Thread: Should questions concerning historic movies be asked in a history category? ?

Recently I saw a person ask a question about an element in a movie that had them confused on an actual historical event. They were told that because it was a movie it does not belong in the history category. But is it right to say that a historic movie should not be asked in a history category?

Now by a historic movie I don't mean one that was merely made years ago. I mean one set in a particular era or which centers around a particular historic event. For example, let's take two very dissimilar movies, Transformers (2007) and April Morning (1988). Transformers, as I'm sure most of us will know, tells the story of the Autobots and the Decepticons arrival on Earth in search for the Allspark. It's very much set in the here and now. By contrast, April Morning, a made for TV movie, tells the story of the Battle of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution and it's effects on one particular family. Clearly it's concerned with the past and is set during the 1770s. Perhaps someday Transformers will be dated enough to be viewed as a historic movie (not because of a real invasion by giant warring robots but for the lifestyles of the humans like Sam, Mikaela, Captain Lennox, Sgt. Epps, and others) similar to the way we might view the '42 movie Wake Island (which was supposed to tell of the Japanese capture of Wake during December of '41, during '42 it was still a very here and now event). But we need to keep in mind that both Transformers and Wake Island were set in the present of their perspective times of filming and release.

Which returns me to the question at hand. Should questions concerning historic movies be asked in a history category? While in a previous question of a similar nature I stated that I feared more people knew history only through movies and did not try learning actual history, I also stated that a historical movie may make one want to learn more about the actual history concerning that movie. And I hope, personally, that's what's really behind folks asking questions concerning movies in a history category. They saw something in the movie that they wish to learn more about. Maybe it was something that seems to contradict everything they were taught in school (when in reality it might not contradict it at all). So they ask for a little help in learning.

Now I'm not saying all movies should be asked about in a history category. I'm just saying if a historic movie, or for that matter a movie whose plot revolves around historic elements but is itself set in the present, spurs someone to ask a question about the movie that has to deal with actual elements or events from history that in my opinion we shouldn't dismiss the question as having nothing to do with a history category because it was brought on by a movie.

What are your opinions, folks?

Absolutely those questions should be asked here. They likely will not get the number of responders able to provide accurate information in a film section. You're right about movies' ability to spur interest in an event or time period. That has certainly happened to me throughout life with movies and books.

Think of it this way. Maybe a question was spawned from a movie. But what is more important to its resolution, how the question came to be formed or how the question will come to be answered?