The Woman King EXPOSED! Propaganda LIES VS Historical TRUTH
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2022
- The new movie The Woman King has been the subject of all sorts of controversy in the last few weeks. On this video I'll tell you about what's going on and most importantly I'll give you a historical channel's perspective on the historicity of this movie.
Links to the channels featured on the video, check them out!
Amala Ekpunobi: Unapologetic
• RIDICULOUS: The Woman ...
Black Conservative Perspective
• BOYCOTT 'The Woman Kin...
Gary Lamb
• Woman King - Wrong, Wr...
Fun fact - a "woman king" is called a queen.
Funny you say that, considering that Jadwiga of Poland was declared a King. Even if she was technically a Queen.
But I digress. I get what you mean.
Edit: Apparently, after a fascinating discussion below, Jadwiga is technically a King and a Queen. TLDR: In Polish context, she's a King and titled as such, because she'd be a Queen Consort if she were named a Queen. Which is definitely an inaccurate title. In English context, she's definitely a Queen, specifically a Queen Regnant.
Edit: It'll be inaccurate to call Jadwiga only a King or only a Queen. But moreso as Jadwiga, the Queen Regnant of Poland that was crowned King.
@@mcihay246 Lots of people get declared things they aren't. Words still have meaning.
Not necessarily. When referring to foreign nobility English either finds the closest translation it can or just uses the original term (such as referring to tsars as tsars and not kings while calling a knyaz a duke). Depending on the culture and language a queen may only refer to the wife of a king and not to a ruler in her own right. It's the weird compromise of trying to convey the position as seen by the people and also English tradition. It's annoying and confusing and ends up running into the fact that a lot of female gendered titles refer to wives of the male title holder and not to women holding the titles in their own right.
@@adorabell4253 I think the distinction between Queen Consort and Queen Regnant (or simply "Queen") is well established in English.
@@unitron2005 I know. That's why I say "technically a Queen".
I'm not saying you're wrong, just find it ironic.
As an African, I don't understand why they did not portray the story of Queen Nzinga Mbande a real life figure that fought off Portuguese colonizers for almost 40 years in Modern day Angola.
Bro let them make a movie about queen N'zinga and the same people gonna say that she owned slaves and that was a slavery .or a nouvie about Massa moussa they gonna say the same thing he was slaver who take 600 slaves and all his kingdom gold to the Arabs , a movie about Samory toure they gonna say he was a Muslim who conquered and murdered Africans who dint wanna to convert to Islam and that his best allies were the english who provided him with guns , and it will never stop they always gonna have something negative to say about African great kingdoms ,kings and Africans who fought the colonizers .this guy is a pure hater plus he doesn't know the real story of the Dahomey.
@@kaderdao1335 You're an idiot who doesn't know history.
@@kaderdao1335 And u do? Also u did live back then? U know the truth. Mostly the truth is kinda in the grey area, nor good nor bad, something in the middle. But hey think whatever, u have ur movie, u can celebrate how they succeeded at least with one to push their propaganda trough and if theres one ill be there are many others as you. As with cockroaches. Its a sad thing. But u wont realize it. Never will. U cant belive the bad things, cause then it would be like destroying ur universe, ur life even, u cant have that. So What i know is that sure enough many African kingdoms did deal in slavery, their were the one that gathered up the slaves for the evil whites and sold them. Those freedom loving African Kings. But hey again believe ur fairy tale and be happy.
@@kaderdao1335 Yes indeed, but you see what has not been taught is the concept of slavery within sub_saharan Africa. Slavery was not as dehumanizing , mechanical and racist as it was done in the West. People names were not taken by them they were not "beasts" in the eye of their captors. They could marry , pray to their gods, keep their identity, integrate to a certain degree their captors society and even earn freedom.
Based on that I would like to believe that the African slave traders never imagined in their wildest dreams, that the captives were going to go through literal hell for 400+ years , you can read the account of an African slave trader king writing to the king of Portugal asking him for his family to be returned in king Leopold tears. The media has made it out as if mother's were selling their children and that Africans has no humanity towards their own. That being said, in no.way shape or form am I apologizing for any form of slavery and the cruelty that ensues. So since Africans are not the victors we do not get to decide the narrative, and vilified and lumped in with the West pointing a finger saying see we did the same.
give it time
maybe they will.
or they will make a black Marie Antoinette movie
I was impressed by Lupita Nyongo refusing a roll in this film after she learned - on her own I should add - the true history behind the story. That’s rare, and should be celebrated.
