Hollywood vs history

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History vs. Hollywood
The Patriot
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist’s anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, “The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000”1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary war, 1776, Revolution, Johnny Tremain, and The Patriot. But, no movie has stirred up as much controversy as the Mel Gibbson movie The Patriot. The patriot is very entertaining but it is historically inaccurate. Too much Hollywood “spices” was added to the movie for viewing pleasures.
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...

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