Distorted history: Movies failed to get Civil War, black-white relations right.

Knight Ridder/Indianapolis Star ^ | Feb. 3, 2002 | By Cecil Johnson

[bleudevil]

Movies failed to get Civil War, black-white relations right.

Enduring fans of filmdom's Gone With the Wind may be disappointed to learn, in reading The Reel Civil War, that the lovely actress who so convincingly portrayed ultimate Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara knew next to nothing about the history and culture of the American South.

[bleudevil]

I clicked on this review when I saw that it was about "Gone With The Wind," because I enjoyed the movie. I've been more interested in it as a romance than as a Civil War history, though. Then the book review turned out to be more thought-provoking than I expected, so I posted it over here where I knew somebody would have something interesting to say about it.

Kind of sounds like the author had an agenda in mind when he did his research, but I'll withhold final judgment until I read the book.

[BillyBoy]

Probably 70-80% of the civil war movies I've seen, from Buster Keaton's silent, to GWTW, to 1993's "Gettysburg" (the work of southerner Ted Turner, who made a cameo appearance) have been MUCH more pro-southern than pro-northern. The southerners on this forum who complain the media is conspiring to make them all look bad and making "revisionist" history seem to completely ignore this fact. In fact, the only "revisionist" history I've seen is that most movies that depict Lincoln are grossly inaccurate. The old 30s and 40s films always make Lincoln out to be some stone-faced, grave man with a deep voice, totally focused on buisness, always in a city-setting, and having little regard to personal interactions. Of course, eyewitnesses to the real Lincoln all agreed that the guy was a laid-back, folksy sort of politician from a rural, frontier region...he had a wryly sense of humor and many of his associates were, in fact, southerners (including his wife). Ironically, liberal Gore Vidal probably came up with the most accurate Lincoln movie, but it suffered from HORRIBLE casting.

[BillyBoy]

BTW, best civil war film: Glory

[widowithfoursons]

Go to today's worldnetdaily.com and read the review of a new book about Lincoln. It will open your eyes regarding his agenda during the Civil War.

[gunnedah]

What is history anyway? Most of it cant be authenticated anyway.History is the preception out of one persons eyes at a given time.Most of History the way it is being taught has been manipulated,distorted and an awful lot left out.For any of you young enough just keep your eyes on the state of New Jersey and you will eventually see what I mean.We have gotten to the point that the truth probably is not known since its been changed according to Poltical Correctness.Truth like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!

[bleudevil]

Yes, wasn't he born in Kentucky?

I haven't seen many Civil War movies, but I know that more recent pop-culture movies and TV shows about the south usually show it in a positive light - "Designing Women," "Fried Green Tomatoes," etc. They usually show at least one black and one white character who get along well, and at some point the white character does something to prove how non-racist he is.

[Alabama_Wild_Man]

King Lincoln Bump....

Sorta/Kinda the way that I feel, about the Great Seperator....

[Caipirabob]

Try the original "Red Badge Of Courage" sometime. Maybe not too in depth on history, but there are some scenes that are well worth the 90 minutes. I can't remember the lead actor's name, but this is the WWII hero who took out a Nazi machine gun encampment all by himself while it was slaughtering his squad. It's Black & White. Good stuff.

[Non-Sequitur]

So I can put you down as 'neutral' on the subject of Lincoln?

[Non-Sequitur]

You're thinking of Audie Murphy. He was in it and, as a trivia note, another WWII figure was in the movie as well. Bill Mauldin, the cartoonist, in what I believe was his only movie role.

[Non-Sequitur]

Ho hum. Another day, another sothron rant.

[rebelyell]

Stephen Crane is the author, I believe.

[WhiskeyPapa]

lincoln was a war criminal who destroyed The Constitution while "saving" the union. I hope he is burning in hell.

"...in the wake of the assasination, editors, generals and public officialsacross the South voiced the opinion that the region had lost its best friend.Indignation meetings, so-called, were convened in many places. Lincoln stoodfor peace, mercy, and forgiveness. His loss, therefore, was a calamity for thedefeated states. This opinion was sometimes ascribed to Jefferson Davis, eventhough he stood accused of complicity in the assasination....He [Davis] readthe telegram [bringing news of Lincoln's death] and when it brought an exultantshout raised his hand to check the demonstration..."He had power over theNorthern people," Davis wrote in his memoir of the war," and was withoutmalignity to the southern people."...Alone of the southern apologists,[Alexander] Stephens held Lincoln in high regard.

"The Union with him insentiment," said the Georgian, "rose to the sublimnity of religious mysticism...in 1873 "Little Elick" Stephens, who again represented his Georgia district in Congress, praised Lincoln for his wisdom, kindness and generosity in a well-publicized speech seconding the acceptance of the gift of Francis B.Carpenter's famous painting of Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation."

...[in 1880] a young law student at the University of Virginia,Thomas Woodrow Wilson, speaking for the southern generation that grew tomaturity after the war, declared, "I yield to no one precedence in love of theSouth. But because I love the South, I rejoice in the failure of the Confederacy"...the leading propenent of that creed was Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution. In 1886 Grady, thirty-six years old, was invited to address the New England Society of New York, on the 266th anniversary to the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. General Sherman, seated on the platform,was an honored guest, and the band played [I am not making this up] "Marching Through Georgia" before Grady was introduced.

Pronouncing the death of the Old South, he lauded the New South of Union and freedom and progress. And he offered Lincoln as the vibrant symbol not alone of reconciliation but of American character. "Lincoln," he said, "comprehended within himself all the strength, and gentleness, all the majesty and grace of the republic." He was indeed, the first American, "the sum of Puritan and Cavalier, in whose ardentnature were fused the virtues of both, and in whose great soul the faults of both were lost."

--From "Lincoln in American Memory" by Merrill D. Peterson P. 46-48

Walt

[Non-Sequitur]

Yeah, we're few in number but we are persisteant in tracking down sothron misinformation where ever it may be. We're kind of like super heroes in that regard.

[Vigilantcitizen]

"Enduring fans of filmdom's Gone With the Wind may be disappointed to learn, in reading The Reel Civil War, that the lovely actress who so convincingly portrayed ultimate Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara knew next to nothing about the history and culture of the American South."

Errr... GWTW was a work of fiction, not a history text.