Artistic License History: Difference between revisions

'''Boon:''' [[Rule of Funny|Forget it, he's rolling.]]|''[[Animal House]]''}}

 

 

[[Two Stupid Dogs|Isn't that cute?]] '''[[Did Not Do the Research|BUT IT'S WRONG!!]]'''

 

== Various Media ==

** On that ''Phantom'' bit: in addition to the glaring 1871 opera house date issue, the film has Christine {{spoiler|dying in 1918 as a victim of the Spanish Influenza}}. Thing is, 1918 France was not only besieged by the Influenza; it was also crawling out of the end of this little thing called [[World War One]].

** So why does the misconception exist? It turns out that some people were married off at a young age - aristocrats, who until very recently were the only people mentioned in the history books despite making up about 0.1% of the population. These marriages were usually political alliances, and (unlike Juliet above) were generally not consummated until the bride was old enough to safely deliver a child. The average man or woman, on the other hand, had to work for years in order to save up enough to marry; while men underwent apprenticeships or waited for their fathers to die so they could inherit the lease on the land they farmed, women worked as household servants, dairymaids, and general farm workers.

**** There were exceptions to the childbearing rule, however- Margaret Beaufort (Henry VIII's grandmother) was married at twelve and gave birth at thirteen. Most historians agree that the reason she only had one child is because giving birth at such a young age left her unable to have any more.

**** 'Marragiblity' would be tied ultimately to the menarche, which is still wildly variable and mostly determined by weight rather than age. Some unscrupulous rich men in the 18th century would have their daughters over-fed in order to bring them to puberty earlier and get them off their hands faster (a practice still not unknown in some parts of the developing world...) (To return to Jane Austen, this explains why the thin and sickly Fanny Price is not 'brought out'- that is, allowed to mix with society and thus be eligible for marriage, until her health drastically improves at age 18, when she also is noted to suddenly get taller- whereas the highly-sexed Lydia Bennett (who the narrator notes is both tall and quite fat for her age) is 'out' at only 15.

** Many? This was actually a sport of sorts in the historian Roman circles. Historians either worked for the senators (all of them patricians, the noblest class in Rome) or were a part of it, therefore when Emperors openly defied the senators and ended up slain for it, they pretty much ''ran'' to give them an [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] to justify such actions. You can guess the results.

** When Christianity finally got a spot to itself in Roman society, the "war" among Pagan historians and Christian historians derived into this trope as well. The Emperor you're writing about wasn't a member of your faith? Let's make him even worse than he was in Real Life! Pagan Emperors were [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] who tortured people [[For the Evulz]]! Christian Emperors were traitors to the Empire! Lather, rinse, repeat. Until of course the Christians won.

* Some depictions embellish the torture used by the Inquisition, which was actually forbidden to draw blood during torture.

** The Spanish Inquisition was actually highly regulated, not arbitrary as often depicted. However, since torture was an accepted way to obtain truthful confessions and denunciations were anonymous until the actual trial (which could occur as much as two years after the denunciation, during which the accused would be imprisoned without knowing who had accused them or even what the charges were), this was little comfort to its victims.

** While the lifespan of a gladiator was not very high, most fights between gladiators were not fatal. Condemning a defeated gladiator was generally only done if he had put up a particularly shameful performance. Gladiators were ''expensive'' to purchase, train and equip, so it would be an incredible waste to kill off a gladiator after only a fight or two. Usually, only condemned men would be made to fight in certain death matches.

* Like marrying age, there is a widespread misconception of historical lifespans, as though people before the Industrial Revolution magically aged faster. ''Average'' lifespans were low, but that was primarily because so many infant deaths bringing down the average, and people of any age often fell victim to now-treatable injuries and illnesses (particularly complications of childbirth). While a life of hard work and poor diet took its toll, aging progressed much as it does today.

* The claim that all or at least most women that were burnt as witches were wise women is completely false. It was made popular by one guy and accepted as truth by the public because, well, people being killed for being too badass for their time to handle is much more interesting than people being killed because their neighbors didn't like them and claimed that they were doing witchcraft.

