I hate it when people praise Christopher Columbus for "discovering" America. He didn't discover anything, he just ran into america. And for some reason, he believed he was superior to the Indian's and felt the need to tourcher, kill, rape, and basically beat down hundreds of thousands of Indians, who did absolutely nothing but live where they did. And I hate that we have a holiday honoring him. I find nothing special about what he did...
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yeah, besise the ones who started doing discoveries before any other country in the entire world were the portuguese They started getting successfull, so a bunch of guys like colombus started doing the same thing. The first man he went to talk to wasnt even the king of Spain, was the king of Portugal, who said no, because he knew it was impossible to get to INDIA that way. Christopher Colombus isnt great...if you want someone to praise for, choose the portugueses.
share...who started the slave trade.
shareThis film isn't about historical truth, it's an idealistic artistic vision of Columbus. He is an embodiement for all the greatness which inspires men for important achievements. And as far is it comes to this point, Scott's Columbus ha something in common with the real Columbus.
And it's a truly great movie.
It's a mythicized fantastical VERSION of Columbus, that should be highly offensive to anyone that appreciates history, and who doesn't appreciate genocide.
He is presented as one embodiment. The real Columbus' goals, morality, and intent were far from any such ideal.
Pretending he could or did just pisses on people that made great achievements without disregard for little things like human life, or that used slavery, and torture to obtain their goals.
There is no justification for misrepresenting a murderous greedy villain like Columbus as some sort of Saint.
Imagine if we applied this same mythmaking to Idi Amin, or Hitler... and then wrapped it up in beautiful visuals, and a snazzy soundtrack to inspire as with the lofty ambitions, and bravery of Hitler daring to envision a strong Germany (WAHOO!) or Idi the great patriotic leader that brought democracy to Uganda (YAY!)...
...not started, slavery existed centuries ago. And we were also the first ones to stop doing it...while americans were still playing cowboys.
share"who started the slave trade."
Nah, the slave trade was always there. The Arabs and Muslims had a monopoly for centuries
What are they doing? Why do they come here?
Some kind of instinct, memory, what they used to do.
No, I think you'll find it was the Scandinavians/Vikings who were there centuries before any other Europeans. Surely you remember Leif Ericsson, Eric the Red, and all them?
share"No, I think you'll find it was the Scandinavians/Vikings who were there centuries before any other Europeans. Surely you remember Leif Ericsson, Eric the Red, and all them?"
Wrong, Brendan the Navigator discovered the Americas in the 6th century.
So it all rightfully belongs to Ireland! :)
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Well you do have Boston, so the irish didnt walk away empty handed. What did the swedes get? a small piece of Minnesota?(joking)
shareWrong, Brendan the Navigator discovered the Americas in the 6th century.
Wrong, Brendan the Navigator discovered the Americas in the 6th century.
There is no reason to believe that story. The Vikings left physical evidence behind in North America.
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He wasnt italian, he was from genoa, if you study your history italy was not truly formed until the mid and late 1800's, as his native tongue was genoese, but was fluent in other languages, and even if he was spanish what would have that mattered? I am not defending columbus, but people on here are demonizing him and making any thing he has done evil. The problem is that most people here probably accepted the lies and the glorification of this man when we were kids, that is exactly the problem, he was just a man. Columbus was a merchant, a business man, he was not the idealastic hero we were taught to believe. He didnt intend to find a new world he was just simply sailing to find a new trade route, many merchants and sailors at the time new that the earth spherical, if he wouldnt have "discovered it" so body else would have within a close time frame. You also have the consider the mindset of most europeans at the late middle ages, he probably acted like any common person at this time. He is no more or no less than first pilgrims to north america. This is movie is good but really not that accurate by making Columbus a hero, a great myth, but it is a movie after all more of a good fiction with in a historical context.
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Awesome post!
Aaaagh it burns! Tastes like aspirin!
"tourcher" lol I love it! Tell me you spelled "torture" that way on purpose.
share> He didn't discover anything, all he did was just dumb luck and nothing more.
But that's the whole point of this movie.... If you want to do truly great things, you should make bold moves, try new things. You can't plan to make great discoveries, you have to allow them to happen, by going outside of the beaten path.
Nicely summed up in the end with "Life holds more imagination than we cary in our dreams"
I thought the whole point of the movie was Christopher Columbus was a moral man in an amoral world.
Which was of course complete tripe, much like this film.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regardless of what I think of this movie. Christopher Columbus did not discover America, the Vikings did, Leif Erikson explored Newfoundland (then it was known as Vinland) long before discovery journeys were held.
"What If" is a game for scholars.
Timothy Dalton, The Lion in Winter (1968)
Making a discovery implies showing it to the world. Vikings came and went, but did really nothing. Vikings came first to America: yes. Vikings discovered America: no.
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