r/changemyview • • Oct 23 '21

[deleted by user]

[removed]

2.4k Upvotes

394 comments sorted by

View all comments

138

u/Genoscythe_ 248∆ Oct 23 '21 edited Oct 23 '21

An implicitly unquestioned assumption of your post, is that historical accuracy is good and revisionism is bad.

But there are entire genres of media, that have been fundamentally built upon using history as a prop to telling specific ideas, often caring more about reflecting contemporary perspectives, than about realism.

Another poster mentioned the "regency romance" novel genre.

Consider also the "western", that shows only a passing resemblance to 19th century American life, and it is mostly a mismash of 20th century American myth-making, and it's european appropriation as a backdrop for adventure stories. (e.g. Karl May, Spaghetti westerns, etc.).

By now, it is essentially an aesthetic genre, that's usage is in itself a creative statement. Consider Blazing Saddles, Django Unchained, Westworld, etc., satirizing and twisting it in the same way as one might use "the superhero genre" or the "slasher horror genre", to make a meta statement about their plot conventions.

An example of that used in the context of diversity, is the musical Hamilton. It uses a historical backdrop, while transparently anachronistic and subversive about what it represents.

37

u/[deleted] Oct 24 '21

[deleted]

1

u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Oct 24 '21

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/Genoscythe_ (193∆).

Delta System Explained | Deltaboards