* While we're on the subject of witch trials, witches in Salem weren't burned at the stake, they were hanged. Also, most of them were men.

 

== [[Fanfic]] ==

* ''[[All He Ever Wanted]]''. ''[[Internet Backdraft|And this is ALL we'll say about that.]]''

 

** One particularly [[Egregious]] example is the protagonist ''teaching the desert-dwelling people how to irrigate their land and so becoming their lord''. Yeah. The people who had been farming a desert (and digging wells) for ''thousands of years'' being taught all they know by the [[Mighty Whitey]] when, if anything, during the Crusades it was sort of the other way round (medieval Europe didn't even have round towers until they got the idea from the Arabs).

*** The latter is more likely to be a case of poor presentation rather than insulting lack of research -- the idea was to show how the protagonist actively participates in neglected civic projects rather than focusing on military issues alone, as was commonly the custom at the time for a man in his position. He isn't shown actually inventing the contraption.

** A Roman senator claims, "Rome was founded as a republic!" It was founded as a kingdom. Although the Romans didn't want to think of Rome ever having been a kingdom. As far as the Romans were concerned, the ''real'' Rome was founded when they kicked the asses of the Etruscan kings and established the republic. Furthermore, the character is a politician trying to push his political agenda.

** Power passes automatically to Commodus on Marcus Aurelius' death in the film. In reality, there was no official line of succession, since the state was not officially monarchist. In fact, before Marcus Aurelius there had been a longstanding tradition of emperors hand-picking their successors from outside their biological families. The historical Commodus was in fact the first emperor "born to the purple", i.e. born during his father's reign, and did indeed break the usual tradition by succeeding his father. He also became sole emperor after Marcus Aurelius' death due to the fact that he had ruled jointly with him for four years. And note that even in the film, Marcus Aurelius tries to make someone other than his son emperor; the only oddity is the assumption that Commodus would otherwise naturally be the successor to the throne. And, of course, there is no evidence he killed his father to get the position.

** Neither Marcus Aurelius, nor anyone else in the government, had any interest in democracy.

** Ancient Roman chariots didn't run on compressed gas. In the arena battle scene, one flips over and a gas cannister can clearly be seen

** Scots did not actually wear kilts at the time, as they do incorrectly throughout the film. The crushed velvet that members of royalty sport in that film wouldn't be invented until centuries later. Also their style of clothing is more suited to the 15th century, not the 13th.

** Stirling Bridge is nowhere to be found in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Some of these errors were intentional decisions to create more drama, while others were simply errors.

** William Wallace always staunchly supported Robert the Bruce's claim to the throne. He never directly betrayed William Wallace either.

** King Edward I gets a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]. The film portrays him almost as a [[Card-Carrying Villain]], whilst in reality his record was pretty mixed - whilst a brutal conqueror abroad (not to mention an anti-semite), he did not oppress his ''English'' subjects, and was in fact considered fairly radical in European circles. His laws established Parliament as a permanent institution, set up a working taxation system and ushered in a newer, progressive law for England. Edward I Longshanks did not kill his son's lover by throwing him out of a window. Nor did English barons invoke ''primae noctis'' (the supposed right of lords to take the virginity of their female subjects). In fact, ''primae noctis'' likely did not exist. It's a throwaway line but Edward is mentioned as "following pagan gods'. No evidence that he was any less (or more) devout than your average monarch.

** In that same film Eddie and Roger watch the Goofy cartoon "Goofy Gymnastics" in the film theater. Despite the fact that this cartoon was released in 1949!

** Several cartoon characters in the movie would only make their debut several years later: The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (1949), Tinkerbell (1953), the penguins from [[Mary Poppins]] (1964),... However, the makers defended themselves by saying that these characters were simply not employed yet by their studio's in those years.

* ''Everyone's Hero'' could have been a good movie about Babe Ruth's called shot in the 1932 World Series...if they had not gotten EVERY SINGLE historical fact wrong in that movie. The list of historical inaccuracies in the film would take up this entire page (for example, the 1932 World Series did not go into seven games or have a 3-4 home field advantage format).

