Hollywood Version Of British Commanders example essay topic

History vs. Hollywood The Patriot 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 war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny T remain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood "spices" was added to the movie for viewing pleasures. The Patriot was a Hollywood version for the story of Francis Marion and the Swamp fox.

The swamp fox was a group of men who fought the British Army using Guerrilla warfare. "Marion and his irregulars often defeated larger bodies of British troops by the surprise and rapidity of their movement over swampy terrain". 2 The Hollywood version of the Swamp fox was quite close; the main Character Benjamin Martin was the leader of a group similar to the Swamp fox. The members of this group destroyed some British arm supplies line by using "hit and hide" method. There were many inaccurate information and flaws in The Patriot.

Killing the Prisoner of war like in the Patriot never occurred. Both the American Solider and the British army obeyed the laws of war. There are no records about British army put people in churches and burn them. The Patriot gives us an impression that the war was solely a war between the colonists and the British army. Only one American was shown working against the colonists. But in reality, a lot of colonists supported the British Crown, they were called the loyalists.

1 the most inaccurate information in the movie was the portrait of black men. During the revolutionary war, slaves were not treated the way that they were treated in the movie. Also the scene it showed a message by George Washington stating that "slaves who fought one year in the war for the continental cause were freed and paid five shillings a month"3 This was fictional and speaking of fictional, in the Patriot only one black man fought for the continental army, in reality there were many black man fought against the British army. 1 With award winning actors and screenwriters, the Hollywood version of the revolutionary war must be "kicked up". Much additional and fictional information were added to the movie, just to make the movie more exciting and do well in the box office. Two kids and one man with couple rifles killing a dozen British soldiers seems a little too over the top, but it does add a little excitement.

The use of flag waving was just too magical in the movie. Every time something goes wrong for the Continental army, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibbson) waves the flag and all the soldiers are pumped and ready for war. The Hollywood version of British commanders is very different from the real commanders. In the movie, the commander was cruel and brutal, and the movie version of Cornwallis is gullible and doesn't care about the war. In reality, the commanders obeyed orders and followed the laws of war and Cornwallis was a great commander, he was "Sir Henry Clinton's choice as the commander in the south". 1 one of the funny things about the movie is that for some reason, all the major and important battles always occur right in front of Benjamin Martin, now that is an artistic license.

The movie makers did try to make The Patriot a little historical. The movie is about the swamp fox, perhaps the movie makers wanted to make the movie more dramatic and to avoid controversies; they changed most of the names. The Frenchman Major Jean Villeneuve was actually Marquis De Lafayette, Marquis De Lafayette along with Baron von Stu eben helped train the continental army. 1 Horatio Gates, Nathaniel Greene and George Washington had their two second fame in the movie. There were mainly two stereotypes in The Patriot. One of the stereotypes was about women during the revolutionary war.

In the movie, women played a secondary role, watching the kids and do chorus. Actually, women were quite involved in the war, served as messengers, manufactures, head of the household and camp followers. 1 Some women even joined the army and fought against the British army. 4 Another stereotype was about the British army, when a British solider enters a scene, he is always portrayed as a cold hearted bad guy. The patriot is packed with famous actors and actresses also famous directors and writers, and it is also packed with inaccurate facts. The Patriot should be banned from school because it is so inaccurate.

But do we pay money to go see boring two hour education film? Why spend money to watch boring educational films with our free time when we can watch it in class for free? I think the patriot it's a great action film with a lot of fighting and shooting and it is very exciting. I would have to agree with the reviewers and give it a four out of five..