Historical Hero Upgrade: Difference between revisions

** While in ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', Dante puts him as a great traitor in the deepest level of hell, [[William Shakespeare]] saw him as a man who died for the Republic's interests. For a long time the prevailing opinion among liberal-minded intellectuals that Brutus was a shining paragon of republicanism and Caesar a grasping tyrant. They probably patterned this off of his ancestor ''Lucius'' Brutus, slayer of the last king of Rome, who (if he actually existed) got a Historical Hero Upgrade in Roman historiography itself.

** Plutarch wrote in his book of historical biographies, ''Parallel Lives'', that Brutus was the last great republican, so it isn't unambiguously a case of an upgrade.

** [[Mark Twain]]'s ''Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|by the Sieur Louis de Conte]]'', which Twain called his favorite of all his books, is a rare example of near-total [[Sarcasm Failure]] on Twain's part, being a straight, starry-eyed depiction of a [[Lady of War]] and her noble death at the hands of evil. A lot of people called him out on this, including [[George Bernard Shaw]], who kept Joan the traditional heroine in his play ''Saint Joan'', but felt that her enemies had been the victims of a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]] and opted for [[White and Grey Morality]] in his version of events. Quite incorrectly, however, as regards Peter Cauchon, Bishop of Beauvais, who ''was'' a swine.

* Empress/Queen Consort Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary aka [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Sisi/Sissi]] got ''many'' "biographical novels" describing her as a mix of a grown [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]] and a full-blown [[Purity Sue]] who is utterly hated or bullied by her [[Evil Matriarch]] mother-in-law Sophie (who was more of an [[Ignored Expert]]) and pretty much brings sun and love to everyone else, solving their problems with much class and sweetness. This reaches egregious levels with the ''Sissi'' movie trilogy and the ''[[Princess Sissi]]'' animated TV series. [[wikipedia:Elisabeth of Bavaria|The real Elisabeth]], however, was much closer to a [[Broken Bird]] [[Rebellious Princess]], [[Fish Out of Water|unable to withstand the pressure coming from the Habsburg Court]] and [[Break the Cutie|plagued by disgraces and mental illnesses]]. (Arguably, the most down-to-Earth and realistic portrayal of Sissi in media would Brigitte Hamann's biography, ''The Reluctant Empress''.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther| Martin Luther] gets this a lot. Everyone knows the old story: [[From Nobody to Nightmare| An obscure, low-ranking monk]] in the small German town of Wittenberg became embittered and distrustful of a Church he felt had lost its way. His faith faltered as he saw greed and corruption consume the leaders of his once-proud religion. So on All-Hallows Eve of 1517, [[Sudden Principled Stand| he had enough]], and in broad daylight, boldly marched up the door of his church and nailed a document detailing [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses 95 grievances], accusing his own superiors of acts he found inexcusable, most involving sales of indulgences, which was basically exchanging divine forgiveness for money. While it initially led to his excommunication and exile, [[You Cannot Kill an Idea| his small voice struck a small spark in the congregation that became a roaring fire]], leading to the Protestant Reformation that would change the world. Only problem is, as heroic and dramatic as it sounds, that’s likely not how it happened. For starters, the key event - Luther nailing the grievances to the church door - was first reported by someone who could not possibly have witnessed it, and was not made public until after Luther died. And speaking of which, even on his deathbed, Luther never expressed true disdain for his faith, and considered himself a loyal Catholic to the end; he was not known to have mentioned or wrote of the key event personally. While he did indeed write the document detailing the 95 thesis, they were likely presented in the form of a polite letter to his superiors with his concerns included.

* Matthias Corvinus ruled Hungary with an iron fist. He was known for imprisoning the nobles who crowned him king, and instituting high taxes to maintain his army of [[Elite Mooks]]. Despite this, he is known as Hungary's greatest and most iconic folk hero, for his sense of justice and his rumoured habit of mingling with the common folk. The fact that the kingdom of Hungary was living it's golden age during his rule, and practically died with him, also helps his case.

** In ''[[The Winds of War and War and Remembrance]]'' this is subverted; he is generally portrayed well but he is not "a saint" except in the sense that real saints are often recorded as having rather curious lives. FDR is something of a [[Manipulative Bastard]] who plays with Victor by alternately offering a combat command which he keeps postponing, and appealing to Victor's idealism to do the job FDR says is most important. Aside from that [[The Government]] is miserly about giving passports to refugees, and strands evidence of atrocities in red tape. And while it is not clear who is to blame for that, FDR ''is'' the President...

 

* Think the real [[Jackie Robinson]] was a badass athlete and a civil rights pioneer? In ''[[Lovecraft Country]]'', he ''literally'' [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|punches out Cthulhu!]] With [[Batter Up|a baseball bat]], naturally.

** This may have, in fact, been an analogy, as the episode was loaded with them. [[Word of God|leading actor Jonathan Majors]] claimed that Robinson was supposed to be "the manifestation of Black heroism at the time".

 

=== Theatre ===