Hollywood and History

What the Movies Get Wrong from the Ancient Greeks to Vietnam

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by Jem Duducu

Type: Essays
Subject: Genre > Historical films
Keywords: historical films, accuracy
Publishing date: 2023
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 264 pages
6 ¼ x 9 inches (16 x 23 cm)

ISBN

978-1-5381-7706-8

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Book Presentation:
There is no shortage of Hollywood films about historical events, but what do the movies actually get right, and why do they get so much wrong?

Hollywood loves a story: good guys versus bad guys, heroes winning the day, and the guy gets the girl. But we all know real life isn’t exactly like that, and this is even more true when we look at history. Rarely do the just prevail and the three-act story cannot exist over continents and decades of human interaction. So, when Hollywood decides to exploit history for profit, we end up with a wide array of films. Some are comedies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, others are little more than action films playing dress up like Gladiator, and many are Oscar contenders burdened with an enormous sense of self-importance. But very few are historically accurate.

From Cleopatra to Da 5 Bloods, the reality is no matter what Hollywood’s intentions are, almost all historical films are an exaggeration or distortion of what really happened. Sometimes the alterations are for the sake of brevity, as watching a movie in real time about the Hundred Years War would literally kill you. Other additions may be out of necessity, since nobody thought to write down the everyday conversations between King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, for The Other Boleyn Girl. And some projects twist the facts to suit a more sinister purpose.

In Hollywood and History, Jem Duducu takes readers through thousands of years of global history as immortalized and ultimately fictionalized by Hollywood, exploring many facets of the representation of history in movies from the medieval times to the wild west and both World Wars. Along the way, readers will also better understand Hollywood’s own history, as it evolved from black and white silent shorts to the multiplex CGI epics of today. As studios and audiences have matured through the years, so too have their representations of history. Armies will clash, leaders will be slain, empires will fall, and a few historical inaccuracies will be pointed out along the way. A must-read for film and history fans alike.

About the Author:
Jem Duducu is a populist historian and historical fiction writer based in London. He spends his time writing, public speaking, and generally messing around with his wife and children.

Press Reviews:
If you are the sort of person who, after watching a movie, turns immediately to the goofs section of that film’s IMDB page to see what the director got wrong, then Hollywood and History is the book for you. Duducu is the perfect Cicero for this side-by-side comparison of history’s greatest films with history’s greatest history. His bon mots are spot-on (regarding Baz Luhrman’s Romeo+ Juliet: "It’s like watching a performance of the play while somebody throws glitter in your eyes."), but more than that, Duducu constantly reminds us that directors aren’t historians. Their priority is not accuracy but entertainment (or, in the case of the 2002 Chinese film Hero, propaganda). Readers will enjoy this book’s gotcha moments—the real Elizabeth I never wore armor; the Crusades were over by the time of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; a bust of Woodrow Wilson can be seen in the film Lincoln—but they shouldn’t ignore Duducu’s deeper message: historical films are a mere starting point and never the last word on what really happened.
― Booklist

Movies are great escape mechanisms but if you’re someone who’s really bugged by simple errors in a story, then you need Hollywood and History: What the Movies Get Wrong from The Ancient Greeks to Vietnam by Jem Duducu. We all make mistakes and this book is full of them – errors in war films, historical inaccuracies, and downright fabrications. The list here is wide, and it’ll make you want to watch all these films again so you can spot the oopses all over again. This is a book for historians as well as film buffs, and especially for smarty-pantses who want a little pepper with their popcorn.
― The Bookworm Sez / Goshen News

Jem Duducu’s book is a lively and entertaining romp through history via the movies or the movies via history. There’s something new and fascinating to learn on every page.
-- John Bleasdale, PhD, journalist, and host of "Writers on Film"

A very jolly, spirited, and entertaining read. I had a lot of fun reading this.
-- Dominic Sandbrook, historian and presenter of "The Rest is History" podcast

See the publisher website: Rowman & Littlefield

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