Lupita seems to have a good head on her shoulders
I already knew the history. Which is why I didn't go to see it.
no, they knew what they were doing. this was on purpose.
@@francas277 100%!!!!
Lupita Nyong'o's family is African from Kenya, and surely she has a realistic idea of Africa, not the fictional one of black Americans. Lupita doesn't need to erase or mythologize the continent she comes from, much more likely it is more important for her to denounce the civil injustices to which Africans are subjected. Her family fled to Mexico due to political repression and riots in Kenya, it is impossible that she would have participated in the historic denial of Dahomey women's involvement in the African slave trade.
It also overlooks that the British needed to send soldiers and gunboats to finally force the Dahomey to stop slave trading. It was such a part of their culture they had to be threatened with (and subjected to) actual violence to stop them
You missed the part where " other empires " ware buying slaves from them
That’s the hilarious part. They’ve made a movie to portray the evils of whitey when the real history is the complete opposite. When they researched this (I use research very loosely) they must have been like “oh, wow. That’s awkward…bloody white people doing the right thing…dammit”
Or where FRANCE kicked their asses to the tune of 400-500 for the loss of....6 or so...
@@Rammstein0963. that I’ll need to look that up, but as I’m outside the typical American bubble I totally accept France as the major European land power for the last near millennia so I don’t doubt it. I’ll have to look it up, any specific battle name etc I should look for?
Battle of Atchoukpa, total massacre for the dahomey.
As a Black historian I think you hit the nail on the head in all your points. I personally hate blackwashing as you call it because it’s not history, just as much as whitewashing is not, but is disrespectful to true history and to another culture. Also, black people should be upset because we need to talk about the African kingdoms role in the slave trade, but we don’t. I think you did good here.
It doesn't help that a number of black people/African Americans are willing to side with truly horrible people just to get more power and/or the excuse to act like horrible people.
One thing about whitewashing in the 40s and 50s is that the USA was still 90% white, even California.
So to get the right Actors would be nearly impossible back then.
Even more when it was so easy to get well known white Actors after one phone call, who also draw on their name alone and we all know its all about the Money in the end.
So i dont wanne defend it, back i can understand why they did it back then.
Nowdays there is of course no excuse for it.
The sad thing is that the film makers were aware of the true history of Dahomey. And they still chose to make the movie. One can only assume that these film makers are hell bent on using any movie to indoctrinate people with the "white people bad, colored people good" agenda. When it's not a white vs black narrative, it's a male vs female narrative.
So true!!!!
Imagine if they had told the story from one of the tribes fighting alongside the French’s perspective. The people trying to end slavery. There would be no need to whitewash history because they’d be telling the story from the people who were on the right side of history. But that would show that humans progress when we work together and not when we segregate based on arbitrary traits.
Imagine if someone made a movie about a Japanese doctor who served in unit 731 and the movie showed him and other doctors being nice to Chinese patients and doing experiments with the consent of the locals. That's basically what this movie is trying to do
Yes because you see, the Japanese were the benevolent benefactors to common Chinese citizen by tending to their needs unlike their western oppressors
I was gonna make that comparison as well dude XD or how bout stalin getting along and being friendly with political opponents
@@MyFunnyVids888 or literally any dictator being ok with political opponents.
Or mongols not commiting mass rapes and killings of innocents during their conquest. There are so many options lol
Spot on
Lowkey exposing their not-so-hidden racism against asians.
After my mom forced me to watch Woman King, my mom was so upset with me when I told her that I was not too fond of the movie. I couldn't explain why. I just didn’t like it for some reason. My younger siblings enjoyed the film, though, and they were all ganging up on me, so I felt terrible, and I thought there could be something wrong with me. At the time, I barely knew anything about African history, so I was vulnerable to taking in any information from the media that could be false. One thing is for sure, though, I knew I couldn't always trust Hollywood to tell a story based on actual events, especially about African history. As a female African American, thank you so much for this educational video; now I feel a little more better about myself :’)
It's funny how families can be different. We're of Scottish ancestry and we all loved Braveheart, but if we watched it and I didn't like it my parents would just be like "Really? Huh, that's too bad."