* ''[[Australia]]''. In reality, the Japanese never set foot on Australian soil. They bombed Darwin, then left. The bombing also actually occurred in 1942, not 1941.

* [[Barry Lyndon]] takes place in the eighteenth century. Yet somewhere in the film "the kingdom of Belgium" is mentioned, despite the fact that Belgium would only become a kingdom in 1830!

 

* [[Dan Brown]]: Too many to list here -- Dan Brown's [[Did Not Do the Research|research failures]] (in history in particular) have made him a [[Dan Browned|trope namer]], and have their [[Dan Browned/Dan Brown|very own page]].

* ''The Necronomicon: The Dee Translation'' by Lin Carter has a scene where Abdul Alhazred ingests Black Lotus in order to see visions of the past. Among other things, he sees scenes from [[The Crusades]] where Saladin fights at Jerusalem. The problem? The text states clearly that Alhazred died in AD 738. [[wikipedia:Saladin|Saladin]] was born in AD 1138. (Granted, [[Time Travel]] is a part of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], so it is possible that the Black Lotus can show visions from the future as well as the past. But Alhazred describes the Crusades as a perfectly well-known event that the reader is expected to be familiar with. If he were seeing scenes from the far future, you'd think he would remark on it.)

** She is also in error when she implies in ''The Hermit of Eyton Forest'' that an ordained priest must preside at a licit wedding ceremony. Today this is true (if you can get a priest in a reasonable amount of time), but not in the 12th century -- and a long time thereafter -- when a declaration of intent, with or without witnesses, followed by consummation was sufficient for canonically valid marriage. However a boy under fourteen could ''not'' make a valid marriage, and the issue of free consent would have made this a no-brainer to any canon court.

** To be fair however Canon Law was still in the process of being codified in the 12th c. and laymen were to continue being confused about it for centuries after it was. Still, Father Abbot at least should have known better.

* ''[[Dear America|My Heart Is On The Ground]]'' by Ann Rinaldi failed history. The book is about Nannie Little Rose, a Lakota Native American girl who is sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Firstly, Nannie probably would not have been given a diary in the first place, which discounts the whole book. But, let's say she was. She would not refer to herself as "Sioux", instead she would use her area or band. Rinaldi also gets many Lakota customs wrong, mainly by using American descriptions of them rather than finding out what actually happened. She even makes up the more "Indian" sounding [[You No Take Candle|words]] for Lakota words that already exist, such as "night-middle-made" and "friend-to-go-between-us". A detailed list of the historical inaccuracies can be found [http://www.oyate.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111:my-heart-is-on-the-ground&catid=35:avoid here].

* [[John Keats]]'s ''On First Looking into [[Woolseyism|Chapman's]] [[Homer]]'' compares the experience to "stout Cortez" becoming the first European to see the Pacific. Actually, Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first guy to do this.

* Anne S. Lindbergh does this a lot. In ''The Hunky-Dory Dairy'' which features some families from 1881, trapped in the present day, the families still believe in witchcraft. When they hear of modern technology, such as helicopters, they believe it is literally powered by devils. Never mind that, by the 1880s, the Industrial Revolution had started a century before, and experiments in human flight were already underway.

** She does this in ''The Prisoner of Pineapple Place'' as well. Mr. Sweeney, the stodgy isolationist conservative who, fearing U.S. entry in World War II, took an entire alley with six families out of time, is so conservative that he objects to the newfangled concept of "introducing foreign substances into the body" (medicine). Never mind that ingestible medicine has been around for ''centuries'', if not longer.

** Battle of Jericho: according to the Bible the Israelites conquered Jericho after God knocked down the walls. According to archaeologists the Israelites were conquering this region in 1400 BC and by 1562 BC Jericho was abandoned and didn't have any walls. So the Israelites were over 150 years too late.

** That may depend on the archaeology. Jericho has been recorded at dozens of varying locations thanks to the fact that the city was repeatedly being rebuilt before being destroyed (hence why in the Gospels Jesus was recorded as both "entering Jericho" and "exiting it" at the same time.) At one site, though, they did find the walls. They were completely sunk into the ground.

