Hollywood needs to do better at historical accuracy

from JoeUser Forums

Over the weekend I saw some headlines and articles pointing out problems with the new movie "Flags of Our Fathers" which had opened this past weekend.

If you've been living under a rock and have no idea what Flags... is about, the movie is based on a book by the son of a participant in the events at Iwo Jima, specifically about the flag raising at Iwo Jima that was depicted in an infamous photograph that later was turned into the monument at the Marine Corps memorial showing the same event.

Sadly, it seems that Hollywood, unintentionally, or perhaps intentionally, seems to have missed the participation by African Americans (Blacks) and people of color in the events shown in the film.  As I watched the film this weekend, I didn't notice this as a glaring omission, but I did see it that way once I saw some of the headlines and comments about the issue.

Hollywood has, for years, been bad about remembering to include people of color in films depicting famous historical events.  Over the last few years, it had seemed that we had gotten better about the issue thanks to protests by people of color, but Flags... seems to have brought some of the old pains back to the surface.

In the case of Flags... the people behind the movie have tried to brush away the controversy noting that the movie is "true" to the book it was based on, and is at least historically accurate in that perspective.  That may be true, but as noted in some of the discussion about the current mini-controversy, the book seems to have brushed past the participation of African Americans in the events at Iwo Jima, and may have missed some fairly major participation along the way.

Some of those that are upset about the movie include an African American that was reportedly there during the events depicted in the film.  The person claims he was involved in helping to find the pipe that was used to put the flag on.  That is NOT portrayed in the film in any way, and in fact the depiction in the film is of another character being involved in selecting the pipe that was used.

Besides that possible omission, there is generally a complete lack of African American presence in the film.  It would be hard to remember a single scene where a non-white face (except for Adam Beach, who portrayed a person of Indian descent, one of the major characters in the story) is seen in the film.

I can't say this is by design, or on purpose, but as noted by some of those that are upset at the lack of inclusion of African American participation in the events at Iwo Jima, the lack of even a few extras in the background is a bit upsetting to people of color.

Certainly U.S. history in general is not kind and respectful -- at least not in most depictions that we have come to accept (in the words of the people in the articles that inspired this article here at J.U., probably borrowed from the great parody film: Galaxy Quest) as historical documents -- of non-whites.  Our heros in film, on TV, and on the stage are normally not people of color.  They're manly men like John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Michael Douglas, and others.  Even when those men are portraying people of different heritages.

Unfortunately discrepancies like those noted by the people upset with Flags... do continue to haunt us, and it tells me we obviously still have a long way to go before what we see on our movie screens and our TV screens is really true to life.

I realize that the product that Hollywood produces and puts out is just that, a product.  It's a creation designed to bring in revenue for the creators, actors, producers, writers and others that are involved in the product.  I wish though that the people that were creating the product took more pride in their work, and worked harder at being historically accurate so that years from now, when those products are viewed and taken to be images of the actual events they were (perhaps too loosely) based on that we won't have to have reminders stamped all over the place to tell us that what we are seeing is a work of fiction or a portrayal that most likely is not historically accurate.

10,500 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I wish that J.U. allowed listing in multiple categories.  This one could have gone in several...
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top

Oh, I meant to add one more important piece of information to the discussion here, and the facts in general as shown in the movie.

Some of the comments made about the issue of lack of African Americans shown in the film also go back to a bad time in our history.  A time when the people that helped document our history (photographers, cameramen/women, etc.) would purposefully look past non-whites and people of color and would purposefully block those images or otherwise obscure the presence of non-whites.  Sadly, the events shown in Flags... and the era of those events would include such a time, and reportedly the people that were filming and taking pictures of the events there did just that -- ignore non-whites and try hard to keep the images that were recorded to those of the all American boys of the time.

Again, it's sad that this was the case, but it is a time of our history that we should do a better job of documenting.

I noted (on another site where I raised the same issues as I'm writing about here) that the recent film Fly Boys did a better job in this area.  I'm not sure how much creative license was taken with that story, but one of the main characters in that movie was a person of African descent.  In that case, it was a major character in the story.  If the images you see at the end of the film are accurate, then the story was somewhat historically accurate and the individual we see was one that was heavily involved in the events that the film depicts.

Obviously some films do a better job of inclusion than others, but I would still hope that some day we don't even have to think about discussing the lack of inclusion, as we will have already included even from the beginning of the story, rather than having to apologize for missing details and facts right from the beginning.

ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Historical accuracy and Hollywood should never be used in the same sentence.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Wait, wasnt there segregation? \
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
Talk about accuracy in hollywood seems like "empailler du clair au lune"...!!!
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yes, I think if a movie is representing a historical event they should do their best to accurately represent who was actually there but all movies take great creative license. I doubt unless it is a documentary that many films hit the mark of being actual "historical documents". (loved Galaxy Quest btw).

I remember a few years ago there were complaints that Hollywood and TV were showing too many fictional powerful black people as Senators, President, CEO's and that wasn't accurate. They thought that this gave a false impression that black's had achieved more equality and positions of power than they had.

Our heros in film, on TV, and on the stage are normally not people of color. They're manly men like John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Michael Douglas, and others. Even when those men are portraying people of different heritages.


I agree that they weren't always represented but there was Sidney Poitier and now Denzel Washington. Really blacks are represented much more than latinos or asians.

Then you have all the movies with the "token" black friend. So much so that it is now a standard joke in padody movies and on South Park.

Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
marines ain't black, white or yellow or red. they is all green.
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top

marines ain't black, white or yellow or red. they is all green.

Such is the case in the modern era, but it's taken many years for that to truly be the case Moderate Man.

I wish that our history didn't include periods of segregation and racism, but it does, and we can't escape it.  But at the same time, I do think that Hollywood can do a better job of being more realistic in it's representation of historical events and who the participants were along the way.   It did plenty of damage of propagating stereotypes along the way.

Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
marines ain't black, white or yellow or red. they is all green.


Amen.

Or, when it came to my grandfather - he was short (4'7" if memory serves me correctly), tough as nails, smart as a whip (not lw ), and respectable.

Of course, that was after he went and messed up the latrine system at UC Berkeley with some stuff. Or so the story goes.


~Lucas
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
People will always feel left out until we can just call ourselves "Americans"....why must we put any other country or continent before it. Sure celebrate your ancestry and heritage, but do we really need to be labeled to have some sort of identity? As for the movie, I guess it's the interpretation of the writer. Is the film claiming to be a documentary or a just story based on a historical event (I'm asking because I haven't heard)? If it's a documentary then the producer should strive for accuracy. I am against putting someone in just to fill a quota of some sort, no matter what race the person maybe. People are so afraid of being politically correct these days. I'm going to see a film if I enjoy the actors performance be it black, brown, white, Asian, or some where in between.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top

Is the film claiming to be a documentary or a just story based on a historical event (I'm asking because I haven't heard)? If it's a documentary then the producer should strive for accuracy.

The film is claiming to be historically accurate.  Not quite a documentary, but not a work of fiction in the form of a dramatization of events either.  That's why the makers of the film -- and the author of the book -- should have strived to make sure that the events and people shown in the film were as realistic as possible.  Leaving out people that were there is wrong, and continuing the slights of the past -- when persons of color were purposefully ignored or obscured out of the images that were made at the time -- is even more wrong.