Historical Accuracy Matters Less Than Memorable Filmmaking
- 19 hours ago
- 2 min read
Written By Bradyn Shively
Like many, my childhood home was adorned with mammoth bookshelves featuring books and other décor. Unlike many, one such bookshelf had a Beanie Baby of John Adams.
My father is a history teacher, and he is the precise stereotype you picture: quirky, witty, and religiously devoted to historical accuracy. My dad passed that worship onto me.
Yet my dad also gave me his love of movies. There is likely no person on Earth with whom I have spent more collective hours watching films, either at home or in a theater. As important as his books were to those shelves, so too were his DVDs.
Because of my dad’s combined loves, I had some interesting childhood experiences. He showed me “Norma Rae,” a slow-moving 1979 film about unionizing a cotton mill in the American South. When we watched “The Da Vinci Code,” my dad painstakingly ensured I knew the film was based on entertaining conspiracy, as if my teenage self would take the film’s premise of uncovering secret, direct descendants of Jesus Christ seriously.
It is at this intersection of my upbringing and passions – buff of both film and history – where I find myself sitting on the fences of the ongoing debate about historical accuracy in media.
An interesting case study in that debate is “The Odyssey.” Releasing later this summer, the film is blockbuster director Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s Ancient Greek epic poem chronicling Odysseus’ 10-year homeward journey following the Trojan War.
When its trailer dropped, “The Odyssey” was criticized online for its supposed historical inaccuracy. Targets of that criticism were twofold: Odysseus’ warship looked like it belonged in the Viking Age; Greek soldiers’ armor, instead of the pristine bronze you would find in a museum, was black and brown.
The worst offender was a general clad in all-black with a massive helmet and billowing cape. The fit was not giving a general in antiquity. It was giving Batman.
To be clear, historical accuracy in storytelling is necessary where appropriate. While concessions will unavoidably occur, the life of the real and historically significant Malcolm X, for example, should be adapted to film faithfully.
“The Odyssey,” however, is a millenniums-old poem featuring a cyclops, nymphs, numerous sea monsters and gods manifesting as humans. It is a tale of Greek myth, not Greek history.
I have seen the trailer for “The Odyssey” several times in theaters now. Every time I see it, I am excited to witness thrilling spectacle, not an accurate recreation of Ancient Greece.
I watch Odysseus and his men fight fierce ocean waves in their Viking warship and think that looks sick. I catch the general styled like Batman and think he looks dope. I glimpse the cyclops and cannot wait to see him wreck some wandering warriors.
“The Odyssey” will be a cool movie, which is all that matters. Much to my dad’s chagrin, a good movie wins out over historical accuracy – this time, at least.
