History films have often been criticised by academics and journalists as inaccurate depictions of the past. Yet there is no denying the fact that blockbuster history films are increasingly influential in shaping our understanding of historical people and events thanks to the accessibility of the medium. Producers of these films often take liberties with facts to tell a more dramatic, engaging and entertaining story. They have a basis in truth but are greatly influenced by the writers’ and directors’ desire to envelop the audience in the story and to entertain. They focus the visual and auditory senses of the viewer on the subject being studied creating a stimulating and forceful impact on the viewer, therefore engaging their interest. …show more content…
Historically, Martin is loosely tied to the Continental Army Officer Francis Marion, the ‘Swamp Fox’, along with four other historical figures. Francis Marion was notoriously known for his use of guerrilla tactics against British troops in South Carolina, something which is presented historically accurate in the film. The Patriot has inspired a new resurgence in research into the American Revolution; raising the public awareness of what has become an almost mythical war, and creates an opportunity for teachers and students to gain a deeper understanding of the era. In some aspects, director Roland Emmerich historically replicated events accurately. The film also accurately portrays why the American Revolution started within the opening sequence of the film; that being the revolt against british taxation without any American representation. “The American Revolution came about, fundamentally, because by 1763 the English-speaking communities on the far side of the Atlantic had matured to an extent that their interests and goals were distinct from those of the ruling classes in the mother country.” However, despite the historical accuracies, the film depicts various inaccurate characteristics such as some states offering freedom to African Americans serving in the war for a period of three years. The film suggests that the War of Independence was a liberating experience for African Americans and also that the field
The movie, The Patriot, is the story of a South Carolina plantation owner, Benjamin Martin, who leads a local militia against British troops in the South during the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Martin, who is a widower with six children and a veteran of the French and Indian War, wants nothing to do with the war until a brutal British Colonel, William Tavington, kills one of his sons and takes his eldest son, a member of the Continental Army, prisoner. Martin, who’s character is loosely based on Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, uses guerrilla warfare to cut British supply lines and attack outposts in an attempt to slow General
The Patriot The movie, The Patriot, was released in the year 2000. It is a drama/action film that relates to the American Revolutionary War. Although the plot of the movie is fictional there are many aspects that relate to what happened in the war, but some have discrepancies. The Patriot is the story of a South Carolina plantation owner, Benjamin Martin, who is played by Mel Gibson. It is more a story of a family during the war then the war itself.
The Patriot. A person who is willing to fight for their country against enemies. The Patriot begins in the year 1776 in the colony of South Carolina. Mel Gibson plays a planation farmer who fought in the French-Indian war named Benjamin Martin. A War was about to begin and Benjamin wanted no share partaking in the soon-to-be American Revolutionary War. He was more concerned about his two eldest sons who wanted to fight under General George Washington. The beginning of the movie starts out with Benjamin Martin peacefully living with his kids whom no longer have a living mother. Benjamin’s oldest son, Gabriel, joins the war without permission from his father. As the rest of the family are at home one afternoon, Colonel William Travington burns the Martin Plantation to the ground and his second oldest son was killed immediately for interrupting Travington’s plan. Benjamin finds a way to seek revenge because of the rage he experiences after his family is hurt. He begins to realize that he needs to fight for his children and he will not do it alone. Both Benjamin and his oldest son, Gabriel, decide to join the militia as a way of showing what they are capable of. Throughout the film, Benjamin Martin becomes a soldier whom others respect and admire. He shows the militia what it means to truly care for not only his men, but also for his family. As the film progresses, a turn of events take place that show Benjamin’s continued want of revenge against General Charles Cornwallis. The Continentals and the militia soon commence the battle at Cowpens. This is when Benjamin Martin meets his enemy, Travington, who murdered his two eldest sons. After a drawn-out battle, Benjamin stabs Travington in the neck and kills him for the sake of his children. It is then that General Cornwallis retreats his forces and the rest celebrate. Even though some portions of The Patriot aren’t as accurate as we perceive, it is a film full of war and despair, but also a film that contributes to the importance of dignity and the love for one’s family.
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist's anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, "The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000"1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary
In the summer of 1776, the colonies were forever changed with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It made war with the British Empire official, pulling other colonies that had not begun to fight into the battle. The war brought much change for everyone associated with the colonies, leaving no one unaffected. The movie The Patriot, directed by Roland Emmerich, tells the story of one family, the Martins, in South Carolina and their role in the American Revolution and how they were affected throughout it. The film portrays the American Revolution primarily from the bias of the Pro-Revolutionists, illustrating the horrors of living through the war, while giving a more simplistic view of certain aspects of life in the colonies during that time period.
