# Historical events Pop culture has done to death **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876 "2011-03-24T18:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/21 "2011-03-24T22:33:52Z")
Oh, and I forgot the “Raising the Titanic” stories, which have thankfully been killed off by the discovery that the Titanic isn’t raisable – it really _did_ break in half, as reported. And the supposed cold, cold Atlantic doesn’t really retard decay, as everyone seemed to think (_Noody_ imagined those “rusticles” that festoon the outside) But before this died, it gave us \*Imperial Earth, The Ghost from the Grand Banks, \* and, of course, _Raise the Titanic_, which got made into the first Dirk pitt movie b(although, unfortunately, not the last) ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/22 "2011-03-24T22:40:59Z")
KKK. In nearly every movie set in the South before 1970. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/23 "2011-03-24T22:44:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Oh, and I forgot the “Raising the Titanic” stories, which have thankfully been killed off by the discovery that the Titanic isn’t raisable – it really _did_ break in half, as reported. And the supposed cold, cold Atlantic doesn’t really retard decay, as everyone seemed to think (_Noody_ imagined those “rusticles” that festoon the outside) > > But before this died, it gave us \*Imperial Earth, The Ghost from the Grand Banks, \* and, of course, _Raise the Titanic_, which got made into the first Dirk pitt movie b(although, unfortunately, not the last) Lew Grade commented on the production cost of _Raise The Titanic_ thus : “It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic”. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/24 "2011-03-25T01:04:05Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A Band of Brothers style miniseries on the U.S. Civil War or World War I have major potential I was going to reply with exactly this after reading your initial post. 🙂 I don’t know if there are the same sort of detailed oral histories recorded for the US Civil War that were used as the basis for _Band of Brothers_ or _The Pacific_ but I’m sure there is a lot of period material available: there was a US Civil War series done a while ago that had actors reading excerpts from letters written at the time against slide shows of period photos which in itself was very effective, but a _Band of Brothers_ style series sounds like an excellent idea. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/25 "2011-03-25T01:18:52Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > …I don’t know if there are the same sort of detailed oral histories recorded for the US Civil War that were used as the basis for _Band of Brothers_ or _The Pacific_ but I’m sure there is a lot of period material available: there was a US Civil War series done a while ago that had actors reading excerpts from letters written at the time against slide shows of period photos which in itself was very effective, but a _Band of Brothers_ style series sounds like an excellent idea. I agree, but follow characters from both sides. I’ll further suggest that one of the characters followed by a nurse (surely at least one Civil War nurse wrote her memoirs). Either that or one of those women who disguised themselves as a man and joined the army. ---
**Author:** ![spymaniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@spymaniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spymaniac)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/26 "2011-03-25T01:31:58Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > And I’d gladly buy a ticket for _Web Page Authors Who Make Lists Into One-item-per-page Slideshows Fed to Rabid Weasels_. In 3-D! > [@Snooooopy](#): > > In the end, the offender is rescued from the weasels on the brink of death. No longer capable of speech because of all the damage the weasels did, he is fitted with a special communication device that, in a cruel twist, forces him to construct all of his sentences using one-word-per-page slideshows. (“Please … (click, wait for next page to load) help … (click, wait for next page to load) me!”) > > God willing, torturing these terrible people will one day become an item on a list of events that have been done to death. lol… ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/27 "2011-03-25T01:32:20Z")
Jack The Ripper ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/28 "2011-03-25T01:35:44Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I’m surprised the list didn’t include the Holocaust. (Though I TOTALLY DISAGREE it’s been done to death) I don’t. I agree that it’s an important historical event, but I could more than happily never see another movie about it again. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/29 "2011-03-25T06:35:13Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I agree, but follow characters from both sides. Exactly. I’d spend all miniseries developing sympathetic characters from both sides and then let both sides go at it at Bentonville or one of the other last major battles of the war- ideally have the most sympathetic character from each side fight hand to hand. [QUOTE=alphaboi] I’ll further suggest that one of the characters followed by a nurse (surely at least one Civil War nurse wrote her memoirs). Either that or one of those women who disguised themselves as a man and joined the army. [/QUOTE] That’d be interesting. Some- possibly most- you can tell from the pictures were [butch lesbians](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pyL7-hhG_-A/R4P5_7IMjQI/AAAAAAAAATE/fMHYwm7-zNE/s400/435FrancesClayton.jpg) or [transgenders](http://images.suite101.com/1609116_com_albertcash.jpg) (that’s Albert Cashier, who survived the war and continued to live as a man until his death in 1915) so there’s also that as an interest factor (ain’t nothing new about gender confusion but it’s a part of history not often addressed). Not all were- one famous case was the doctor’s wife who disguised herself as a man so she could follow her husband into Andersonville and kept up her secret identity until she gave birth. (The baby was evidently healthy- leastwise it was born alive- which makes you wonder how with the ‘worse than third world slums’ hygiene and malnutrition.) Many nurses were of course male- in fact there were female _doctors_ in the U.S. before there were professionally trained female nurses. Walt Whitman was famously a nurse (a natural choice since he already had the uniform and experience telling young men to roll over); the hygiene committees were largely female and much more interesting than they sound. Harriet Tubman was a nurse and laundress (and also led troops into battle) but only got a pension because of a post-war marriage to a veteran. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/30 "2011-03-25T06:55:34Z")
