Historical Accuracy

One of my favorite movies is The Last Samurai. Some people laugh at this now for some reason; it wasn’t really laughable when the movie first came out in 2003. In fact, it was nominated for – and won – a moderately-sized list of awards. I’m not really sure what’s changed.

Anyway.

Several times now, I’ve seen lists online that place The Last Samurai in one of the “Top 10 Most Historically Inaccurate Movies Ever.” I’ve even had a couple people point this out to me in conversations:

Me: One of my favorite movies is The Last Samurai.

Smarmy McGee: Ugh. You know that, like, isn’t accurate at all, right?

Well okay then. Thank you, I guess.

But I don’t go to the movies for a history lesson. Hollywood isn’t my classroom. I go to the movies to be entertained, inspired, mesmerized. But not to learn.

I feel similarly about novels, though there’s an important caveat:

So long as it’s fiction and the author doesn’t give me some sort of Forward or Author’s Note trying to make me believe that it’s anything but fiction, then…why in the world should I care if it’s “accurate”?

When I want to learn history, I’ll pick up a history book or a non-fiction book or research things online (with much, much discretion, of course).

This is not the point of fiction—even historical fiction. That’s why it’s...well: fiction.

Bearing all of this in mind:

I recently read Memoirs of a Geisha. After reading it, I started poking around a bit and discovered that many people are bothered by the book because it isn't "accurate." Well of course it isn't. I suspect they missed the fact that it's...again: fiction.

This brings up an interesting point, though:

Again, after reading this beautiful book, I started researching the topic. Now, I'm not an expert on the topic of Geisha, nor of Kyoto in the time between the two World Wars. But because of this fiction book, I decided to go out of my way to learn something about it. Doesn't that fact make this "inaccurate" book worthwhile? Ends and means, and all that?

(Okay, okay: Yes, it would be a problem if someone tries to write a Victorian novel and has Jane Eyre using a cellphone. Obviously I'm not taking it that extreme. But do I care if the author uses the "correct" name for a kitchen appliance? Does it really matter if the mistress' dress was a color of dye that was readily available at the time? - I really can't imagine why it would.)

What are your thoughts on this?