How Movies Portray History
I’ve always watched movies for the sole purpose of entertainment. Thinking about the historical backgrounds they entail never really crossed my mind. The way Hollywood portrays historical events in films isn’t very accurate, which some people see as a problem. After listening to both James Wermers & Dr. Chiltons presentations and reading The Art of War article my train of thought has changed on how films portray history. First, let’s consider the three perspective on the issue of how movies portray history.
James Wermers had many opinions on filmography and history. According to him, producers have full rights to using history in fims. He believes that even though history is fair game to the film industry, movies don’t always portray historical events as accurate as they occur. He spoke about film producers use of CGI in movies and how it adds to a movies over all look. Even though CGI is a very clever use of computerized effects, it is not always used as it should be.
He stated, “ CGI is no longer used for a certain effect, it is no longer the question of should we use it but how. ” The reality of historical events isn’t always as accurate as it could be says Wermer but it is a good basis to a movie. Dr. Chilton had a political opinion on the matter. She stated that “filmmakers frequently use films to make statements, whether political or economic, or social, therefore, movies and their makers are protected by the First Amendment. ” Whether or not we like how filmmakers are or portraying a specific event. they are entitled to portray it as they please. As Dr. Chilton reminds us, freedom of speech does not only refer to actually speech, it involves writing, sculptures, murals, and of course movies. In the Art of War article we see the artistic aspect of using CGI in films . Even though it states that a lot of the effects in the movie were very unrealistic that is also what made the movie so beautiful. It created this gorgeous scenery that could only be imagined but CGI made it possible to see.
Even though the process of filming with CGI is a bit strange and hard to picture until the final product is shown, once you see everything put together it is amazing. After watching 300 and taking in all three of these aspects on movies portrayal of historical events my train of thought has changed immensely. I will now be more cautious as to what I’m actually watching. Is it actually true, is this really how things happened, and is that a real back drop or is it just CGI. I also now question the message movies contain. Instead of just watching to be entertained, I will now watch films with a lot of questions in mind.
