Sheer horror... A Trooper helmet collection...

[Matthew Amt]

However, we must look at the populace at large. Who in that crowd would know the difference?

No, no, NO! That is NOT an excuse to do things WRONG!! THAT IS WHY WE DO THINGS RIGHT!! Should we not be concerned if half or three-fourths of the information in a science or math textbook is wrong? When reenactors are out on public display, they are perceived as teachers, and their clothing and equipment is seen as historical by the audience. As you said, these are the same folks who believe the movies, so live performers will, if anything, be seen as more creditable. Blatant inaccuracies are basically a lie. When we appear in front of an audience, we have a duty to be as accurate as we can be. Obviously we can't be perfect, and I will agree that there are practical limits to what is "acceptable" and what is not. And we can't expect to teach or show EVERYthing, but what we have should be as good as we can realistically get it.

Otherwise, simple: Stay out of public view! Go have some jolly closed events, filled with Trooper helmets, bracers, and Superman capes, and have fun. I guarantee you'll have more participants than any decent educational public event.


If that audience in Italy had seen some better reenactors in the past, or even (GASP!) seen something vaguely realistic on TV or in a movie, farby groups like that one wouldn't be invited to show up. Because people would know better with a little education! Moreover, that group had to go to some extra effort and expense for some of their inaccuracies! Skipping things like bracers, and having less uniformity, would have saved them money. And all the information they needed has been free on the Internet for years.

Ten accurately equipped Romans is not better than 50 less accurately equipped Romans.

I disagree!! Quality is always preferable to quantity, for the purposes of public events.

Maybe for us it makes a difference but for the crowd the more the merrier. Its about impressing the mob as it was back then. Look at it this way, if the people looking at this have little to no idea about what accurate kit is supposed to look like, then telling them that we have only ten reenactors but their kit is accurate is insignificant whereas 50 is impressive. For those who are not the wiser, they are there to look at a show. As a matter of fact, I dare say, that the majority of people who go to these things do so because its fun and they can see people dressed in gear made famous only by Hollywood. If it was not for movies like Gladiator, Ben Hur, Rome etc, the bulk of the people at ancient Roman reernactments would be ourslelves.

So you're saying we should go with Hollywood's dogma: "The public is ignorant, so we have to keep lying to them!" That's crap, and you know it. It's also a completely inexcusable attitude in anyone who claims to be interested in history, much less in one who claims to portray it. If the majority of the unwashed masses don't care about the details, fine, they don't have to study them! But for those few who want to see a little more, we have no excuse for showing them things that we KNOW are not historically accurate. I am not about to shovel garbage down the throats of people who "don't know any better", simply because they don't know any better. Do it right, or don't do it.

Vale,

Matthew