** Another curious fact: the word "cross" is never used in the original manuscripts of the Bible. To this day we don't know the exact shape of the piece of wood that the Romans nailed Jesus on. What we see in churches is the general approximation, and has several variations in different denominations.

** In general rule of thumb, the older the events described are, the harder it is to tell the difference between truth and fabrication. As such most of the Old Testament is very difficult to verify either way, but most of the New Testament can be put to a test, and parts of it have been verified quite reliably, while others have been found extremely suspect.

* ''Hanta Yo'', by Ruth Beebe Hill. The whole book. It's supposed to be an epic, and [[Epic Fail|it is]].

* ''[[Detectives in Togas]]'' (set in Ancient Rome) has some of them. One boy claims to have goldfish (can't be, they originated in China). Or when one boy calls another one a turkey (which came from America).

* In the ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'' sequel, ''Hannibal Rising,'' Hannibal Lecter is shown watching the opening of Operation Barbarossa---the German invasion of the USSR in WWII...from his parents' aristocratic estate ''in Lithuania.'' Lithuania had been invaded by the Soviets a year or so before, and by that time, the Lecters and all other local aristocrats would have probably been in Siberia.

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

** And Lady Godiva didn't really ride naked on a horse.

*** There actually seem to be disagreeing sentiments on the matter by historians, so, as yet, one can't say for sure.

* On ''[[The West Wing]]'', many of President Bartlet's historical anecdotes are inaccurate. [[Fan Community Nicknames|Wingnuts]] often explain this as evidence that the President himself is not infallible, or (perhaps more of a stretch) that the series is set in a universe with a slightly different history (after all, if the current world political leaders are different, and the American election schedule is even two years off, why not some other things as well?).

{{quote| '''Tory''': "We just killed a dead president!"<br />

'''Grant''': "Ben Franklin was never president..." }}

* In ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', the city of Angel Grove was colonized by the British in the early 18th century. The city of Angel Grove is in ''southern California''. Which coast were the original 13 colonies on, again?

** To be fair, [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|it was never actually stated Angel Grove is in California]] -- just assumed by most of the fanbase.

*** Also to be fair, it's suggested that Angel Grove is one of the towns that moved to California during the Gold Rush, as a fair few did. Which is backed up by which side of the town the ocean seems to be on in "Return of the Green Ranger", plus the lack of any sign of the Command Center, while during "Wild West" Rangers the town is definitely out in the American West in the 19th century and the Command Center is in reach.

** Also in that episode, references to "The Salem Witches"...as if all the accused in Salem ''actually'' identified as witches (or even wiccans). Apparently Bones missed the entire ''point'' of that event in history, that ordinary people were falsely accused. There were no "Salem Witches", that's the ''point''.

** In another episode, Booth claimed to be a descendent of John Wilkes Booth. John Wilkes Booth, while married, did not have any children, legitimate or illegitimate. His brothers and sister on the other hand had children, but no one can claim direct descent from the man who killed President Lincoln.

* The main plot of the [[CBBC]] series ''[[Leonardo]]'' involves Piero de' Medici plotting to overthrow the Duke of Florence. Except there wasn't a Duke of Florence in Leonardo's time, and Piero was the ''de facto'' ruler of the city himself. (The later Duke of Florence was Piero's great-grandson, simply formalising the Medici rule.)

** Interestingly, in one episode Piero give his son Lorenzo a potted history of how his grandfather Giovanni invented modern banking, which is more or less accurate (except that he says Giovanni "arrived" in Florence, when he was actually born there).

** In the very next episode, "Da Vinci's Notebook," [[Gadgeteer Genius|Siroc]] states, "As everybody knows, da Vinci died in Paris." Actually, he died in Amboise, over 100 miles away.

* [[Played for Laughs]] a few times in [[The Office]], such as in the early episode regarding sensitivity training.

** Shakespeare was patronized by the British monarchy (in spite of ''possibly'' not being a good Protestant). He knew exactly what side his bread was buttered on.

