The Patriot and The Alamo, although told from slightly different points of views--The Patriot from the perspective of a fictional, and average civilian character and The Alamo from the perspective of actual historical and prominent figures--showcases the ability of films to persuade viewers into rooting for one character, while opposing another. The characters, to be more specific, are the hero, whose role in a story is to be a character who is admired or idealized for courage or noble qualities, and the villain, whose role in a story is to be a malicious character or a character who opposes the hero in the story.
The Patriot establishes it's hero and villain through a particular scene, where the younger son of the protagonist, Benjamin Martin, is cruelly shot by the antagonist, Colonel Tavingtion, in an attempt to save his older brother. This scene not only sets up the narrative of the righteous Americans vs the villainous British but also finds a way to connect with the audience on a more personal level. Instead of highlighting a battle scene as an introductory conflict, the director chose to focus on the story of an individual, Benjamin Martin, because it is part of human nature to
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For example, The Patriot is mostly a fictional story, which, while includes a few general truths about the American Revolution, fails to include important allies such as the French, important battles, and even inaccurately adds events, such as the burning of a church full of innocent civilians by Colonel Tavington, who was also fictional. It is alright to look to movies to gain awareness of historical events people may not know of, however, to consider movies as good history would be foolish since they are mostly a creation of the director's vision or opinion and not factual information. This would leave viewers with a false impression of
Films are necessary in our time period because the human eye can articulate the message intended through sight allowing visual imagination to occur. In the book, world 2 by Max Brooks, he creates a character by the name Roy Elliot who was a former movie director. Roy Elliot manages to make a movie titled “Victory at Avalon: The Battle of the Five Colleges” and some how it goes viral. Similarly, Frank Capra’s film, “Why we Fight” expresses a sense of understanding the meaning of wars. Films do not inevitably portray truth because they display what the film director views as important and beneficial for people to know.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers to the United States, was not a patriot but a mere loyalist to England before the dissolution between England and the colonies occurred. Sheila L. Skemp's The Making of a Patriot explores how Benjamin Franklin tried to stay loyal to the crown while taking interest in the colonies perception and their own representation in Parliament. While Ms. Skemp alludes to Franklin's loyalty, her main illustration is how the attack by Alexander Wedderburn during the Privy Council led to Franklin's disillusionment with the British crown and the greater interest in making the Thirteen Colonies their own nation. Her analysis of Franklin's history in Parliament and what occurred on the night that the council convened proves the change behind Franklin's beliefs and what lead to his involvement in the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin was the colonial agent representing Massachusetts in Parliament in Britain.
San Antonio, Texas-- The Battle of the Alamo, a battle in San Antonio, against the Mexicans broke out, marks the most important of the battles so far during the Texas fight for independence. The battle began on February 23, 1836 and ended two days ago on March 6, 1836, lasting for 13 days. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, leader of the Mexican force, planned to seize the fort with an army of thousands. Unprepared, the Texans had an army of around 200 men, including well- known congressman David Crockett and James Bowie and not so well-known William Barret Travis.
The Patriot was a Hollywood version for the story of Francis Marion and the Swamp fox. The swamp fox was a group of men who fought the British Army using Guerrilla warfare. “Marion and his irregulars often defeated larger bodies of British troops by the surprise and rapidity of their movement over swampy terrain”. 2 The Hollywood version of the Swamp fox was quite close; the main Character Benjamin Martin w...
The Alamo was the kind of structure that played a big role in the Texas Revolution. To learn about the battle of the Alamo, you first need to know the strengths and weaknesses of it.
Mel Gibson, the star of the blockbuster The Patriot is quoted as saying, “ If one were to adhere to historical accuracy all the way, you’d probably have the most boring two hours on earth, but firstly, it’s entertaining and we’ve taken license with history to make it more compelling.” While one cannot solely rely on the word of an actor to state the historical accuracy, it is pretty safe to say that The Patriot was not true to the events of the American Revolutionary War. However, this movie was not made as a documentary, it was made as a source of entertainment. Unfortunately, this does not take away from the multiple historical inaccuracies. Main characters were not accurately represented, Loyalists and slaves were omitted, and the Battle of Cowpens was not correctly portrayed.
The Patriot is a movie based on the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the war fought between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies of the North American continent. In this war on American soil the colonists fought for independence from Europe and King George III’s criticized rule. The Patriot takes on this topic through the character Benjamin Martin, played by actor Mel Gibson, who is based on the Revolutionary War militia leader Francis “The Swamp Fox” Marion. The movie also features a few battles actually fought in the war and weapons used in the war. Although the movie displays actual events, people, and objects that occurred and existed during the war, there are historical points changed to satisfy the audience of the theater.
