The reason why History majors don't like attending the cinema and film critics scoff and jab at most historically-based Hollywood productions is that the scripts are rarely... well... historical.
Yeah, there was a war during that time, and yeah, I'll believe that guy was alive and even involved in that war, but he most certainly didn't look like that, talk like that, or do half of what you're claiming he did.
The non-movie folk shake their heads and think, "Why did they do that? Why did they ruin perfectly good facts and try to lie to the world?"
I'll tell you why.
One: Movies are easily inspired by real events. Ideas usually come from somewhere.
Two: History is tied down by bothersome things, like dates and places.
Three: Sometimes, the ideas and the little things that make up history don't quite gel. Or, you know, one happened in someone's mind and one happened in real life.
Four: Creative people are more than willing to do what they want to satisfy their idea, rather than, say, historical accuracy. Who cares if it didn't really happen-- was the movie good?
And thus, problems.
I used to be one of the scoffers. But little by little, the dark side is beckoning. There they have fun things, like plot twists and romance and sudden deaths and unexpected births. You can create things, like castles and rivers and hilltops and whole continents that don't exist on the 'right' side.
And the reason why I am becoming thus swayed is that every time I do more research for my screenplay, some facet of my plot is inevitably proved wrong or impossible to have occurred.
Now, every writer is allowed some leeway, but I doubt I'd get away with giving a 40 year old man a daughter he'd have to have created at 14.
Little fun* things like that have been popping up all over the place.
Some examples of my research experience:
"I'll have them come from a small village in the countryside."
No, he's a lord, actually, and he has a manor called Townley Hall.
"I'll have his body taken by the girl to be buried in a field."
No, after the beheading, his body was cut into eight pieces and his innards thrown out, but good try.
"I'll have them escape to Glencoe to get away from the English signing."
Oh, really? Yeah, everyone in Glencoe was murdered in the Glencoe Massacre of 1736, but keep brainstorming.
Over. And over. And over.
So, yes, I am doing research. And yes, I am writing. But the delete button is in danger of sticking, so let's keep the, "Making progress?" questions to a minimum, please.
In August, the script will be done and all will be well, but until then... the dark side hasn't claimed me yet.
-B
*awful.
"What interests me more than the specifics of Ehran Kruger’s screenplay is the way Kruger and Bay use American history to give their story emotional resonance. In some cases, real events—like the space race, the Cold War and the Chernobyl disaster—are used to give the story an historical context, while at other times dynamic imagery evokes memories of the Challenger and Columbia explosions and 9/11. Bay even highlights America’s own Civil War with an Autobot-Decepticon tussle at Washington, D.C.’s National Mall, where the Lincoln Memorial takes one for the team."*
ReplyDeleteGiven that the transformers were involved in most of our history, I think you can take a few creative liberties.
Obligatory Star Wars comment about the dark-side.
*http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/film/reviews/26055-review-transformers-dark-of-the-moon