I'm racist, but I would shake hands with you
If ya want to hear about some REAL badass "black" history..then check out the "Nubians" or the "Kingdom of Kush" and not the garbage that hollywood puts out these days. But it's just a shame there's not enough attention to them though...not even in movies.
Here's a bit of the list why(there's more though):
1. They are considered one of the best archers in ancient history. In fact, the only one that can be consider on par with them is the English longbow which is 1000+ years later.
2. They are one of the core units of Hannibal Barca together with the Iberians during the 2nd Punic wars, especially during his campaign in Italy. (search Battle of Cannae and others like that so you'll get the picture)
3. They had epic wars with Egypt during Egypt's highest peak during the late bronze age.
4. They are the only Christians that survived the Islamic onslaught during 800 AD's on which the whole middle east fell including Jerusalem and Egypt.
So you should. This despicable piece of woke trash is an insult to all sub Saharan Africans & their ancestors. I myself have great love for the Kalahari Bushmen & their rich oral traditions. Their skills as hunters & survivalists are utterly amazing. All the bes5
Things you enjoy or don't enjoy do not usually give deep insights into you or ever mean there is something wrong with you.
After watching the whole movie with some friends, the true intent of this masquerade comes to light. Because there is a mid-credit scene of a repeat when they were honoring their fallen warriors and naming each dead woman, screen fades to black and they say "Breonna" as in Breonna Taylor. They really have to abuse the unnecessary death of a real life woman in order to make people like their retarded movie.
Who was Breonna Taylor and what does her mentioning has to do with what ulterior motive or “true intent”?
Oh wow. Just Google and it is a real fuckfest.
Officers forced entry into her home. Her boyfriend claims he didn't hear them say anything announcing their presence, fired a warning shot at the intruders. In return the three officers fired 32 shots 6 of which hit the girl, killing her. They claim to be investigating a drug operation, but NEVER BOTHERED TO SEARCH THE HOUSE for the drugs.
As of 2022 the officers involved have now been federally charged with conspiracy because they apparently MISLED THE JUDGE so they could get a warrant. One has pled guilty.
While this is abhorrent and unacceptable behaviour by the police, the girl's family received 12 million dollars. While life is precious the average American makes 1.7 million dollars in their lifetime.
These are the facts of the case. Make of them what you will.
@@Celisar1 Breonna was a black american killed around March 13, 2020, when cops allegedly forced entry into her house during investigations into a drug dealing operation. A firefight ensued between Taylor's boyfriend and the cops, which resulted in a cop wounded in action and Breonna's death. The police allege they announced themselves as such and tried to enter, but eventually resorted to breaching the door with a battering ram because they weren't allowed or couldn't get in. Breonna's boyfriend alleged he never heard the cop's self-identification and instead opened fire first, believing the cops to be "intruders". That is part of the story you can find online if you look her up, the devil being in the details.
Either way, a black woman was killed, "sparking" protests nationwide over alleged "police brutality and racism". Things got "worse" for a spell when a grand jury failed to indict the cops for her death.
That is Breonna's story.
As for the ulterior motive, cannot respond for Toni G, because I have neither heard of the movie till now nor seen it. It does sound like Toni is implying that Breonna, in the credits, is heralded as a fallen female warrior against evil white oppression, despite not being a character within the movie. Toni, please correct me if I am wrong.
@@atticussulla877 Gladly. In the movie there is a scene toward the middle, where one of the warriors holds a little funeral or remembrance scene, listing the fallen warriors of the pervious battle the movie starts with.
This scene is then repeated in the previously mentioned mid-credits scene.
There is no character named Breonna in the entire movie and even Imdb doesn’t mention a character named Breonna, which makes me believe this was placed there in reference to Breonna Taylor.
