The Impact of The Westernized Washing of Historical Based Films
Hollywood feature films are hardly meant to be history lessons or taken as the bible. Producer of acclaimed historical feature Pearl Harbour, Jerry Bruckheimer himself said, '[w]e tried to be accurate, but it's certainly not meant to be a history lesson’. But with any film remotely historical typically dominating the awards season, i.e. Argo, The Hurt Locker, 12 Years a Slave, The Revenant – have we ever questioned the historical accuracy of what we are watching and what may have been taken out?
It's no surprise that with the big budgets for accurate locations, divine costumes and fancy cinematography, budgets for historical advice may not be as up there on the Oscar Best Picture priority list. Historians have recently stated that Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I had never met. Yet, the whole movie Mary Queen of Scots seems to have omitted this piece of accurate information to create a more compelling drama. In turn, it was unlikely as to whether Mary would have spoken with a Scottish accent in the film, when she lived in France.
In the very first Hollywood movie, 1910’s In Old California, the Western era of the 1800s was depicted of White cowboys through and through, despite figures stating that approximately 1 in 3 cowboys in the late 1800s were Mexican and the first Transcontinental Railroad was built by over 20,000 Chinese immigrants. Western heroes John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and, most recently Johnny Depp's portrayal in The Lone Ranger aren't exactly reflective of the time.
Fair enough that not everyone goes to the cinema for a history lecture rather than a couple of hours of escapism and overpriced popcorn; but is there a sense of responsibility on filmmakers themselves? Is our reality subconsciously altered as a result?
Students and children are taught in schools how to develop critical thinking and analytical skills when assessing a range of sources and have done for many years. However, in a world where real and fake information is accessible at the click of a button, I wonder how we will navigate a world where fact and fiction continues to become interchangeable. After all, we don't have time machines to go back and assess the whole situation and perhaps this is how viewpoints or stories were missed in the first place, without the instant sharing of today to allow inclusion of all facts. Technology has continued to advance at rapid speed but it is only as reliable as the information it gets fed in the first place. If it's fed an incomplete story, that's what we'll continue to digest. Therefore, it wouldn't be entirely fair to blame film-makers entirely.
Overall, where do we go from here? Greater critical learning skills are of course to be taught to educate the next generation, but we also need to sit back and ensure a diverse curriculum is taught in the first place to eradicate any further doubt in the viewer's minds. Yes a lot of white Middle class dudes wrote it at the time, but we need to stretch our own curriculums to include more diverse voices. Hollywood will make what will sell and being educated first and foremost is always a good solution.
Written by Kheira Bey
Kheira is an actress, living and working in London and loves anything fresh in the world of theatre, film and art. She works across theatre and film, and is trying to get better at watering her plant collection. She has previously contributed to: Voice Magazine, The Sun and Good Morning Britain; and is passionate about championing female narratives.