The Patriot revolves around a French and Indian war veteran named Benjamin Martin whose wife has died. He tries to live peacefully on his plantation raising his children. However two of his sons, Gabriel Martin and Thomas Martin, want to join the continental army although their father doesn't want them to. Gabriel signed up to join the army without his father’s permission. Benjamin tires to stay out ot the conflict, but when Colonel Tavington finds out his son is part of the continental army, he burns the plantation down. He then tried to execute Gabriel, but when Thomas runs into stop them Thomas gets killed instead. Benjamin now wants to get revenge on Colonel Tavington and joins the Continental army with his son Gabriel. He puts his kids in the custody of
The film, The Patriot, is a war film set back in the 1770's. This movie is based off of real events that occurred during the American Revolutionary War. Benjamin Martin, a father of seven and a veteran from the French and Indian War, is to go to Charleston in South Carolina to vote in the South Carolina General Assembly. Seeing that there is so much going on with the war, he decides that he does not want to go down to vote. After a few things occur, Benjamin's oldest son Gabriel decides that he needs to join the Continental Army.
The storyline is normally about a hero who comes to a town to bring peace and drive the villains out. A hero is usually seen as a vigilante as he is not told to come to help but does anyway. The hero often appears as a quiet, secretive, mysterious person who may make the audience admire him one minute and dislike him the next, he is also a very smart, cunning and adaptable which are all good values in a hero. The villain is usually fixed to one idea he thinks it is a smart cunning person but in the end is always defeated. Many scenes are set around the Saloon (bar) and there is quite often a romance involved with the hero and a local girl, the villain competing for her affections! There are two different types of villains in typical westerns Native Americans and white villains (cowboys).
According to Ryan & Michael (513-538), the 16th century was the initial period that Cherokee Indians had an initial contact with the European explorers. Since then the Cherokee Indians have always been recognized as one of the Native American tribe that is most socially and culturally innovative. The culture of Cherokee society continued to advance, developing and embracing elements of culture from European settlers. They also shaped a government and a society matching the current civilized cultures. Despite that Cherokee society was posed as a peaceful society, assumed the ways of the European settlers, and became compliant and civilized,
A movie with larger than life characters directed by one of the most famous men in film history, John Wayne had an immense expectation of greatness. Ninety-five million dollars and the placement of John Wayne as a lead character: Davey Crockett helped “The Alamo” reach the greatness expected. Although largely fictionalized, the film not only helped future Americans “Remember the Alamo,” but brought about another feat of nationalism popular in the movies during this era. The movie was a magnificent color movie that many were excited to see.
In "The Thematic Paradigm", Robert Ray explains how there are two distinctly different heroes, the outlaw hero and the official hero. The official hero embraces common values and traditional beliefs, while the outlaw has a clear sense of right and wrong but operates above the law (Ray). Ray explains how the role of an outlaw hero has many traits. "The attractiveness of the outlaw hero's childishness and propensity to whims, tantrums, and emotional decisions derived from America's cult of childhood", states Ray. (309) Ray also says, "To the outlaw hero's inconsistence on private standards of right and wrong, the official hero offered the admonition, you cannot take the law into your own hands." (312) The values of these two traditional heroes contrasts clearly. Society favors the outlaw hero because we identify with that character more. We see ourselves more so in the outlaw hero than in the official hero. The outlaw hero has the "childlike" qualities that most of us wish we had as adults. To civilians it may seem that the outlaw hero lives more of a fantasy life that we all wish to have.
The “Patriot” takes place in South Carolina in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. It is a story about a widowed father of seven, named Benjamin Martin. Benjamin was involved in the French and Indian War before marrying and starting a family. He is reluctant to join the conflict as he remembers too well his own experience in the earlier French and Indian War. After his wife passed away he does everything to keep his family together and away from war. He is a patriot who wants no part in a war with Britain.
However, I believe that they should be studied because historians would be able to understand what advances people made back then and the culture the people lived in. Fiction, especially historical fiction includes actual history which means they should not be totally discredited. Those stories may exaggerate details or change the relationships between people, but they still contain credible information which could be more credible than actual primary or secondary sources. Historical fiction still has to remain true to historical record because they provide us with a glimpse of the past. An example that could be used is Hilary Mantels Wolf Hall which documents Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power during the period of Henry VIII. This book could provide historians a more detailed description of Cromwell’s rise to power since during Henry’s time, most historians and readers focus on Henry himself and his wives. Another book that could be used is Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley which was written in 1814 and described as the first historical fiction novel in history. The story took place in the time of the Jacobite uprising of 1745 and the character travels through England and to the low and highlands of Scotland. This story could help historians get a better idea of what it was like in that time through the eyes of