BOX OFFICE ARCHAEOLOGY: Refining Hollywood's Portrayals of the Past

by Julie M. Schablitsky (Editor)

�How true is it?” is a common refrain of patrons coming out of movie theatres after the latest film on pirates, Vikings, or mummies. While Hollywood usurps the past for its own entertainment purposes, archaeologists and historians know a lot about many of these subjects, digging up stories often more fascinating than the ones projected on screen. This distinguished group of archaeologists select key subjects and genres used by Hollywood and provide the historical and archaeological depth that a movie cannot—what really happened in history. Topics include Egypt, the Wild West, Civil War submarines, Vikings, the Titanic, and others. The book should be of interest to introductory archaeology and American history classes, courses on film and popular culture, and to a general audience. Alternate Selection, History Book Club.

Genres: Archaeology, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Van Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chapter on The Mummy and other Mummy movies is fascinating stuff.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be absolutely fascinating. It combines my interests in film and archaeology. I highly recommend.

[Roger Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have been better if it had concentrated on the archaeology without all the movie references, but that is the actual subject of the book so I suppose that could not have been left out. I am already aware, however, that movies do not get the history right. Even movies that are based on novels don't get the novel right either. Part of the reason is that movies are by their nature sketchy. If they covered the details of what they are about then no movie would be less than twenty-four hours long and even that would leave a lot out. Another part of the problem is that movie makers never let the facts get in the way of an entertaining story and, after all, the whole point of movies is entertainment, not education. I was impressed, though, that this book does mention some movies where the writers and producers actually consulted with archaeologists and made a serious effort to get the facts straight. Even then though ... well, never let the facts get in the way of an entertaining story. I still think, though, that the discussions about what the archaeologists have found out about the past is a lot more interesting than the discussions about how movies have depicted the past.