# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/41 "2011-03-25T13:26:53Z")
The 1950’s have been done to death and back again. Odd since the decade was not that historica. Indeed, it was probably one of the blandest decades in history. ---
**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, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/42 "2011-03-25T14:46:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 1950’s have been done to death and back again. Odd since the decade was not that historica. Indeed, it was probably one of the blandest decades in history. Not in Montgomery. [QUOTE=MsRobyn] 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. [/QUOTE] That could be Oscar winning epic if done for the big screen or Emmy sweeping epic if done as a miniseries. Major league drama- Sacagawea recognizing her brother while interpreting is a scene that actually happened and later giving her kids to Clark to get them away from her abusive husband, the scenic beauty and animal life, Thomas Jefferson as a cameo, great roles for native actors, the drama of York (Clark’s slave- on the journey he often got far more respect from natives than Clark did, which must have gauled Clark), and incredible cinematography challenges. The first time that a woman and a black man were ever given an equal vote in a major U.S. decision incidentally was when the expedition voted on what direction to take after getting lost and Sacagawea and York were allowed/requested to make input. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/43 "2011-03-25T14:47:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 1950’s have been done to death and back again. Odd since the decade was not that historica. Indeed, it was probably one of the blandest decades in history. Well, one of the _whitest_, certainly. ---
**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, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/44 "2011-03-25T14:56:59Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Well, one of the _whitest_, certainly. Not in Montgomery. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/45 "2011-03-25T15:48:37Z")
Interesting respopnses - the only item I feel strongly about is “Titanic”. Leave it sunk, already. I do think so much has been done on WWII that it would be tricky to come up with a new take, but it’s very doable. (For the Pacific War, we have Bridge over the River Kwai and King Rat in addition to the ones mentioned above.) I love the idea of a good Lewis & Clark depiction. What a story. Truth much greater than fiction. They even had a dog. It sells itself. ---
**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, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/46 "2011-03-25T16:20:17Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > 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. Even better: [The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Fire). I’m not talking about a documentary, I’m talking about a plot-based drama about the fire and subsequent labor movement. I gotta get this baby on the fast track. ---
**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, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/47 "2011-03-25T18:07:43Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Even better: [The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Fire). I’m not talking about a documentary, I’m talking about a plot-based drama about the fire and subsequent labor movement. I gotta get this baby on the fast track. Today is the 100th anniversary. It was a watershed moment in the history of labor rights and workplace safety, or as many Republican governors would today call it “The refusal of unskilled workers to be non flammable”. If all you knew about U.S. history was from the movies you would probably think that \*All Indians lived in tipis and hunted buffalo \*Pilgrims were all little more than sexually repressed hypocrites \*All field slaves were horribly abused but all domestic slaved loved their white folks \*Most people in the 19th century were wealthy and had red velvet furniture \*Organized crime in the U.S. started with the Mafia \*People always married for love \*There was hardly ever any high infant mortality or starvation Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/48 "2011-03-25T18:34:53Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Any others? \*Fantastic hairstyling was as universally available to the early Americans as it has been in every other period of history recorded by Hollywood ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/49 "2011-03-25T19:02:53Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > \*Fantastic hairstyling was as universally available to the early Americans as it has been in every other period of history recorded by Hollywood As was modern dentistry and tooth whitening. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/50 "2011-03-25T19:05:27Z")
> [@Big\_Norse](#): > > As was modern dentistry and tooth whitening. And cosmetic surgery. ---
**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, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/51 "2011-03-25T19:06:13Z")
> [@Big\_Norse](#): > > As was modern dentistry and tooth whitening. And makeup. Nicole Kidman’s character managed to find lipstick in the Carolina mountains during the height of the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/52 "2011-03-25T19:18:45Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Any others? Almost every hooker has a heart of gold and usually saving money to become a lawyer or doctor or nurse. Cowboys were usually muscular hunks and always heterosexual, even though they did spend months on end, in their horny 20’s, together, in the middle of nowhere, by choice… ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/53 "2011-03-26T15:03:44Z")
Years ago there was a flurry of (fiction)book series about German troops fighting on the Russian front, I think that would make for a fresh new "Band of Brothers "type series . But of course P.C. would mean that that bird wouldn’t fly. Also there was an elite British army unit, the equivalent of todays Special Forces, that fought against the French in N. America (pre revolution) behind enemy lines that would also make a good series. I would also like to see a fictionalised version of Chinese history set in the middle ages, but made by a Western film company. (So no bizarre dubbed voices, or people hovering in mid air during fight scenes) ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/54 "2011-03-26T15:07:19Z")
I’m not sure there’d be the ratings outside of the countries involved to support a series about German soldiers. Don’t think “PC” has anything to do with it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Sakuma\_Drops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sakuma\_Drops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sakuma_Drops)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/55 "2011-03-26T17:58:52Z")
> [@Crusoe](#): > > I’m not sure there’d be the ratings outside of the countries involved to support a series about German soldiers. Don’t think “PC” has anything to do with it at all. Maybe not a TV series, but there might be potential for a movie. After all, Axis-centered movies like _Letters From Iwo Jima_ and _Das Boot_ have been critically acclaimed in the past. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/56 "2011-03-26T19:25:20Z")
Christmas has been done far too often in various forms, and it always comes back in popular culture during the holidays. Especially if it’s a feel good movie about someone finding the spirit of christmas in their heart with various nudge-nudge wink-winking that maybe santa claus really exists. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/57 "2011-03-27T02:47:11Z")
I think that none of the themes have been overworked. I just think that there are too many \*bad \*movies of the themes. And, let’s be real: Pop culture doing _The French Revolution_ to death? Yeah, I remember all of the movies, series, and toys… No, the guy making the list just didn’t have anything else to publish… Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/58 "2011-03-27T13:41:19Z")
We need another thread like this one, based on NON-historical events that have been done to death. One that would be on the list, with a new production coming out, is _The Three Musketeers_. ---
**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 27, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/59 "2011-03-27T18:10:45Z")
Well, heck, for overdone fictional histories, you’d have to throw in all the werewolf/vampire stuff, especially any premise that suggests they’ve existed as secret subcultures for hundreds of years. I guess you could say they’ve been done to undeath. ---
**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 27, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876/60 "2011-03-27T19:30:43Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, heck, for overdone fictional histories, you’d have to throw in all the werewolf/vampire stuff, especially any premise that suggests they’ve existed as secret subcultures for hundreds of years… **World War Z** (the film version being stuck in development hell) does the secret subculture thing with _zombies_. Well, the zombies aren’t a subculture, but it does have a secret history of zombie outbreaks dating back to Ancient Egypt all being forgotten/covered up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-events-pop-culture-has-done-to-death/575876.md?page=4)