> [@Crusoe](#): > > World War I certainly has scope for more. [Anzacs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anzacs_%28TV_series%29) was the last miniseries effort I remember. There was _Flyboys_ in 2006. Or are you talking specifically miniseries? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/31 "2011-03-25T08:01:47Z")
I was more thinking about modern takes on the land war, similar to what some recent films and miniseries have done for World War II. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/32 "2011-03-25T08:43:43Z")
Well, for the Canadian perspective, there was _Passchendale_. I’m a patriot, but that was a pretty silly movie. The dramatic ending just about killed me. ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/33 "2011-03-25T09:32:29Z")
Wow, I’ve never seen a list like this where I agreed so much with the elected number one. From the very beginning I was thinking they’d better mention Jesus, but I never really expected it to be on the list. Kudos! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/34 "2011-03-25T12:09:57Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > …Many nurses were of course male- in fact there were female _doctors_ in the U.S. before there were professionally trained female nurses. Walt Whitman was famously a nurse (a natural choice since he already had the uniform and experience telling young men to roll over); the hygiene committees were largely female and much more interesting than they sound. Harriet Tubman was a nurse and laundress (and also led troops into battle) but only got a pension because of a post-war marriage to a veteran. There’s [Louisa May Alcott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott) … > [@](#): > > When the American Civil War broke out, she served as a nurse in the Union Hospital at Georgetown, D.C., for six weeks in 1862-1863. Her letters home – revised and published in the Commonwealth and collected as Hospital Sketches (1863, republished with additions in 1869) – brought her first critical recognition for her observations and humor. Her novel Moods (1864), based on her own experience, was also promising. > > She also wrote passionate, fiery novels and sensational stories under the nom de plume A. M. Barnard. Among these are A Long Fatal Love Chase and Victoria’s Passion and Punishment. Her protagonists for these tales are willful and relentless in their pursuit of their own aims, which often include revenge on those who have humiliated or thwarted them. Written in a style that was wildly popular at the time, these works achieved immediate commercial success. Her life is pretty interesting, if not a sweeping epic. Raised among the Hippie Transcendentalists, her “adult” writings are still quite readable & have made some pretty-good TV movies. Then she had even greater success with _Little Women_, based on her childhood, & spent the rest of her brief life churning out YA books she regarded as a bit saccharine. Never married, there may have been a real “Laurie” in her life… ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/35 "2011-03-25T12:29:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > There are many time periods, not even obscure ones (e.g. 13th century Bulgaria), that are very ripe for the picking. > > In American history alone: > > The American Revolution- rarely touched as a backdrop > > Abraham Lincoln- there hasn’t been a good film on him in years (Spielberg has one in production- Day Lewis is attached currently, was Liam Neeson- but I think he needs an HBO miniseries rather than a movie) > > The Trail of Tears- has there ever been a major movie about it? > > The Gold Rush(es)- from Georgia to California to Alaska, all could be interesting fodder > > Pocahontas- she was a major character in the flop (largely due to not finding a distributor- the movie wasn’t bad at all) _The New World_, but a live-action and historically accurate miniseries on her could be great > > A Band of Brothers style miniseries on the U.S. Civil War or World War I have major potential > > The 1970s has lots of great potential and if it was a big enough hit my bell bottoms would be back in style. Hell, I’d say that the entire first half of the 19th Century is completely missing from American pop culture. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/36 "2011-03-25T12:32:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Hell, I’d say that the entire first half of the 19th Century is completely missing from American pop culture. Almost. I’ve lamented this for years, and was very happy when **Amistad** came out. There have been sporadic attempts at it, though – stories of Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone (including the various versions of _The Alamo_ story), **The Buccaneer** , about the War of 1812, and so on. But that period of American History is woefully underrepresented in pop culture. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/37 "2011-03-25T13:01:03Z")
I didn’t agree with any of them. I thought maybe World War II is getting old, but that’s about it. And I can’t think of more than a handful of pop culture films about Jesus. Movies seemed to be the point of all the rest of them. If there were discussing actual popular culture, there’s a lot more things that have been done to death, since that’s how something becomes a part of the culture. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/38 "2011-03-25T13:06:24Z")
The problem I have with that list is that most of these events are tiresome because they’re so often portrayed as romantic. They’d be more tolerable (and probably more interesting) if there were a different spin on them. I’d think there would be some drama in the Lewis and Clark expedition, and certainly enough scenery to make a decent epic out of it. If Kevin Costner could do _Dances with Wolves_, someone can do Lewis and Clark. I sort of disagree with the notion that WWII has been done to death. The European war, certainly. But there hasn’t been a good movie about the home front, and with the exception of Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima, very little about the war in Asia. I’d also like to see a little more about the Robber Barons and the labor movement of the 1880s and 90s. Homestead or the Pullman Strike would be fascinating, and certainly relevant to modern times. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/39 "2011-03-25T13:11:38Z")
The intersection of sitcoms and the first Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/40 "2011-03-25T13:20:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A Band of Brothers style miniseries on the U.S. Civil War or World War I have major potential I remember two mini-series a few decades ago. One was called [The Blue and the Gray](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_and_the_Gray_%28miniseries%29), and the other was [North and South](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_and_South_%28TV_miniseries%29). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876.md?page=3)