Anybody watching "Sons of Liberty" on

[Cleita]

Last edited Wed Jan 28, 2015, 12:00 PM - Edit history (1)

The History Channel? They suffered the same shit under the Brits that our underclasses are suffering today under our corporate kings. But what they did was so brave, it's heartbreaking. We have been colonized again, but this time by global corporate interest with front corporations covering their international tracks. Do we need another revolution to rid ourselves of them? We need to start with BP and how ironic that they too are British.

Edited to add: This is a fictionalization and has made up stuff to involve you in events and the times. I don't know if John Hancock actually was thrown out of his house by the new Governor, but things like this did happen.

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. Take what you see in "Sons of Liberty" with a grain of salt.

Last edited Wed Jan 28, 2015, 10:34 AM - Edit history (1)

It is not historically accurate, and many liberties were taken with the known history.

[grasswire]

2. the details may suffer...

....but the narrative remains intact.

Colonists suffered under British rule. They were courageous. War is hell. Americans prevailed. Liberty!

[Agnosticsherbet]

8. It is the History Channel and it is not accurate history.

Which is why I don't watch the Fictionalized History Channel anymore.

If I want fiction, I will read a book or watch a movie that is clearly labeled as fiction.

[Ykcutnek]

9. And they warn viewers of that with a disclaimer:

”[Sons of Liberty] is historical fiction, not a documentary. The goal of our miniseries is to capture the spirit of the time, convey the personalities of the main characters, and focus on real events that have shaped our past."

[Agnosticsherbet]

10. Sadly, pepople ignore disclaimers.

History channel is a joke.

[KittyWampus]

12. I mainly read historical fiction. Historical fiction is highly educational when done well.

So the problem with SOL isn't being historical fiction… it's being BAD historical fiction.

Good historical fiction writers may occasionally bend a timeline or invent a character or introduce a relationship to help bring things to life.

SOL take the outline of historical events and simply uses it to create a soap opera.

[Ykcutnek]

16. Hell, we've taught historical fiction in schools for years.

How many people still believe the chopping down the cherry tree bullshit?

[Agnosticsherbet]

20. They don't teach that old myth anymore, at least in California.

[Cleita]

30. I never learned it in school, but since I was born on February 22,

which at one time was George Washington's birthday and a holiday, my family told me the story so I wouldn't tell lies especially considering when I was born, blah, blah.

[Agnosticsherbet]

32. I went to school beginning in the late 50's in Oklahoma.

Old Parson Weems story was a part of the curriculum, and we eve did school plays so children could act it out for their parents.

All nations develop myths about their founding, even modern nations.

[Cleita]

18. History Channel said it was factionalized.

They had historians put the facts up on their website. I still enjoyed it.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Well, actually that term was coined for the French Revolution and first used in English about the

Irish Rebellion in 1798. The language then was not the language now:
"Knavery seems to be so much a the striking feature of its inhabitants that it may not in the end be an evil that they will become aliens to this kingdom." George 3 on America

[KittyWampus]

13. Bluenorthwest- your post right here wins the internet for today.

At least you have my vote.

[Recursion]

26. Johnson was also apropos

"None hold the torch of liberty so high as those who, with the other hand, whip their slaves."

He really disliked Americans. And the Irish.

[Historic NY]

4. Its pretty much all theaterical license taken by those that give you

swamp people and the rest of the crap.

http://allthingsliberty.com/2015/01/discover-the-truth-behind-history-channels-sons-of-liberty-series/

[FSogol]

5. Instead of the historically inaccurate tv show, read Les Standiford's,

"Desperate Sons: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Bands of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War"

Awesome book that shows that the above mentioned rabble-rousers that caused the revolution, mostly did not become part of the government and that Samuel Adams is the true father of the US.

[HappyMe]

6. I watched it and enjoyed it.

[KittyWampus]

11. It is so historically incorrect it is too painful to watch. I can watch Vikings cause

it's so far removed. So I do watch Vikings and play "Spot the Historical Inaccuracies".

