Fact-Checkers Apparently Needed in Hollywood. BADLY.
I've written ranted about this topic before, most recently by publicly (and repeatedly) venting my frustration over Steve Oedekerk's idiotic premise that BULLS have udders--seriously, the whole "Barnyard" thing really drove me bug-nuts. So you can see how it's only natural that I now find myself totally sympathetic to the current frustration of my friend Erin, in Alaska.
Erin's issue is with the writers of the ABC dramedy "Men In Trees," a new Ann Heche vehicle set in the fictional town of "Elmo," Alaska. Erin is a lifelong resident of Fairbanks, and as such has an appreciation for the natural beauty of her home state that shows plainly in her writing. And I agree with her 100% that it's not too much to ask of writers--even television writers--that they devote at least some small amount of superficial research to anything that's going to be used as a significant plot device (like, say, which gender belongs to which secondary sexual organs--oh, sorry, I drifted back over to MY issue for a minute there, won't happen again).
In the case of "Men In Trees," the irritating inaccuracy involves a recurring character: an animal character important enough to the storyline, as Erin notes, to merit multiple mentions on the show's "about" page. A wild raccoon. A particularly pesky wild raccoon, who makes a nuisance of himself, for example, in Heche's character's hotel room. Which would be bad enough, if Alaska even HAD raccoons. Which they do not. At all. No raccoons (nor, interestingly enough, skunks) in the entire state of Alaska! Hence our Erin's very justifiable disappointment in the integrity of the show's writers/fact-checkers. (And my not-slight case of jealousy at learning of Erin's raccoon-free status, which is something I've had occasion to wish for myself.)
Is there any detail in a book, movie, or T.V. show that just drives you to distraction due to its inaccuracy, misinterpretation, or just plain...wrongness?
Erin's issue is with the writers of the ABC dramedy "Men In Trees," a new Ann Heche vehicle set in the fictional town of "Elmo," Alaska. Erin is a lifelong resident of Fairbanks, and as such has an appreciation for the natural beauty of her home state that shows plainly in her writing. And I agree with her 100% that it's not too much to ask of writers--even television writers--that they devote at least some small amount of superficial research to anything that's going to be used as a significant plot device (like, say, which gender belongs to which secondary sexual organs--oh, sorry, I drifted back over to MY issue for a minute there, won't happen again).
In the case of "Men In Trees," the irritating inaccuracy involves a recurring character: an animal character important enough to the storyline, as Erin notes, to merit multiple mentions on the show's "about" page. A wild raccoon. A particularly pesky wild raccoon, who makes a nuisance of himself, for example, in Heche's character's hotel room. Which would be bad enough, if Alaska even HAD raccoons. Which they do not. At all. No raccoons (nor, interestingly enough, skunks) in the entire state of Alaska! Hence our Erin's very justifiable disappointment in the integrity of the show's writers/fact-checkers. (And my not-slight case of jealousy at learning of Erin's raccoon-free status, which is something I've had occasion to wish for myself.)
Is there any detail in a book, movie, or T.V. show that just drives you to distraction due to its inaccuracy, misinterpretation, or just plain...wrongness?
Comments
Southern accents. In just about any TV show or movie. (Except "My Name is Earl." Jaime Pressly is fantastic. But she's also from North Carolina, so there you go.) No one down here talks like Scarlett O'Hara, and no one uses "y'all" when they're talking to one person. Etc. etc.
Posted by: hillbillyswamp | September 25, 2006 03:17 PM
Oh, and this: I love Bill Bryson's writing, but a master of facts he is not. In one book about the English language he wrote that people in Arkansas pronounce the state "Ar-kan-saw" but the RIVER "Ar-KAN-zuss." Which, you know, just call any random number in the 501 area code and ask. Seriously.
And in "A Short History of Nearly Everything," at one point he's writing about the two different kinds of earthquake faults. I didn't even know there were two kinds, but apparently there's one kind that produces earthquakes at regular intervals (could be decades apart), and another that has a single blow-out and is never active again. Bryson wrote that the New Madrid fault is the latter type. Even though we've all been hearing for 20-something years now that the New Madrid is overdue for its NEXT major quake. That's the kind of info you'd find within 10 seconds of typing "New Madrid" into Google.
Posted by: hillbillyswamp | September 25, 2006 03:24 PM
What bugs the fool out of me is period movies in which NO CHARACTER should be speaking English. And, even when they do speak English, they often speak with a British accent. WTF?
At least in The 13th Warrior, the film started in some other language and morphed into English for us Muricans.
Why can't I handle this? Oh, and both of my boys wanted to know why those damn bovine had udders when they were CLEARLY boys. I said, "because, obviously, the artist is a city-slicker dumb butt and doesn't know the difference." They appreciated the honesty, I'm sure.
Posted by: Liberal and Proud | September 25, 2006 08:34 PM
L&P: He was ignorant at first, but was informed by COUNTLESS people along all stages of the project, and kept the udders in "because udders are funny," and said that anyone bothered by it needed to just "lighten up."
I will never spend a penny on it, of that I'm sure--and I know a TON of blogging parents who feel exactly the same way. I hope it hits 'em in the pocketbook.
And HBSwamp: Can I just thank you profusely, please, for spelling "y'all" correctly? It's a conjunction of "you all," after all, so that it really the only way it COULD be spelled. And YES, to use it to refer to one person? MAKES ME NUTS.
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September 26, 2006 10:49 PM