In many ways a jumped up soap opera, I confess that my Bride and I have been captivated by The Crown. It is in its Fifth Season now of depicting the very long reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II. One of my joys has been detecting when it is playing fast and loose with the actual History. Almost all dramatizations of History have altered history in the interest of entertainment. Shakespeare in Henry V made no bones about it:
PROLOGUE
Enter Chorus
Chorus
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash’d in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide on man,
And make imaginary puissance;
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i’ the receiving earth;
For ’tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o’er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
Exit
The point of Art distorting History was made in two ways by this video:
The video itself powerfully conveys this message. It also conveys this message by being itself false to history. Trumbull the painter was 69 years old in 1825, a veteran of the Revolution, and not a clueless young man as depicted in the video. From accounts that we have John Adams, rather than disliking the painting, actually expressed his approval of it.
Art is one thing and History another. Art can take a historical event, as Shakespeare did the battle of Agincourt, and make it immortal, but Art has a different purpose than History, just as paintings have a different purpose than photographs. Deeper meanings are for Art, while History is best served when it attempts to accurately relate what happened.
“… History is best served when it attempts to accurately relate what happened.”
Amen to that. Of course, as we know, history is written by the winners, so to serve history well requires great restraint and honesty. I wonder if the history of our era will be well served by anyone.
Of course, as we know, history is written by the winners,
Usually not only by the winners. Some of the best memoirs of the Civil War came from former Confederates
“Usually not only by the winners. Some of the best memoirs of the Civil War came from former Confederates.”
Great point, maybe my remark should be qualified to say most of the “macro level” history gets written by the winners.
Frank:
In the short run, history is written by the winners, in the long run by the survivors.
(Sorry, I misspelled my own name)
“In the short run, history is written by the winners, in the long run by the survivors.”
Good one. 👍😎
A number of the subjects are still alive, they have no documentary or testimonial basis for much of it, it would be invasive if they did have it, without a doubt much of it is tortious, about 30% of the population will take it literally, and some of the principals involved in producing it openly loathe the royal family.