Also thank you for explaining in details about Breonna Taylor. 👍👍
@@atticussulla877 Awesome summary. I will add a few more details. The cops were issued a no knock warrant but they elected to knock. During the time they knocked is when the issue of if they identified themselves game into play. Part of the controversy was if no knock warrants should be allowed, despite both sides agreeing that the police did in fact knock and some arguing that entering without knocking would have prevented the firefight.
If they really wanted to tell African history why haven't they talked about the Empire of Ethiopia, perhaps the oldest and greatest empire in all of central Africa? Or the Kushites? Because they want a narrative. That's all.I am glad to see in the comments all of the people that see what I saw. You cannot remake history to fit your agenda. History is dark and gritty. Those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. Which is why I am firmly against what they did with The Woman King. Last thing here. It seems a lot of people think they have to defend this movie for some reason. The issue is most people haven't or won't watch the actual video. Which means they are just getting their feelings hurt. Stop it...get some help.
Wasn't there all-female regiment that was personal fighting force of the queen of Ethiopia, beside usual all-male (or nearly as such) ordinary army? I might be wrong about this.
Dude you Literally agree with the so called "Narrative"
Your only issue is that the movie isn't Historically Accurate
@@jangbo111 no I do NOT. When did I say that? What I speak about is HISTORY not NARRATIVE. No. My issue here is that this movie was made to change history because no one wants to face the fact that historically black nations were enslaving other black nations. Don't be ridiculous. I will not back down from what I said. Let me guess, you actually LIKED this false movie narrative didn't you? Don't come into a battle of wits with your weapons empty.
@@Fatherofheroesandheroines Literally just repeated what I said back to me.
Or the Mali empire?
fun fact, this role was supposed to be for Lupita Nyong'o, she than went to Africa to study the history directly from there. Once there she found out the truth about those warriors’ woman and it slaver king, she was so upset by the reality that she stepped down from the movie and made a documentary about the true story of those ppl, it is call "Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong'o" I recommend for the ppl that want to know real African history, not Hollywood bs.
And then she went on to become a mascot for DeBeers a company that basically used slave labor and gave birth to Apartheid in South Africa and Zimbabwe
Warriors? We must have read different articles concerning them cause the ones I read basically stated that they were glorified attack dogs who got their asses handed to them on blood soaked platters the first time they went up against people who could actually fight back.
Thanks! Is this on You Tube?
It's like watching 300 and then learning about the real Spartans.
@@markusbarten455 Hey, it wasn't THAT inaccurate, just embellished lol. Spartans were ruthless in war but there were definitely more than 300 soldiers at Thermopylae.
I remember going to see the first Spiderman movie and on the way I walked passed a group of black dudes who just watched it. None of them were depressed about not being able to identify with Peter Parker, they just jumped around pretending to web swing and talking about how they wanted to be Spiderman.
I felt the same way about Spiderverse, even though it had a Black protagonist. Miles Morales was awesome.
It's very telling if you need a character to be the same race as you in order for you to empathize with them...
Men identify with the actions and essence of the character - the popularity of Anime in black American communities is a testament to that.
Woke men and women can only identify with the looks.
Your reiterated use of "Because it"s historical. And it's real." Is brilliant and devastating. Well done!
Every time I see the words “based on a true story” attached to a Hollywood film anymore I read it as “based on something the director half-overheard once while getting smashed.”
@@not.my.democrat True enough. It’s all about butts in seats and cash in the pocket.
@@not.my.democratWhat are you talking about?
I always read it as..:
“look, we weren’t sure about the quality of our plot and production, and we’re quite in doubt that our characters are convincing and likable enough to catch your attention and stay in your memory longer that it takes for the final titles to fade out, so we added this line right here, about our movie being “based on a true story” to add at least some weight to this obvious fail, hopefully returning at least some of the investments. please, don’t judge us too harsh! we tried, we really did, and we need this participation trophy…” 🤦♂️
It's always been that way. Generally they get the names, and sometimes the times, and locations right. Anything else is fair game.
Smashed in the b hole
Have to mention Lupita Nyong'o. What is known is, she was asked to play a major role in the movie, but turned it down. And also around that time she travelled to Benin to make a documentary about the people and the history of Dahomey, and learned about the atrocities committed there, and completely shocked. I guess we can put two and two together.
