Re: Pearls Before Swine: Uncle Is Not Good With Money

On Thu, 16 Jan 2025 01:23:34 GMT, scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:

On 1/15/2025 5:57 PM, William Hyde wrote:

Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 1/15/2025 5:16 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> writes:

On 1/15/2025 8:42 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:

Lynn McGuire  <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:

>

Dealing with monarchies is a weird thing, because it comes down
entirely
to figuring out what the monarch is thinking, which isn't always
what he
is saying either domestically or to the foreign press.  Whatever
happened
to Kremlinologists and Sovietologists anyway?
--scott

>
I enjoyed the new Napoleon movie and relearned a lot of European
history.  The battle scenes were amazing.

>
An entertainment film should not be confused with history, in
any aspect.
>
Real history is far more nuanced than can be conveyed in 120 minutes.

>
I recall someone saying "A picture is worth a thousand words...".

 
A movie is worth a million lies.
 
William Hyde

>
https://time.com/6338563/napoleon-movie-true-story/

>
From the TFA
>
   "The movie is a work of historical fiction, but Scott's
    team worked to ensure that at least some details are
    historically accurate"

1. Emmerich's /Midway/, IIRC, at least claims to be using characters
portraying real people and even speaking the same words. So it is
possible for the intent to be there.

2. I have no doubt that, in the new /Napoleon/ film, "at least some
details are historically accurate" even though I haven't gotten around
to streaming it. But the same can be said of /From Hell/ or, indeed,
many films set in the past: the clothing, the carriages, the horse's
harnesses, the buildings ... many many details may well be 100%
accurate. But if the story told is not, then the warning is well
taken.

3. Similarly, PJ's /LOTR/ films captured the physical appearance of
Middle Earth, in particular the Shire, very very well, but he still
told his own story, not JRRT's. To see the films is /not/ to read the
books. Whether to see /Napoleon/ is to learn the history is unclear.

4. Even "historical fiction" varies. Some is simply set in an
historical context. Dumas' major works, OTOH, are /very/ historical,
in some cases at the expense of the storytelling.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"