Can factual errors ruin a work of fiction like “Napoleon”? | Culture

In the last month we have been asked more questions about the film Napoleon than for any other problem. Most historians share a mix of envy because of the expectations that big productions like this can create, and frustration because people are only interested in knowing whether the film is “tough.” Generally, when confronted with this question, we react poorly and show our rejection. And with this we move away from the demand for more comprehensive, as general and informative historical knowledge as possible. This is not a minor problem, but shows why we are unable to reach a wider audience interested in history but far removed from the academic format.

There is no point in tearing yourself apart because a film, a novel or a play makes historical mistakes. It’s not a story, it’s fiction. We historians are not obliged to take hemlock, because on the big screen Bonaparte leads a cavalry charge, the hero of Troy Whether platinum blonde or a concentration camp prisoner with abdominal muscles.

Fiction says much more about our present than about the past it reinterprets; We forget that it operates within the boundaries of the leisure and entertainment industry, that it is a global product aimed at all audiences. The furious criticism (nonsense, anachronistic, colonial…) that this and other recent, historically set films have received is also retrospective and speaks more of today than yesterday. They show the struggle for control over conventional, more traditional history, where history is reduced to a sequence of dates and events. By drawing a continuous line from Atapuerca to the present, they attempt to retain the key to explaining the origin of our world and our position in it. Although there is no exact reproduction of the past, today, as in other times of crisis and uncertainty, the notion of the historical legitimacy of the search for truth, which seemed to have been supplanted by that of scientific knowledge, is resurfacing strongly.

There are many uses of the past tense in our daily lives. A good example is itineraries, adaptations or historical recreations related to cultural heritage and the tourism industry. Our digital age integrates the past as a multiple screen. From video games and mobile applications to educational platforms that should receive more attention because they offer unverified historical content that threatens to displace textbooks. Teaching requires careful selection not only of the content, but also of the sources. Elements of visual culture have been integrated into history lessons for some time. Lessons can no longer be understood without images, painting, photography or cartography.

explain the world

Probably the coronation of Isabel II was not exactly as Casado del Alisal portrayed it, but in the midst of the crisis at the end of her reign, it was important that it was portrayed that way. Our duty is to explain how Victorian England attracted the world, and not to fret like the French or Spanish today about there being a lot of Sedan and not a lot of Bailén. In reality, works of fiction make no mistakes, they reintroduce timeless characters like Caesar or Cleopatra, others closer to home like Kennedy or Thatcher, and they transmit, without paying attention to leaps or anachronisms, the dynastic values ​​between one era and another, the Tudors. to The crown.

If historians can contribute anything to this aspect, it is to understand whether the work captures the meaning, the experience of a time and a society that no longer exists. In cinema, in novels, there are sequences that were in no way possible with the moral or legal codes of the time, but which are common and habitual for us. This is the most difficult operation because the general public prefers this adaptation to maintaining the original meaning. It is also difficult to achieve this level in a truly historical work using archival sources, as they only reflect part of the past. Ridley Scott himself is there The final duel (2021) provided an excellent example of kaleidoscopic appearance. The film is set in 14th century France and reproduces a court case that served as the basis for the adaptation of the work. The plot always starts over again, depending on the perspective of each narrator involved. Technology that makes it possible to make ordinary people or women visible, as the late historian Natalie Zenon Davies did The return of Martin Guerre. Historical research methodology, which is very lengthy and cumbersome because it requires the comparison of all the evidence, is based on the same basic operation.

It is just as important to review the files and show what is and is not in the files as it is to examine them and follow all the leads until we discover the false ones. Umberto Eco defined it as the search for the Holy Grail How to write a thesis: learning techniques and procedures, research and writing. Because in history, after you’ve collected all the evidence, you eventually have to – let’s not forget – write. Naming, labeling and using the original terms and words means transforming a language that no longer exists into our own. Fiction, on the other hand, begins by naming the world with words and objects that are recognizable to everyone. Start at the end. That’s why there are novels and films that deal with time better than many history books, because their characters offer a choral portrait of an entire era. Perfume, by Patrick Süskind, is one of them. The film may not reflect rural France at the end of the Ancien Régime like the book, but there are few recreations of that collective and hierarchical life like the film. Not to mention the soundtracks are forever linked to their own time and subject matter. Lawrence of Arabia, The mission, Train or so many others are already part of our own recent history and memory.

It is pointless to express our discomfort that novels are not rigorous. The requirement must be maintained in those that are properly historical or advertised as such. Entertainment documentaries or miniseries do not have to engage with historiographical debates. Amusement parks are not obliged to do this either, many of which serve as a political stage for revisionism. It is enough to ask the same question about the “historical rigor” of the Napoleon from Scott to these places, which aren’t really educational either. Historians must participate in all formats and conversations that focus on the past; Paying attention to the changes of our time is also part of our work. Only by contributing, adding value and criticizing these and other productions, why not, can we ensure that society absorbs and recognizes the results of our own scientific research. In the meantime, as Ridley Scott himself advised us, we should find a life of our own.

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