Topic on Forum:Trope Talk

Written by the Winners vs. Historical X Upgrade vs. Politically-Correct History

4
TBeholder (talkcontribs)

Noticeably decayed and overlapping, so needs better definitions (at least Written by the Winners) and sorting for the less vague criteria.

I propose to add

See also Historical Villain Upgrade/Historical Hero Upgrade for the cases of the stories being far removed from the interested parties telling them.

then limit the first at least to continuously existing political camps, and use the last for what didn't fit in the first 3.

GethN7 (talkcontribs)

Sounds like a good idea.

Robkelk (talkcontribs)

I'm sure we can come up with a consistent difference between the three.

Let's use Custer's Last Stand as an example. Written by the Winners would call it a massacre of Custer and his troops. Politically-Correct History would call it a valiant last stand by the indigenous peoples (pointedly not using the word "Indians"). Historical X Upgrade would raise both Custer and Crazy Horse to the level of military geniuses. Meanwhile, actual history would call the event the Battle of the Little Bighorn or the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and say it was neither a massacre nor the final battle in the Great Sioux War.

Now, how to turn that into generic terms?

2dgirlfan (talkcontribs)

I thought they were already distinct.

Written by the winners is where the winner of a conflict decides who was righteous and who was not ini t. It's generally an in-universe thing too.

Historical X Upgrade is how fictionalized historical people are portrayed as a hero/bad guy well in excess of their historical action. The storyteller generally has no stake in the person's reputation and just does it for dramatic/laziness purposes. Abraham Lincoln being full on MLK equality speeches and Jefferson Davis holding mass executions of blacks by tying them to railroad tracks would be examples of HHU and HVU.

Politically-Correct History is how a work of fiction doesn't bother showing intolerance of the past. A story set in the Hundred Years War where nobody cares the group consists of a homosexual, a black guy, an unwed teenage mother and a jew is Politically-Correct History.