Good to know there are still people with integrity in Hollywood.
Shame you can practically count them on one hand. 😕
She was going to play as Nawi, viola's daughter in the movie. She actually made a documentary interviewing the living decsdeants of the captive of the Dahomey Kingdom. It's called Woman Warrior.
Now we need her to do the documentary to counter the movie so we can see some real balance.
yes exactly. she def got my respect for that. pity nobody talks about that
That's exactly the difference between Afro-Americans like Viola Davies and Africans like Lupita Nyong'o, the former only know the broadest strokes of a Disney-fied version of Africa whereas Africans know exactly what Africa is and isn't. Making a movie asking you to root for the Dahomey is like making a movie about the Belgians in Kongo asking you to root for Leopold.
*Imagine making a film about a Concentration camp where the SS guards are the heroes....this is the Woman King!*
The Pasta King pitch/synopsis: Medieval Italy. Marco Polo has returned from China and introduced Italians to some recipe ideas he brought over from there. The Italians combine them with some existing domestic recipes and after a while, early pasta recipes are born and become popular. One young man, from an impoverished family, decides to start cooking pasta, and he gradually makes a fortune on people buying his pasta, near and far. Using both honourable and shrewd methods, he rises through the ranks to become a patrician, and after saving the life of an influential aristocrat, have himself get elevated into nobility. Winning the favour of locals and allies in the entire region, he angers many of his opponents. The people nickname him... The Pasta King ! Eventually, he challenges his most ardent opponents.
P.S. I'm disappointed that they finally make a bigger-budgeted film about western African history, an area so neglected by film-makers, and the execution is by-the-numbers, weak, even somewhat disrespectful of the actual people and events. A missed opportunity.
Finally someone, for whom the whole peninsula can unite behind for a common Holy cause: accreditation for food.
From pasta => rasta => Colander King: the true story how the prophet of the Flying Spaghetti-monster told us not to worry, our ignorance, religions, ideologies, wars and such don't really matter, as absolutely nothing in the known universe aknowledges or cares about our existence and the Sun, while wildly bloated, will still be here as the only barely visible thing about our star system, when our planet along it's every lifeform is completely gone.
The problem is filmmakers believe they have to present the ancient people with a XXIst century mentality, otherwise the audience will not identify with the heroes. But this is absurd. The fact that our ancestors believed in slavery and nowadays that is considered a horrible institution should make us realise the obvious: what we believe as normal today may be seen in a completely different light by the next generations.
The way we treat animals now will be considered repugnant in a couple hundred years and the Roombas, and other convenience robots we step over in our homes, are the cave-man versions of the AIs we'll see in the next century.
Exactly. You can make a statement about the injustice if slavery without making your protagonists the embodiment of 21st century ideals.
I haven't seen the Woman King yet, but I intend to. I will go out on a limb here, however, and say that, even with its apparent historical whitewashing, this film seems like a step in the right direction. It's about Africans in an African setting. There are Europeans in it, but they come from Europe. I'd much rather watch that than a film set in, say, 15th century Scotland, whose inhabitants happen to look Nigerian or Chinese, for some reason.
Exactly. Northman didn't erase the atrocities of the Norse yet was mature and handled it well.
@@robertabrahamsen9076
Agreed. Though knowing Hollywood they'll screw it up. How long before we get a movie on Somalia or Ethiopia all played by Bantus rather than Cushites? How long before we get a movie portraying the Ancient Egyptians pre 25th dynasty as black? We already got black Hebrews in the Bible tv series. Americans are obsessed with race and see all of Africa as Bantus
Why are there more slaves today then there was when this movie is happening? 🤔
The dumbest part of Viola Davis playing that part is, the general her character is based on may have slaughtered half her ancestors, clapped the survivors in chains and sold them to slavers as property. If I knew someone did that to my ancestors I wouldn't be paying money to watch a movie lionising them or appearing in that movie
That's why Lupita Nyong'o dropped the offer
You're forgetting the Agoji weren't always successful in their campaigns and some were captured and sold too so Viola may very well be representing her ancestors as well.
