«

[Stroggy]

we weren't OT
we were just discussing the fact that, at the time, it was casual for men in the entire civilized region to have homosexual relationships.
And that it is hollywood that covered it up for years.
And now a legion of people have spawned that are shocked when a movie about the era does portray homosexuality.

[Havell]

A spoof of the way that hollywood skews history has just come out in England, called "Churchill: The Hollywood Years". It's how Hollywood would tell the story of WWII with Winston Churchill (the Prime Minister of Britain during WWII incidentally) as a US Marine who wise cracks as he conquers the D-Day beach of Normandy single handedly.

[Shambler]

Originally posted by R Havell@Dec 4 2004, 03:13 PM
A spoof of the way that hollywood skews history has just come out in England, called "Churchill: The Hollywood Years". It's how Hollywood would tell the story of WWII with Winston Churchill (the Prime Minister of Britain during WWII incidentally) as a US Marine who wise cracks as he conquers the D-Day beach of Normandy single handedly.

I wouldn't put that beyond the American movie industry.

[Danny252]

what would you? :P

[Stroggy]

Originally posted by R Havell@Dec 4 2004, 11:13 PM
A spoof of the way that hollywood skews history has just come out in England, called "Churchill: The Hollywood Years".* It's how Hollywood would tell the story of WWII with Winston Churchill (the Prime Minister of Britain during WWII incidentally) as a US Marine who wise cracks as he conquers the D-Day beach of Normandy single handedly.

Spoof or no spoof I find the entire idea of even making the movie distasteful.
If you ask me its just a silly attempt at a comedy, but to make the idea less distastefull they just brand it as a "hollywood take on WW2"
Whcih is a pity since the old hollywood movies about WW2 are concidered classics by all standards (be they british or american standards)
Just think of "the longest day" or "a bridge too far"

Its exactly because of the cultureless MTV-generation (the very same one that claims the US is fascist for no other reason but to fit in with the crowd) that history is being dumbed down.

Furthermore with reports like these the UK has no right to mock another country for its ignorance or skewing history.

Peacenik: "You warmongering pigdogs don't know where Iraq even is"
Warmonger: "You think Auschwitz is a footballteam"

[mouse31e]

I think to be fair that it would be the same in a lot of countries. It's just that we are expected to remember. I'm English and was never taught anything about WW2 other than Battle of Britain and D-Day landings because they are treated as great events. No-one in England actually learns anything more about WW2 unless they study history beyond high school.

I only know about Auschwitz because my mother taught me about it and I have taken the time to research it further.

It's sad but I don't believe we are the only country guilty of neglecting to teach it.

As for the film, I think it probably is tasteless, but on the other hand they are welcome to mock Britain and America as much as they like in my opinion. Neither country would have won the war without the other - and in fact all of the other allied nations that are often forgotten completely - and I'm fed up of Americans saying they won the war and Brits saying they won the war and hollywood mostly giving a completely fictional version of events.

[Stroggy]

Its still being taught in Belgium but not as in depth as it should be.
I do think it is a disgrace that one of the biggest events in the last few 100 years is simply covered in one or two hours.

I once got in a conflict with a historyteacher because I was upset with the fact that he spent at least 5 classes on the Shoguns and only one class on the rise and fall of Nazi Germany. I hardly think "Under Nazi germany many ethnic groups were systematically executed" sums up the true horror.

And that was just Auschwitz in the poll (the most commonly known name, supposedly) but I think far less people know about Treblinka or Bergen.

And then you get a whole generation of morons saying things like "Bush is Hitler" while they hardly even know who Hitler was or even during what time Hitler lived!

Its due to this mentality that serious events like WW2 are being dumbed down to mere $2 action flicks by today's media.

This is unacceptable.

[mouse31e]

I agree totally.

Most people in England couldn't name one concentration camp so if they don't know Auschwitz they're not going to know any others. You may or may not have heard of Terezin (Theresienstadt) but when I said I was writing a paper on it most people said 'Where?'.

But the English attitude is unfortunately a heroic one. We won, why does it matter any more? We hate the Germans without even knowing why. I really can't stand it.

And all most films do is support that attitude. How many Hollywood films touch on the suffering of those in the camps? Not that many compared to those with heroic escapes from pow camps and big battle scenes where the allies win!

[wendymaree]

I was watching an interview type show one evening where a gentleman was trying to convince the audience that the extermination of Jewish people didn't happen during WW2 - or any other time. He claimed these stories were propaganda raised by the Allies. A survivor from a concentration camp also appeared and she said she saw people being led away to the infamous gas chambers and then described events too gruesome to recount. I forgot most of what this man's reply was, but it involved something like, "I can see that I won't win an argument tonight. You're too clever, Madame." It sounded like he was implying that she was being devious. Some people can't be convinced of something even when the evidence is before them. (Incriminating photos taken from the concentration camps were also flashed onto the screen.)

[mouse31e]

There are plenty of Nazi-supporters who will try and pretend it never happened but the evidence is overwhelming. No-one could create such elaborate propaganda, for a start explain all the camp buildings, the ghost towns and millions of unmarked graves. The Nazi's own undoing was that they kept records of every person they imprisoned and executed. The paperwork still exists. It is totally implausible that the allies manufactured a trail of death and destruction (with paperwork) across most of mainland Europe.