Pearl Harbor Accuracy Essay

At the very beginning of the movie they showed the United States Army invading the Omaha Beach. In this scene, they showed all of the casualties on the beach. The scene was able to show the sand was just covered in blood and bodies. Those bodies lying on the sand weren’t all dead either. Some of the bodies on the sand were people still alive, they were just suffering from their wounds from the gun fires and bombs. This particular part in the movie was completely true to what actually happened in real life during WWII.

Pearl Harbor is just one event that has shaped American history. With this being a topic of interest to many, authors like to use it as a setting for a fictional story. As a reader, it is important to remember that when reading historical fiction, some elements of the story will be truth while others will be made up. In the book I survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor it would seem that the author Lauren Tarshis was more concerned about writing a story rather than accurately portraying history.

The main focus on this essay is “Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor?”. On a normal Sunday morning when the American navy units were busy doing their normal routine work, the Japanese navy planned a surprise attack that stunned the world. This attack was so unpredictable that the entire American navy went in deep shock. Very few of them realized the need to manage and control their position to save the naval power. All the staff and ships that were present at the Pearl Harbor suffered massive loss. Just a couple of hours of bombing gave the Pearl Harbor, a battlefield view with fire and smoke emerging from every corner. The attack left American navy at a loss of 2400 of her best men as well as 21 ships that were either sunk or completely demolished.

The moviemakers try to capture and depict this World War II era with accuracy. This is done successfully with the period cars, clothes, hairstyles and scenery. The men wear suits with bow ties and cuff links. Officers wear appropriate uniforms with medals and appropriate patches adorning them. Their hair is kept in place with gel, parted at the

There is one scene where the three flag raisers entered a crowded stadium before a football game which typified how an image of war can be so different to the reality of war. The flash photography, the cheering, the roar of the crowd all went to John Bradley’s head and he had flash backs of the fighting on Iwo Jima and the genuine heroes that he had left behind. This scene contrasts what the reality of war, were all the men are dug in and fighting for there life, and the images of war. Ira Hayes says “I know it’s a good thing, raising the money and that, ‘cause we need it. But, I can’t take them calling me a hero. All I did was try not to get shot. Some of the things I saw done, things I did, they weren’t things to be proud of, you know?” Clint Eastwood shows continuously, through his characters physiology shows how one single photo can be so different what really makes up the battle of Iwo Jima. The aim was to get war bonds; the minds of the three main characters through Clint Eastwood’s directing showed a strong insight to how the reality of a war and an image of war can be so contrasting.

Benjamin Svetkey asked Kevin Costner about John F. Kennedy’s first words were when he heard about the missiles in Cuba apparently he said were “F---ed again” and Costner explained that not everything could be one hundred percentage historically accurate due to age ratings of the film. This makes less historical and more entertainment, this shows that the film is being made for entertainment purposes because they are changing the film to increase the audience size.

³I don¹t think it is an understatement to say that this is the second Pearl Harbor,² Senator Charles Hagel from Nebraska told the Los Angeles Times on September 11, 2001.  Pearl Harbor, the sequel, erupted on September 11, 2001 when hijacked planes destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and parts of the west wing of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.  Borders into the United States were closed and the FAA shut down all airports across the nation.  People all over the county woke up to what at first glance appeared to be video from a blockbuster Hollywood movie like ³Armageddon,² or ³Independence Day.²  In reality,

In my opinion, I feel that this movie, compared to today’s standards, is poor quality. From the 1980’s to the current time, the Hollywood industries and other movie producers have made astronomical improvements with every film released, and ever since

Pearl Harbor is a naval harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, but on April 7, 1941 it was attacked by Japanese aircraft. First off, you can go to this harbor and see a memorial. Two ships that sunk in the harbor are still there; the USS Arizona, and the USS Utah; both ships were memorialized and are open to the public. Likewise, there are historical fiction books that also give memory to the events of Pearl Harbor. In fact, I’ve read one book called “I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor”; that was written by “Lauren Tarshis”; while some parts focused on events, other parts focused on characters rather than the events.

Although Michael Bay’s movie Pearl Harbor is very well made it has more historically inaccurate parts than accurate parts. Michael Bay even says that it's a movie to give people the feeling of Pearl Harbor not the real facts of it.

The Alamo was one of the most important events in settling the land in the western part of the country. There are several movies about it but “The Alamo” 1960 is the movie used for this paper. This film did an okay job depicting what really happened in that two-week siege from February 23, 1836 to March 6, 1836, so there were some historical errors in the movie. A couple of the errors in the movie is that the actual battle of the Alamo was fought at dawn when the enemies were asleep. Another was how the Mexican forces were shown as the ones that wanted the battle but in reality, they were the ones that were protecting what was theirs already.

“The fact that the story is set 35 years ago doesn't mean a thing. It had to be set sometime. But it was made now and it's about us.” – Roger Ebert 1

America’s initial response to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was that of disbelief and shock. This attack took place on a Sunday morning and what surprised many was the fact that a tiny island nation situated in the Asian mainland could bring out that kind of a feat thousands of miles away from its actual homeland. A major part of this shock and disbelief was based mainly on the stereotypical view that the Americans had on the Japanese people – short people with oriental features that appeared exaggerated.

This source shows more of the attention to small things which was seen of as a carelessness of enough historical search rather than ‘purposely’ changed for entertainment, such as uniform, swim wear and hair of the nurses as well as many points mentioned in other sources which have been repeated however there are a few new important points such as the fact that in the first few scenes of the film a video is being shown of battle scenes from Europe which clearly shows a US tank fighting in Cologne however US didn't have any troops or equipment in Cologne to film until March 1945. Similarly a careless mistake made due to lack of historical research was when in Lt. Col. James Doolittle's (Alec Baldwin) office, a trophy cabinet can be seen. One

The film also encompassed another story line that focused away from the actions of the attack on Pearl Harbor and gave the film more than just a Naval attack. The filmmakers had to have more to the story than the initial attack. They added the love triangle between the 3 main characters and added the child to give the story a more dramatic plot. The background of this film was added to give the viewer more clarity of what it took to be a pilot and also to add to the overall effect of the film.