Oh they do a great job! But… they keep insisting on the Dark/Middle ages thing… and their view on Byzantium is all messed up. Their view of history is also the US view of world history so it’s taken a while for me to get some of the BBC errors out of my head that I grew up with. Still, they do know how to tell a good story.
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Well, the BBC takes cavalier attitudes towards ancient history, changing facts to make for a more entertaining story. They strive for “new” and “shocking” tabloid style “This new view overturns everything we ever thought we knew” … and we get history rewrites. Scholars don’t have the voicebox of the BBC so BBC ends up winning.
Not that we’re any better in the USA. Look at Oliver Stone’s historical fictions in the movies. He’s convinced MANY people that things happened that didn’t, even though he was clear about it being fiction.
Sometimes I understand China’s stance where they’ve banned historical fiction. I don’t agree with it but I can understand the impetus.
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