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Historical Villain Downgrade: Difference between revisions
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Basically, this trope occurs whenever an historical villain's evil actions are either glossed over or reduced in severity, in order to make them palatable, [[But Not Too Evil|even as a villain]], to mainstream television audiences.
Compare [[Lighter and Softer]], [[Politically
{{examples}}
== [[Film]] ==
* In the film ''[[Conspiracy]]'', which revolves around the 1942 Wannsee Conference where prominent officials of [[Nazi Germany]] met to discuss the implementation of the Holocaust, [
** Part of this is because Lange is used to highlight the Nazi objection to the ''Einsatztruppen'': it was deeply unsettling to execute large numbers of noncombatants with a gun. This is one of the reasons why the gas chambers were developed - to remove the killers from the consequences of their actions. Lange's objections are intended to reflect this - he doesn't give a damn about the fact that Jews have died, but doesn't like having to kill them. He is contemptuous of Heydrich, because Heydrich hasn't been there and overseen the killing himself. The fact that he is at least a source of irritation for Heydrich conspires to paint him in a better light than he actually is in the film.
* The SS camp commander Amon Goeth in ''[[Schindler's List]]'' is a prime portrayal of a sadistic monster who loved murdering people during the Holocaust. In real life however, he was ''even worse''. Spielberg had to tone down the man's senseless cruelty because his crimes were so horrible and numerous (which included a frequently used torture dungeon built under his house, also shooting playing children with his sniper rifle, personally killing half a thousand people with his own hands, and more) that [[Reality Is Unrealistic|to an audience it simply wouldn't have been believable on screen]] - some had trouble even grasping that an actual person such as the one shown in the movie could actually exist.
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** Japan is a good example. But so are the other Imperial powers. That means, America, Britain, France, Spain and many others often get toned down.
* Various historical dictators will have their atrocities glazed over by the modern apologists, for political reasons.
* [http://www.canadianlegends.ca/Products.asp This] action figure of [
* In media based on the New Testament of [[The Bible]], Pontius Pilate is often portrayed as reluctant to sentence Jesus to execution. This is unlikely given that Pilate was recalled to Rome because the ''[[The Empire|Romans]]'' though he was too brutal.
* [
* The history books often leave out the fact that some African tribes profitted from the slave trade by capturing and selling rival tribes.
* [[Mao Ze Dong]] and [[Josef Stalin]]- the two deadliest dictators in the history of humanity- are still loved and respected in their home countries. The same countries where they organized the deaths of dozens of millions of people.
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[[Category:Hollywood History]]
[[Category:Historical Villain Downgrade]]
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