TV, the Military, and Canada
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- HMAGUY
- LER
- GroundhogDave
- Jael
- HMAGUY
- Jael
- Parrothead
- HMAGUY
- Parrothead
- hcbrutha
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» HMAGUY - X-Files, Canada, and the Military
Lee,>The reason the uniforms end up being wrong is because the matter is not considered important enough to get right. And as long as there is no one to bring the matter to their attention, there the matter will rest.<
Well, I'm glad we're all in agreement. As I stated, I don't blame the Canadians. I blame the people in charge, the Hollywood types that go to Canada to make pictures on the cheap.
But you are correct that hostility and down - right cheapness work together to create false impressions of the military. However, this gadfly is going to a thorn in their butts as long as I can put keyboard to computer.
-- posted by HMAGUY
» LER - TV, the Military and Canada
Well, we all can do something. Write a letter to the show (It WILL get read and passed along to the proper people.) And make it a polite one, the costumers will be on the defensive. Or post something in the same vein if the show has a chat board online, although this will be much less effective.LER
-- posted by LER
» GroundhogDave - Canadianized Military on TV
Last year I would have agreed that the military is poorly represented both on American and Canadian television, but I was fortunate enough to have the chance to see the McKenna brothers mini-series on Canada's role during the second world war. While the historical value of the series is debateable due to their reliance on second-hand information as well as personal accounts from people long dead, the costuming and staging of these series was excellent, because it was obvious that a great deal of research had been done to get these things right.Many films/series/etc may be filmed in Canada by American production companies, but since those in positions of power are almost always American, it's their mistakes that are airing. I don't believe it matters that the film location was outside the US. "The X Files" filmed along the southern wall of British Columbia, ranging from Vancouver to the Okanagan to the Thompson Valley, never more than a three or four hour drive from Washington state. I will admit right now that I don't watch the show, but I have seen a number of other American shows filmed in Canada (both cop shows and military shows), and it's easy to tell which ones care about the realism aspect of it.
The underlying factor in all that is, though, that the American producers/directors/cheap-skates filming these things don't feel the need to shell out the cash for an advisor. They know that the average citizen doesn't have a clue what a military uniform is supposed to look like without a guidebook in front of them. Take a look at "Die Hard 2". Anyone who knows anything about planes knows that there is no way a plane flying on jet fuel fumes would explode upon hitting a runway, but the average person just nods their head and goes, "Yup yup yup!" It's like being at my sister's place when she watches one of her soaps. Five seconds in it is incredibly obvious that the writers of these things have neither a legal nor a medical advisor, because anyone who went to high-school in the last twenty years can spot the problems.
-- posted by GroundhogDave
» Jael - Have you ever seen a Canadian military flick?
I don't know if you've ever seen the series, John, but in the early 1990's, there was a series put out entitled "The Valour and the Horror". It was in three parts, detailing first the attack by the Japanese on Hong Kong in December of 1941, then the second and third dealt with bomber runs and Normandy. (To be honest, I didn't find the second two as well done as the first.) There's a lot of controversy about these films because of the way they portray the soldiers (and the British would REALLY hate them), but they're very well-done as far as realism goes, even if they do fall by the wayward on the truthfulness a few times.-- posted by Jael
» Jael - Not even through cable?
I'm sure some Canadian can probably filter it in through satellite or something. "The Valour and the Horror" is seven years old (January 1992) -- if it hasn't shown up by now, it probably won't. CBC is notorious for never letting anyone else air their made-for-CBC stuff.-- posted by Jael
» Parrothead - Re: Accuracy.
While I felt "The Devil's Brigade" was a "trifle" over-done. I was impressed by the attention to uniform detail. The US was OK. But the Canadian uniforms & badges appeared to be be very accurate for the period. As I recall Sgt. Peacock was from The Calgary Highlanders. The badges & shoulder titles were correct. The tartan, that I can't vouch for. But the other Canadian characters seemed to be within their regimental contexts. But on the whole in most war movies the various vehicle markings, uniforms, badges tend to be somewhat inaccurate. My wife thinks I'm too picky, but I think some degree, of accuracy, is necessary. One of the worst examples I can think of is "The Night of the Generals". On its own merits a good who-dunnit. But, while in Warsaw, the units members are in Wehrmacht uniforms, but the vehicles have SS plates! In France they are in full & accurate SS uniform! Strangely enough, there actually was a SS Panzerdivision Nibelungen (number 36?)! At any rate, I really dislike such rampant disparities. Where were the Mollo brothers for this movie?-- posted by Parrothead
» Parrothead - "Mollo Brothers"
I refer to John Mollo & his brother (Andrew??)John is a military historian & authority on uniforms & military regalia. John has several publications out on military uniforms & insignia of various periods, notably WW2. They have both served as advisors to movies in the late 60's & 70's.-- posted by Parrothead
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