*** [[Dan Brown]] is offended at being compared to Shakespeare because -- as he points out -- he gets things like geography and clothing accurate. [[Dan Browned|Usually.]]

** ''[[Richard III]]'' is Tudor propaganda based on dubious sources. Other than Richard's accession and death and the murders of the Princes in the Tower, the Bard gets everything wrong.

*** And even the story of the Princes in the Tower is [http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=50 questionable].

** Shakespeare's portrayal of Henry V as a wild vagabond when he was the heir to the throne is also inaccurate. Henry was always the same duty bound, serious man his whole life.

** Shakespeare has King John say, "The thunder of my cannon shall be heard" in France. The first English cannons were used at the battle of Crécy in 1346 – 130 years after the death of King John. Cannon are also mentioned in ''Theater/Hamlet'' which is set in the 11th century, well before gunpowder was invented im Europe.

* ''[[The Crucible]]'' has so many inaccuracies about the [[Burn the Witch|Salem Witch trials]] that it practically needs its own page.

** For starters, Abigail and friends were children, not teenagers as in the play.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Evony]]''. Apparently Napoleon's diary was written in the medieval era.

* ''[[Command and Conquer Red Alert]]'': Ignoring the alternate paths that history takes and the futuristic technologies that develop in the actual games (which are just [[Rule of Cool]]), artistic license is taken with the backstory. [[Adolf Hitler]] was removed from history when Einstein travelled back in time to 1924, partly explaining the lack of opposition to Soviet expansion, but how did the Soviet Union spontaneously transform from one of the most economically underdeveloped countries in Europe into a massive superpower armed with atomic weapons ready to take over the entire continent (The aggressive [[Take Over the World]] plan is in itself already ignoring [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s cautious nature and "Socialism in one country" policy.?) Also, why are all the borders in their post-1945 state?

** An [[Ancient Conspiracy]] on the part of [[Big Bad]] Kane and the Brotherhood of Nod is probably the answer to your first question. Also. while Stalin did adopt Socialism in One Country as a more pragmatic alternate to the old theory of Permanent Revolution, he still very much plotted [[World Domination]], and Moscow continued to directed Communist parties throughout the world to this end (though it came second to Stalin's interests and was sometimes quite disastorous for the parties in question, especially in Spain and Germany). His plan was to make Russia the industrial equal of any Western Great Power (he half-succeeded, at huge human cost) and then wait for the predicted and (to Marxists everywhere, and some others) inevitable [[The Great Depression|next big economic crisis]] and [[World War Two|next big global conflict]] (planning for Russia to [[Xanatos Gambit|stay out of it]] and then taking over Europe after the dust settled, though only partly by armed force, mainly by inspiring working class revolution in these countries-in-crisis thus sweeping the native Communist parties into power (either by election or armed revolution). This is mostly what happened, though it was hampered when Hitler invaded Russia so he only got Eastern Europe (though Hitler's actions ''did'' give him a much better excuse to march over Europe).

 

== Webcomics ==

** Marquise is actually the proper term, in French.

** There is also the fact that Marquise fits the number requirement in the Ancestor's titles while Marchioness does not. The title is entirely intentional.

'''Nazar''': And how many ships did he lose in that battle?<br />

'''Fatebane''': It's the principle that matters! If she could do it, so can we! }}

** It actually lampshades the trope and is more about [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe]].

* [http://www.sff.net/people/lucy-snyder/brain/2005/12/playing-poker-with-tarot-cards.html This] article on a Tarot [[Poker]] game in a fantasy novel claims that the Tarot deck is the ancestor of the modern playing card deck. Modern European playing cards only appeared sometime around 1370, and the earliest Tarot decks appeared circa 1440.