Factors such as age group and current day culture play an important role in constructing such conclusions. Currently, many are unfamiliar with the essentials of the historical society, or more significantly, indicate a considerable amount of indifference towards the study of it. Novels, such as The Return of Martin Guerre, can often be considered dull and boring to many first-year students but film would serve as a suitable version because it provides a calmer appealing design and right atmosphere for students to learn from. To first-year students, viewing a historical film like this, would challenge even the best historical films that they would have previously watched. Excellent visualization and acting constantly fascinates the audience, allowing them to imaginary go into the world and form an outlook on many of the ideologies and cultures of the time for example family life, politics and
The movie I chose to watch is Courageous. The precipitating event in this movie is the car accident that takes the life of Emily Mitchell. Her father, Adam Mitchell, and the rest of her family are traumatized by the sudden death of their 9 year old daughter/sister. In thinking about information that would be gained in the first contact with Adam Mitchell, one thing that stands out about his previous state of mind/functioning is that he was somewhat uninvolved with his children, taking them for granted. This fact can also be a trigger for how he processes this event, causing a crisis for him as he realized his
The American Revolution is almost like the civil war but, it is split in three parts instead of two, happened in late 1700s. The movie, The Patriot, is a fictional movie that shows us the battles and life during American Revolution. Some people were forced to fight because their family members died and some did not fight because they did not wanted to risk their family even though both sides are die-hearted patriot. Family could make people do anything. The producers of the movie The Patriot, Dean Devlin, Mark Gordon, and Gary Levinsohn, chose a composite of different colonists, like Francis Marion, Colonel Daniel Morgan, Elijah Clark, Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens, to make Benjamin Martin look better and the hero with no fault what-so-ever.
Film makers use many historical events to spark up and idea for a movie. One historical event that is commonly used is war. One advantage a film maker has when using war as a movie plot is that there is already a lot of drama in war. This may seem like a good advantage for the film maker, however focusing on all of the drama of war leaves much of the actual info. When watching a war movie, you may feel like you have an understanding about the war, but when you really compare a war movie to an actual war you find that there is a lot of factual information left out. One may ask why would directors and film makers leave out the facts of war and focus on the drama? After reading The Faces of Battle by John Keegan and reviewing war movies
A brutal portrayal of the American Revolution is told in The Patriot, and portrays it in a way that is not the complete truth. A man by the name of Benjamin Martin, played by Mel Gibson, is raising seven children on his own after previously fighting in the French-Indian War. Wanting to get away from the horrible things he did in his past, he decided to retire himself to his farm, telling his sons to not follow in his footsteps and join a war effort. His son Gabriel Martin, played by Heath Ledger, has different plans, and joins on behalf of the patriots when the war reaches South Carolina.
Blockbuster was “the largest movie rental chain” in the Movies industry around the world (Biesada a). According to Rourke, Rothburd and Stansell (2006), Blockbuster mainly focused on “providing in-home rental, retail movie, and game entertainment”. It created 9,100 video stores and provided services to almost three million of customers in America and 24 other countries (p. 74). In 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy since it failed to adapt new technology in their strategies, and “was sold to satellite TV service provider DISH Network in 2011” (Biesada b).
The first reason that I think that “The Patriot” was somewhat historically accurate is because of the man named Benjamin Martin. Benjamin Martin is based on a man named Francis Marion. According to ‘patriotresource.com’ they are very much alike in terms of war and Being chased by
La La Land is very good. I saw it twice in theaters, which is odd for me because my preferred method of consuming media is illegally pirating it (NSA, I know you’re reading this, but this confession is not admissible in court, ok? ok.) Anyway, the second time I saw La La Land it was an 8:00 showing on a Wednesday in Cedar Rapids that I had to scramble to get to because I left work and didn’t get any supper. So we stopped at Hy Vee, picked up some to go boxes of chinese food, and tried to figure out the best way to smuggle the food into a theater. Thankfully, I was with a girl who was infamous for her mom purses. Precariously setting the containers vertically into her purse, the contents of which I unceremoniously dumped in the back seat, and draping a scarf over the top of the food
The “Patriot” takes place in South Carolina in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. It is a story about a widowed father of seven, named Benjamin Martin. Benjamin was involved in the French and Indian War before marrying and starting a family. He is reluctant to join the conflict as he remembers too well his own experience in the earlier French and Indian War. After his wife passed away he does everything to keep his family together and away from war. He is a patriot who wants no part in a war with Britain.
The movie The Patriot takes place in South Carolina in 1776. The colonies were tired of paying taxes and all of this from England. They decided to go to war and fight for independence. This movie is mainly about how a farmer named Benjamin Franklin lived in South Carolina and the British brutally murdered his second oldest son right in front of his family then later the same person Col. Travingston kills Benjamin’s oldest son Gabriel. Due to this he joins the militia in order for justice of his sons. At first he wants nothing to do with it but once his sons were murdered he wanted revenge. The Patriot was about the American Revolution, the Patriot militia fighting against loyalists in the south. The film was mainly about Benjamin Martin’s family and fighting for liberty against England. They did show us about the war and them fighting in it but it was mainly about Martins’ life. They did show us them fighting in the war and how they would line up and fight in the war but they didn’t show us enough.