying that he had a tough time in school for similar reasons.
137	* TakeThat:
138	** In his review of ''Film/ToraToraTora'', he mocks ''Film/PearlHarbor'' for its historical inaccuracies, jingoistic themes and disrespect to the survivors of the attack.
139	** He does two of these in his review of ''Film/GoodFellas'': he criticizes countdown-style Website/YouTube shows for "liking" cool scenes in movies without even understanding the context of what made them cool, and is critical of ''Film/TheGodfather'' for showing a fake, romanticized view of the Mafia that was unduly influenced by Mafia pressure behind the scenes.
140	** While discussing Music/{{Queen}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjfXhpVp6XU "I Want to Break Free" video]] in the ''Film/BohemianRhapsody'' episode, he note that the video was based on ''Series/CoronationStreet'', which he refers to as a boring British {{soap opera}}.
141	--->'''Nick:''' Even the intro's boring. Look, even the cat's fallen asleep.
142	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
143	** Nick wistfully noted that while ''Series/TheTerror'' was true to the book and kept a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere as the threat, he wished they'd just gone with the very real, ''very'' dangerous foe of a large polar bear, which would have been just as scary and hewn closer to reality. [[invoked]]
144	** He also criticizes ''Film/Midway2019'' for rushing through the destruction of the [=USS=] ''Yorktown'', though he acknowledges that this could have been due to time constraints. [[invoked]]
145	* ThrowTheDogABone:
146	** Despite the many faults he finds in ''Film/{{Alexander}}'', Nick praises Creator/OliverStone for correctly portraying UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat as a bisexual despite backlash by protesters during the film's release.
147	** Even though he finds plenty of glaring omissions and inaccuracies in ''Series/{{Rome}}'', Nick actually likes Brutus's SuicideByCop at the Battle of Philippi even though it isn't really how he died.
148	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Nick points out some films were actually based on books and stories and not RealLife. He also calls out horror movies like ''Film/{{Annabelle}}'' for using this trope as a gimmick despite the true stories in question not being verifiable.
149	* ViewersAreMorons: He criticizes the American producers of ''Film/MasterAndCommander'' for changing the antagonists' nationality from American privateers in the book to Napoleon's French Navy due to this trope and thinking American viewers would be confused and not know who to root for.
150	* YouAreWhatYouHate: In ''Film/{{Timeline}}'', Nick points out that the English villain Lord Oliver's negative reaction to the French character François is pretty hypocritical, since because Lord Oliver is an English noble during UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar, he is arguably French himself.

Context WebVideo / HistoryBuffs