What reasons do your authors give to explain the historical inaccuracies in the films? It’s hard to sometime to see the truth for what it is. When I was growing up my grandma used to say, “There’s HER STORY, HIS STORY AND THE TRUTH!” Inaccuracies in history are usually originated from story tellers (move producers or writers) placing their personal view to a story. In the story Black Robe, the authors wrote the movie from the journal of the missionary Father Jesuit Laforque. To keep the adventurous feel of the film there were a couple of inaccuracies. According to Carnes, M., & Garraty, J. (2008). Father Laforque wrote down a conversation between himself and Chief Algonquin. Later on Father Laforque took this documented conversation to a second European whom was not present and asked him to read the document aloud; Europeans by contrast were illiterate during this timeframe (Carnes & Garraty, p. 46, 2008).

In the mystery/suspense film, “The Crucible”, another example of an inaccuracy was Indians tribes journeying 1500 miles in the midst of winter only to set up camps to habituate until spring. The “Dilate” according to Carnes, M., & Garraty, J. (2008) was to keep the audience interested in the story line by focusing in on the girls behavior (Carnes & Garraty, p. 76, 2008).

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In the “Patriot” Benjamin Martin wasn’t a real person, but in leaders such as Francis Marion similarity can be found, which could also provide some inaccuracies. Historians criticized much of what was told about the South for example the British cavalry wore red uniforms, but they were called “Green Dragons” (Carnes & Garraty, p. 138, 2008). .

In the story “The Alamo”, the author talks about the 1960 movie that John Wayne directed. There was no such evidence of him stealing cattle or romancing women. There were inaccuracies with the Santa Ana’s character having big cannon.

In Cold Mountain a lot of the story is based on Frazier imagination. Inman was based on Frazier’s great-great-grandfather; the real Inman was killed near Cold Mountain in a gunfight.

In your view, do the historical inaccuracies harm or help our understanding of past events and historical figures? My opinion, historical inaccuracies can harm as well as help with the story lines of a movie. It helps when a historical figure is portrayed as bigger patriot or champion, than he/she actually was in real lives, which in turn to gives hope to the audience throughout the course of the story being told or the moving being watched.

Historical inaccuracies can also spawn more questions about the story being told; “The Alamo 1960” A question that I am pressed with is what was the reason the character Bowie wanted to abandon the Alamo? Historical Facts show that he and Travis wanted to stay and hold the Alamo (Carnes & Garraty, p. 316, 2008).

. The 2004 film stays a little closer to the facts. In Black Robe, the question for me would be “were the Indians that trustworthy to the Jesuits than what the story portrays. The Crucible would leave me with more concerns and questions as to why a man of John’s age would be with a girl of Abigail’s age and would he be the cause of her losing her mind.
In your view, do the historical inaccuracies harm or help our understanding or the present (people or groups)? That is to say, do directors use historical events and people to make a point about America and Americans today? Explain. Yes, the accuracies in the story “Cold Mountain” resemble the present life of military families. The left alone spouse, that is home managing home affairs, and raising the children wishing for the spouse to come home to the breaking point of begging, is a normal event in today’s society, and one that hits home right here in Fort Hood, Texas. America still has a hard time with religion of other groups. Some historical figures and events are not so pretty, and a director plays on your listening senses and your sight to keep the audience in tune to the story line. For example, in The Patriot the battle of Cowpens they added fireworks even though neither side was capable of that type of artillery in that period of time.

Carnes, M., & Garraty, J. (2008). Central texas college ed. the american nation a history of the united states. (13 ed.). Pearson Custom Publishing.