“Based on a true story” are five very dangerous and misleading words. The problem with this phrase is that, while films claim to portray events that happened in real life, it’s impossible for them to actually do so. Hollywood films are never completely objective, specially those that try to retell a historical event. This is because they need to dramatize reality to a certain extent in order to make their stories more compelling. Moreover, they need visual impact to make their stories attractive, which also makes them prone to exaggerate the dimensions of certain events in order to make them more attractive to the viewer.
1. Argo (2012)
It is known that Ben Affleck’s Argo, based on Tony Mendez’ mission to rescue six American hostages from the Iranian Revolution in 1980, changed some of the facts of the mission to make the movie more cinematic —and some people even applauded it for doing so.
The first racial problem in the movie is a problem of representation. Why does Ben Affleck have to play the Mexican American lead? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just cast a Hispanic actor for the role instead of making Affleck play the character in brown face? By whitewashing the hero of the story, Argo failed in countering the stereotypes that portray Latinos as temperamental, unintelligent, sexual, and aggressive.
Furthermore, by focusing only on the American perspective, the film demonizes the people of Iran, making them look poor, fanatically religious, and ignorant, in-tune with the revolutionaries who took the American hostages. They’re portrayed as if they were almost deranged, which only feeds the stereotype of Middle Easterners as dangerous.
2. Birth of a Nation (1915)
Since its earliest years, Hollywood interpreted and portrayed history in the manner that best fit its directors’ intentions, often taking a subjective perspective while claiming historical objectivity. The clearest example of this is D.W. Griffith’s magnum opus The Birth of a Nation, a film that made its way into history because of its innovative style and montage. In it, Griffith portrays the story of a Confederate family during the American Civil War. Unsurprisingly, the film glorifies the birth of the KKK and stigmatizes African Americans as both thieves and rapists. The film, despite its significance to the art of filmmaking, was nothing more than a racist piece of propaganda.
Today, the political intentions and the artifice of The Birth of a Nation are clear to any person who’s acquainted with the Ku Klux Klan. But, when it comes to events that are closer to us in history, most of us don’t realize the way movies can manipulate our political stances and opinions.
3. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
In 2013, Kathryn Bigelow’s tour de force, Zero Dark Thirty —a chronicle of the ten-year hunt of Osama Bin Laden— was criticized because torture is depicted as being essential in the finding the leader of Al-Qaeda. This, however, hasn’t been historically proven, suggesting to the viewer that torture is an effective (or even acceptable) method of gathering intelligence when it is not.
The movie is a clear example of how Hollywood creates scenarios that manipulate the viewer’s opinion on political issues in order to promote certain narratives and perspectives on history. All of the Arab and Muslims characters are depicted as the shadowy parts of a Terrorist Network, the sole exception being a CIA agent. This fictional construction only gives a “basis” for Islamophobia and the widespread fear towards Arab cultures.
4. Broken Arrow (1950)
Hollywood’s representation of reality as a whole is important, and it does play a crucial part in building a person’s view of the world.
Native Americans have suffered too because of the stereotypical representation that films present, particularly women. These women have been constantly portrayed as princesses who feel an unbearable attraction to white man. In Delmer Daves’ film, Tom Jeffords, played by the handsome James Stewart, leads a passionate romance with a young Apache woman named Soonseeahray. Even though the film apparently supports racial integration, it backfires at its purpose: the Native Americans were all played by a white cast, and it promotes the myth of the “squaw” who finds white men irresistible. To exoticize a woman of any ethnicity is, in a way, an incitation to harassment. These misconceptions translate into real life, as one out of every three American Indian women have experienced a rape attempt according to the United States Justice Department.
5. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Everybody loves Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Audrey Hepburn’s interpretation of the socialite Holly Golightly was hands down the most significant character in her career. “Moon River” is , to the day, one of the most lovable and heartwarming love songs in film history. However, it is also charged with a stomach-turning amount of racism. Mr. Yunioshi, interpreted by none other than Mickey Rooney, is one of the most gruesome depictions of an ethnicity ever taken to the screen.
Golightly’s buck-toothed Japanese landlord is completely inconsequential to the film’s plot. He only serves the purpose of annoying both the character and the spectator with “comic relief” scenes, speaking with a broken accent and constantly hitting himself on the head. However, we can now see this character was nothing but a remnant of the WWII caricature of Japanese people made in America. Rooney’s degrading and clumsy interpretation of Yunioshi is a statement from White America claiming racial superiority.
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Films create an important part of what people perceive as reality, even if they’re only fiction. When a movie claims to be truthful, we tend to believe it. This allows filmmakers to interpret and reshape not only our past, but also our present.
Reality is much more complex than what you see in the movies . Don’t suspend your disbelief.
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If you’re interested in knowing in more depth about filmmaker’s unforgivable errors, don’t forget to check the out the movie mistakes cinephiles will never forgive. Afterwards, you can treat yourself by watching the the BBC’s rank of the best movies you need to watch.
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References
New York Times
The Guardian
ThoughtCo