I LOVE historical fiction. But Sons of Liberty took a great true story/characters and airbrushed them into absurdity.

[Zorra]

14. "We have been colonized again." Absolutely. Great post. And yes, we

need a revolution, the corporations literally own the government, and we no longer have the power to effect significant change through the political process...so, like the man said ~

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the , --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government...."

[jwirr]

22. We need a revolution but it is just not us. The world needs a revolution to put the corporations

and their stockholders back in their place. Remember Banksters are also corporations.

[Zorra]

33. True. nt

[lunasun]

15. I hope schools don't use The Fiction Channel for lessons or discussion as if it 's accurate

My concern

[Cleita]

19. I think it could be useful to start a discussion and to point kids in

the direction of digging up the facts and how it really did evolve. The dry facts of American History are a snooze and it doesn't hurt to spark their interest first.

[jwirr]

23. That is how I learned to love history. Read a fictionalized book and started looking for facts. You

have a lot of high school students who hate the dry names, dates and places that they get in history class but a good book or movie could easily awaken an interest.

[kydo]

17. Zombies A Living History, wasn't that bad

[Recursion]

21. The American Revolution was the American 1% revolting against the British 1%

And popular support in the US never exceeded 1/3rd.

[Cleita]

24. Wasn't John Hancock the richest guy who signed the Declaration of Independence?

I think the writers were pretty clear about showing that the British treated the colonists like they weren't British and not given the same respect and privileges as the British. so the 1% ers rebelled and declared their Independence.

[Recursion]

25. Tough call between him and Washington

Both were pretty absurdly rich

EDIT: Washington didn't literally sign the D of I, but you know what I mean

[Zorra]

31. Got a link for that stat? nt

[zazen]

27. HBO's John Adams was excellent historical fiction, IMO

The acting was superb and they went to great lengths in production, as with Rome, to try to recreate the physicality and psychosocial feel of the period, and the very flawed nature of everyone on all sides of the conflict(s). If you like this era, you'll love this seven-part series. It was brilliant.

IMO, all historical fiction (and history, and human "knowledge&quot is constructed and therefore ideological, but the better works of fiction and non-fiction at least try to be conscious of the worst anachronisms and humble about the rest.

I caught 10 minutes of Sons of Liberty last night, accidentally, and couldn't take the deliberate historical inaccuracies (exaggerations--shooting a child in the head), which I feel were there because they don't trust contemporary Americans to have enough subtlety to be outraged at what in fact did happen. That's what bothers me. They don't reflect on their own very assumptions.

I walked out of the 199x movie version of Elizabeth. The 1971 miniseries with Glenda Jackson actually attempted to capture some of the psychology of the period, as poor as the production values were. The one in the 1990s seemed aimed only at titillating modern audiences, just like that godawful Tudor series, which I tolerated for about 45 seconds.

Another awful thing was a TV movie about Homer where they actually had "him" (I don't know if people agree there was ever "one" Homer) walking around behaving like a journalist. I think the producers, who had evidently never learned about the differences between oral and literate cultures, really believed that a man interviewed Greeks and wrote the Odyssey from notes! That's not the same as the HBO series fictionalizing Titus and Pullo, because the producers really tried to get the capture the psychology of soldiers of that era, even though the characters were constructed.

[Cleita]

28. Titus and Pullo were mentioned by Julius Caesar in one of his

writings, maybe Gallic Wars. The writers used the names for their legionaires in the HBO series however since Caesar didn't provide any other information other than the names the rest is fiction.

[zazen]

29. thx--yep, knew that, but the rest of their characters were fictionalized

I'm glad HBO took the historical aspect of the show so seriously. It's a shame the $200 million set burned down. They could have used it with the rights to I, Claudius that they bought.

[Paladin]

34. Why not just watch that old Disney movie, "Johnny Tremain"?

It's a lot shorter, and the Sons Of Liberty get to sing a way-cool song about themselves, while preparing to dump tea into Boston Harbor.....