The Great Martian War: 1913-1917. Is the History Channel Offensive?

I saw most of the "mockumentary" (I guess) titled "The Great Martian War: 1913-1917 " last night.
Honestly, it got a bit plodding and tedious after the first hour, so I might have skipped a bit of the full two hours.

Look, I don't mind fantasy and creativity, but what I do mind is two hours of stock-footage with real people who suffered and died in World Wars I and II.

Although it has a First Nations sub-plot, the majority of the stock-footage is of my white, indigenous European ancestors.

I just find that disrespectful and beyond all boundaries of acceptable taste.

I don't mind if the History Channel becomes the invent-anything-channel.
Take too many funny things, or let your toddler reinvent history.

But those were real people who suffered and died.
They had some actors and actresses, but not for everything.

Sure, pretend to make documentaries on prehistoric sharks and mermaids.
But don't disrespect my ancestors.

I didn't see much historic footage disrespecting other nations or ethnic groups.
Why are we a free-for-all?

www.history.co.uk...

The Great Martian War - Trailer.

I also understand the sentiment of a brotherhood and sisterhood of humankind standing against an invasive alien force.
It's a naive but worthy attempt at portraying global unity.

Some conspiracy theory argues we should be prepared for it, and I think President Ronald Reagan mentioned that the threat from aliens would unite the world.
Some think it will be faked for that purpose.
Is this a psy-op?

But no - World War I and II are not removed enough to simply play with the imagery.
Not to that extent.
Cringeworthy from start to finish.

I love the whole alternative history thing, so I personally loved this mockumentary.

a reply to: Autorico

Fair enough. I didn't really enjoy it.
What did you like mostly about it?

The "history is a fecking joke.

Why its called that I dont know.

a reply to: halfoldman

For me, I think it's the "what if" factor, as in "what if this happened?". Same reason I enjoy the show Ancient Aliens, it's a different way of looking at things.

So say if I wanted to make a zombie movie without hardly leaving the house, and I just edited stuff, it would be OK to take footage from the AIDS crisis or Ethiopian famine in the 1980s, or the Holocaust, say for a zombie mockumentary?

a reply to: halfoldman

Looks quite good actually, then again i love alternative history.

Im downloading it just now, thank you for bringing it to my attention.

a reply to: halfoldman

If it pertained to the story, I would have no issue with it. There is tons of stock footage available to be used for this kind of thing. That being said, I can understand where you are coming from, although I don't think any disrespect was intentional.

a reply to: Autorico

Well, it's also a discussion.
I'm not saying ban it, or react like somebody just painted Mohammed.
Maybe it's also generational, and I'm showing my age.

Pretty horrid to me though.

a reply to: halfoldman

I suppose if one already has tons of social media posters attributing false quotes to the wrong historical figures, the truth doesn't matter anymore in any case.

Join the free-for-all re-construction of reality.

What must the next generation think?

World War I was about Martians?

1+1 = 2 ww1 +wr of the worlds is also 2 they must have thinking....perhaps the broadtcast of W.O.T.W had moore impact then? a reply to: halfoldman

a reply to: ressiv

Well, it has elements of the 1938 broadcast (the first media trolls?).
But it also differs in many respects.

Apart from the disrespect to the fallen, it's talking to a generation that might not know history at all and conflate things.

If it was a movie or Hollywood, then OK.
But why the History channel?
That's supposed to inform people on true history, or historical debates.
Hardly anyone knows anything about the World Wars, let alone the Napoleonic Wars.

Instead we get two hours of concocted bull#.

The Sci-Fi Channel maybe, but history it is not.

originally posted by: halfoldman
So say if I wanted to make a zombie movie without hardly leaving the house, and I just edited stuff, it would be OK to take footage from the AIDS crisis or Ethiopian famine in the 1980s, or the Holocaust, say for a zombie mockumentary?

If it falls under the Found Footage guidelines, knock yourself out. I'm going to LMAO at the bad mash-up, though, AIDS patients, Holocaust & famine victims don't exactly mesh with the traditional image of zombies. In other words, it would be an illogical step for you to take as a film producer because it lacks the realism you'd be aiming for regarding zombies. War is easy to tinker with, just alter what the soldiers are fighting. Emaciated people, a little harder to dicker with there.
Historical footage appropriation is nothing new. I'm not a war film buff by any means (sorry, they're boring) but I'm pretty sure plenty of WW2 footage has been used in films over the decades.

As hokey as the trailer is, I'm mildly interested. Mildly. I won't go looking for the mockumentary, but if I stumble across it, I'm liable to give it a watch for laughs.

originally posted by: halfoldman
But why the History channel?
That's supposed to inform people on true history, or historical debates.
Hardly anyone knows anything about the World Wars, let alone the Napoleonic Wars.

Instead we get two hours of concocted bull#.

The Sci-Fi Channel maybe, but history it is not.

Newsflash: The History Channel hasn't aired anything real history for quite some time. Roughly when the reality BS took hold & they jumped on board. H2 is where the actual history stuff went, History Channel just panders to morons now, that's all. It's just viewership they want for the flagship channel.

a reply to: Nyiah

Well, your argument doesn't bode well for a "History Channel".

I'd disagree that images of plague aren't a part of zombie movies.

Maybe not all, but certainly some, right down to zombie ARV's.

a reply to: halfoldman

Lets give the next generation a little credit as im sure they, just like our own generation, will be able to discern that this is a work of fiction and in no way representative of the great war of 1914-1918 aside from some film footage being used to describe a FICTIONAL account.

Have to say after watching the program i thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope to see more of the same utilizing film from WW-2, this time the aliens could be from Venus.

Yeah I get it
I think you have a valid reason to be offended, repulsed, outraged whatever term best suits.

The History channel are making money off others misery, from death and destruction and loss.
Making up a story and using real human misery to make that story look good

Many have become so desensitized to suffering now that they can't see the obvious anymore.

If you hadn't said anything I probably would have not noticed