The Tudors, Reign, The Patriot… What do all of these shows and movies have in common? As much as we love watching them, how much historical accuracy is in them and are they honestly meant for entertainment or information? Or is it a decent mix of both. My argument is that it is a mixture of both. However, Reign is pretty much just for entertainment due to the fact that at least 75% of the show is historically inaccurate from what I know. While The Tudors is primarily meant for entertainment, a good majority of the show is accurate. The entertainment is because it is a Showtime show. However, what category does The Conspirator fall under?
There have been many mixed reviews on this movie. However, both come to one conclusion. While it is historically accurate, it comes across more as a drama piece than as a history piece. As NPR describes it “The Conspirator is a graceful film with a heartbreaking climax, but instead of a great and timeless drama, it’s just a powerful melodrama” due to the fact that even though it does make a great movie for the trial of Mary Surratt, the characters are very overdramatic in their acting. However, AHA Today makes an even better point when describing the historical accuracy of the movie. When you think, Civil War, slavery is normally the first thing to pop into your head. However, there was no mention of slavery in the movie even though a majority of the main characters, were in fact slave owners. When looking at this fact, how can one really asses the accuracy of a movie and whether or not it was just filmed as a drama piece?
In my opinion, I feel that we should be educating our students on how to do this. Students should know about the characters prior to watching the movie. In fact, you could even turn this into an activity while they are watching the movie. Have them do research on what they are about to watch beforehand and then, while watching the movie, have them compare what they know to be true, what had been left out, and what had been falsified. Overall, I think this is the way we can teach our students about history while using modern day cinema and T.V.
ASU Issues Teaching U.S. History 