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Wondering Wednesday, 13th of April 2016, You can fix one historical inaccuracy in one piece of media. What is it, and why? (self.badhistory)

georgeguy007"Wigs lead to world domination" - Jared Diamon[M] が 投稿

Does you favorite actor not understand a historical event? Does a film just get one thing wrong that bugs you to no end? Does a plot trope constantly make you want to murder a man? Rant away!!!

Note: unlike the Monday and Friday megathreads, this thread is not free-for-all. You are free to discuss history related topics. But please save the personal updates for Mindless Monday and Free for All Friday! Please remember to np link all links to Reddit if you link to something from a different sub, lest we feed your comment to the AutoModerator. And of course no violating R4!

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[–]CaptainPyjamaSharkAdmiral Kolchak the Night Stalker 7ポイント8ポイント  (3子コメント)

I hate when films and television shows set in the First World War show Tommies wearing tin hats before 1916. Grrrrrrr...

[–]Tolnipagan pirate from the coasts of Bulgaria 4ポイント5ポイント  (2子コメント)

Just curious: what did they wear, then? I'm curious, the image of a tin-hat wearing Tommies is quite ingrained in media.

[–]GrinningManiacRosetta Stone sat on the bus for gay states' rights 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

soft caps, I believe. Like dress uniform.

In fact there was an interesting phenomenon, either real or apocryphal I can't vouch, where steel helmets were distributed after the records office noticed how many head injuries were coming into the hospitals. After distributing the helmets they were horrified to discover the number of head injuries almost doubled. Fortunately a few smart people who understood statistics and common sense figured out why - when people were hit with falling debris before the helmets, they mostly died and a few suffered injuries. Those who died were recorded as KIA and those who were injured were recorded with head injuries. Those same incidents post-helmet led most people surviving with head injuries. The number of KIAs went down and correspondingly the number of head-injuries went up. More people were surviving with injuries rather than dying outright. The increase in head injuries was not an increase in injuries - it was a decrease in fatalities.

[–]CaptainPyjamaSharkAdmiral Kolchak the Night Stalker 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

They wore peaked caps, or sometimes pith helmets in the east. The French invented the modern combat helmet in late-1915, and the British came out with their tin hat towards the end of 1915, but it wasn't issued en masse until the spring of 1916.

[–]LonelyWizzardSpartacus' Rebellion was about provinces' rights. 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

Since no one's said it yet, I'm just going to have to- THAT BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE IS MEANT TO HAVE A BRIDGE IN IT!!!!

In all seriousness, that's hardly the worst historical sin in Braveheart, a film which messes up everything from the costumes (kilts like that were in invented in the early 1700s) to the military tactics, the historical figures, the events that those figures took part in, and the entire timeline of the Scottish wars of independence (not to mention the causes and goals of various factions in the war). Still a very enjoyable movie though, and I like to think that most general audiences, at least now, get that it's a fantasy. Still, there are some good stories in the wars of that period that have unfortunately been eclipsed by the immortal image of an Australian man in period innacurate facepaint bellowing about freedom as his guts spill out of him.

[–]dont_fuckin_die 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I remember watching it when I was 12 or so and thinking that using spears to break a cavalry charge was pretty obvious. I later found out about actual cavalry skirmishing tactics, and everything made a lot more sense.

[–]rmric0 3ポイント4ポイント  (3子コメント)

I would be delighted if films based on the works of Shakespeare or the period were done in OP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPlpphT7n9s

[–]LOQQVRQEMGXJ 3ポイント4ポイント  (2子コメント)

Hearing Shakespeare performed in the original pronunciation is fascinating, but performing it using modern pronunciation isn't "bad history," no more than performing Bach on the piano is.

[–]rmric0 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

But it's created the implication that it's how the past must have sounded, informing whole swaths of period film and television.

[–]dlgn13 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I don't know much about Shakespeare, but Bach certainly wrote for piano. He pioneered the use of the then-new instrument, in fact.

[–]Mgmtheo1204 was an inside job 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

Accurate tactics in the opening scene of Gladiator. It would be beautiful.

[–]Vulpes-Vulpes-Fox 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

The whole 'Catholic War on Science!' shtick. That crap was invented by grouchy Protestants in the 1800s, if I'm not mistaken, but regardless is untrue.

[–]dont_fuckin_die 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The church's stance on evolution and an old earth have not helped anything, and of course there's the Scope's "Monkey" Trial.

[–]Turin_The_MormegilDAGOTH-UR-WAS-A-VOLCANO 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The use of Lorica Segmentata by Roman legionaries outside of the 1st-4th centuries C.E. One of my favorite parts of HBO's Rome was that Pullo and Vorenus actually wore the right armor.

[–]turtleeatingaldermanKrakatoa Rules Everything Around Me 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'd change some of the most famous physical depictions of God/Jesus in film in order to depart from the centuries-old long-haired, bearded image to one that's more historically accurate.