Films: Fact, or Faked?

The assignment for today in Mass Media is to blog about whether or not movies are allowed to be 100% accurate or not based on its history. While some movies are best kept to their exact history, sometimes it is fun to add a bit of "creativity" to a film to make it more interesting.

One of my all-time favorite animated movies is "Princess Mononoke" by Hayao Miyazaki. The film itself is supposed to be set in the late Muromachi period. While war did occur at that time, the movie had some special and unique elements, such as a war not only between man and man, but man and nature. A group of humans that strive for land and prosperity must fight the animal gods of the forest, large beasts that inhabit the surrounding mountains. These gods are led by a human woman named San, who was raised by wolves when her parents abandoned her during an attack by the beasts. She has sworn to protect her land from the humans that invade it. There is also the conflict of a curse in which a young warrior must find a cure for before it eats him alive.

As you may notice, this movie is very much different from the natural history of the war. The creator  added his own twist to the film to add excitement and mystery. Personally, I'm fine with the add-ons in the film. It makes me believe that films can slide with a few tweaks here and there to make it more enjoyable, especially if the film is targeted towards a younger audience. Kids would get bored with most movies if the history was already lacking the excitement that they often crave.