We have all have seen “historical” movies. Hollywood often uses history as the basis for many of its motion pictures. Unfortunately, in doing so, the movie industry often “creates” or rewrites history- either downplaying or over-dramatizing events-_ thereby changing historical events to suit their needs and intent. The result is the moviegoer may come away with a falsely educated perception of history. Charlie Chaplin Robert Downey Jr. as Chaplin Your job to investigate the historical credibility of movies. Watch a theatre-released motion picture-_not a documentary- that has a historical basis (i.e., it uses the real names of people and real events) and which has as its setting the United States from 1866-2020. Then write a report- minimum seven text pages doing the following: 2. Research what actually happened surrounding the events and people mentioned in the
movie, providing detailed info. What are the similarities and differences between the movie and
real history? Emphasize historical errors, not production errors. This is the major part of the
paper. Consider the following when watching the movie.
Note anytime a real event or person’s name or image is mentioned or shown. Those are
starting points to research further. Explore those events, names, or dates brought out in the
movie, and research those. Also, go more in-depth into events and historical stories the movie
leaves out or does not depict. This is an area I implore you to “go deeper”‘ into research.
This is a history research paper so go beyond basic facts!!!
Does it use a lot of real people or events, or say “based on a true story?” Does it claim to
represent historical accuracy, and then take great liberties with history?
Try to notice if the movie biased or slanted towards a particular viewpoint? This happens often.
Does it appear that history is being “used’ to enforce a particular point or agenda?
Are the characters and events believable? Does it seem to have exaggerated events or subplots
for the sake of entertainment?
