Civil Liberties In The Patriot

The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Jason Issacs, and many others, is a suitable example of what Hollywood does to history. Although certain events and issues handled in the film are correct, there are glaring examples of liberties taken with the source material, which is history itself. The Patriot begins rather idyllically, which is a warning sign to begin with; the film is about the Revolutionary War after all. Mel Gibson plays a character named Benjamin Martin, who is actually an amalgamation of five other historical figures: Francis Marion, Daniel Morgan, Elijah Clark, Thomas Sumter, and Andrew Pickens, and makes these men who must have faults of their own, into a hero who is infallible (Fischer; The Patriot; “The Patriot:
Martin impulsively goes after them, and in doing so commits to the Revolutionary cause (Fischer; The Patriot). As the film continues, Benjamin Martin seems to win the war almost single-handedly, with the minor assistance of George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, Light Horse Harry Lee and his own sons and neighbors, Benjamin changes and refines American tactics (which look a lot like guerilla warfare), defeats General Cornwallis, and arranges the British surrender at Yorktown (Fischer; The Patriot). All in all, though the characters are loosely based on fact, “The Patriot is to history as Godzilla was to biology” as errors appear quite often (Fischer; Owens). There are many inaccuracies in The Patriot, particularly in the way they relate to slavery during the Revolution (Fischer; Owens). Spike Lee, a director, actually said that, “For three hours The Patriot dodged around, skirted about or completely ignored slavery. How convenient... to have Mel Gibson's character not be a slaveholder... The Patriot is pure, blatant American Hollywood propaganda. A complete whitewashing of history” (Owens; “Spike Lee Slams Patriot”). Slavery is not even touched upon in The Patriot, although there is talk of freedmen and Benjamin Martin has black