Like he did in 1950 with the Chinese army }}

* [http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_akLHpeO7qyA/TAIR9GmXr5I/AAAAAAAABKg/vnv9Wli_x54/s1600/49899909839308766025308.jpg This] [[Demotivational Poster]]. It plays [[Medieval Morons]] and [[The Dung Ages]] perfectly straight and exaggerates them [[Up to Eleven]]. ''No'', Ancient Greece and Rome did not have science as we know it (though they did come up with some of the important precursors.) In any case, they were definitely not as advanced as the eighteenth century. No, the [[Middle Ages]] were not completely stagnant. And ''no'', the rise of Christianity most ''definitely'' did not [[Critical Research Failure|set all of civilization--]] [[Unfortunate Implications|even the ones which had never heard of Christianity or the West at that point in time--]] [[Critical Research Failure|back to conditions circa 1000 BCE.]]

* Some of the editors of the [[wikipedia:Icelandic Commonwealth|article on the history of the Icelandic Commonwealth]] on [[That Other Wiki]] seem to be (very unsubtly) shilling in their ideas about it as "a model anarchist commune".

* [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wqo9IVCWV5E/SRr_T7IbTKI/AAAAAAAABgI/Vlgydog2iRs/s1600/Bizarro%2BPinata%2B11-09-08%2BWB.jpg This] ''[[Bizarro]]'' strip.

** [[Rule of Funny]] is probably an explanation for these inconsistencies.

** Also, Cartman, who had the vision, is a [[Jerkass]], [[Butt Monkey]], [[The Ditz]], and saved from being a [[Complete Monster]] only by generating a bit of sympathy via [[Rule of Funny]]. Any historical errors can easily be chalked up to Cartman.

** Hoover was involved in the construction of the Hoover dam, but he started this involvement well before he was president.

*** [[Government Conspiracy|That's what they want us to believe, at least...]]

* The popular notion is that [[Walt Disney]]'s animated cartoon ''Ben and Me'' is what started the misconception of [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s famous kite experiment, which has found its way into every adaptation of the event. Though he did come up with the idea, there's no clear evidence that Franklin ever performed it himself, and the ''[[Myth Busters]]'' clearly showed that if Franklin attempted the experiment the way it's popularly portrayed, he would have been fried to a crisp by the lightning bolt.

** Not to mention that, in a sort of pathetic way, Mad Mod tries to pass off everything in American history as never happening and declares himself king, probably to make Big Ben look even bigger.

* Any and all witch burning scenes that claim they are from the Salem Witch Trials (see ''[[Teaching Mrs. Tingle]]'' under {{smallcaps|[[Film]]}}). Example of both used in ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' and ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.

* The ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short ''Yankee Doodle Bugs'' has [[Bugs Bunny]] helping his nephew Clyde study for a test by giving him a crash course in early American history. The accuracy of Bugs' accounts can be measured by Clyde's response after he returns home from school and Bugs asks how he did: glaring angrily, pulling out a [[Dunce Cap]], and placing it on his head. ("Does ''this'' answer your question?")

* Hilariously parodied in an episode of ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. Mojo Jojo, drafted into babysitting the girls, tells them a horribly inaccurate version of Napoleon's life. Before he can finish, the girls shut him down by pointing out the flaws in his story in between hitting him with pillows.

** His illness didn't really hit him until later on in life; the British ''constitution'' on the other hand ''did'' limit his role in government anyway. He also was probably one of the ''nicest'' Kings Britain ever had; not a saint or anything but very much considering the crown a duty rather than something that gave him the right to be a dick, so he wasn't a tyrant by any real stretch of the imagination. He supported the war on the colonies because countries generally do not tolerate armed internal rebellions, and for all that was still happy to make peace once his side lost, treating the other side as a [[Worthy Opponent]] if anything.

** It also suggests that England directly governed the colonies before the 1770s. In fact, the colonies had been largely allowed to govern themselves before then, and it was Parliament's attempts to impose more control on the colonies that was met with resistance.

{{quote| '''Lazlo:''' Did Napoleon give up the moon to the Swiss? Don't you think he would've planted his butt on a pinecone to keep the moon base from falling to the barbarians?!}}

** The others do appear confused by this, but the speech does its job anyway.

* The [[Anastasia]] film feature is plagued by this, granted, it was directed mainly at children but still:

** Rasputin was a monk summoned to the court by the Tsar's wife herself, and it was because he was believed to be capable of alleviating the Tsarevitch's uncontrollable hemophilia.