@Kgosi And damn does that make me happy. She refused money, first of all. AND she risked having reputation murdered out of integrity. Fuck that's admirable
Better, an Agojie Nanisca (possibly make taken for the movie) was reported by the French to behead slaves and drink their blood.
The Dahomey enslaved 2 million Africans, including the last slaves (illegally) transported to the US in 1860. Tens of millions were killed in slave capture, thousands taken for human sacrifice and the heads, jaws and genitalia of the vanquished were as trophies. They didn't give up slavery and human sacrifice till the French invasion in 1890's.
The last slaves transported to the US told how the Dahomey only took the young and slaughtered the old. They even made the children carry the heads of their parents back to the Dahomey town.
Did anyone else noticed the trend of a lead actor telling people "If you don't buy a ticket, you're this or that"?
Of course you've noticed, you're not stupid.
Thank you, Viola Davis, for telling me what I am, because watching any given movie is paramount to establish my point of view and my believes and, more importantly, to present to my Twitter followers the only right mindset.
And your buying or not buying a ticket has absolutely NOTHING to do with your taste in movies or budget.
I didn't watch the movie once the actress came out with that outrages statement, but watching this I am glad I didn't watch this propaganda
people are smart enough to bristle and dislike propaganda films. That's why so many woke movies flop. They're poorly written propaganda pieces that are selling an agenda. Hollywood interpreted "diverse stories" in the worst way possible and are now just shoving crap down our throats with a gun pointed at us
I recall someone saying that if you don't like Beyonce, you're racist. This is absurd.
Profit above all else.
I still find it incredible that this film during production passed along many desks, yet apparently at no point did anybody involved see an issue, nor did they imagine critics of the film might have access to Wikipedia.
I remember watching The Conqueror with John Wayne as Ghengis Khan, and constantly looking back at my dad. He simply stopped the movie, showed me a picture of the real Khan and then I understand what he meant by the importance of reading and knowing historical information. Then he made me read……. a lot!! That was 1974 and I was 9!! I am grateful for my dad because of that!
Excellent 👍👍👍👍
I hope you still have it. A picture of the real Ghengis Khan must be worth a fortune today.
had a history teacher say something like "treat history movies like cartoons"
at first I get it, movies aren't 100% accurate and sometimes the truth is far more (or less) interesting.
then again he was old and may have referred to some of the old history cartoons in the 60s and 70s. which were not the best but worth a look if your curious.
My dad pulled the same gag on me, and I feel the same about it as you.
@@OffRampTourist Do you think you are clever?
I'm black and I've signed out of politics, but as a west African when i saw the trailer I immediately know who this movie was for - African Americans who dont care to know the truth but just want a movie about black people doing things better than white people. History really isn't as (no pun intended) black and white
They did the same thing with Pray recently. It's a shittier Predator, but done better by a female Native American.
I'm a 5th or 6th generation prisoner if war trapped here, we do want this shit either. Those of us who know the truth are informing others not to support such trash
@@EyeofValor I pirated that with my parents, made absolutely no sense and I forgot i watched it within days
Yes, it is for African Americans who no longer read or know their history. And written by two pail women.
@@EyeofValor Prey is easily one of the best Predator movies.
I'm just baffled that people can go on and do interviews and give their public opinion on the matter without ever taking the time to read what actually happened.
If this is the story they wanted to tell with these people, they should have gone with a historical FANTASY style on par with Disney's Pocahontas and Fox's Anastasia. Those films make it very clear that you're not their for a fictional reflection of actual historical events and people.
Also, I am so sick of the extreme insecurities of these artists that they need to just name call in response to bad reviews rather than just privately acknowledge the critics, use them to improve their craft, and move on. The people who worked on the Dark Phoenix film from a few years ago are a shining example of how to properly take in a flop and what made it flop. They don't get upset and throw tantrums. They're just like, "Well, that was a fun passion project, but I get it. Not everyone will like the same things." THAT is artistic confidence and human integrity, not this "don't like it? You're just a bigot" crap.
While I do agree with your concept I don't think the Dark Phoenix is a good example. They basically replied with "your criticism is just opinion so I can dismiss it". Yes of course nobody likes the same thing, for example I don't like bad movies, how does that reply even address the flaws of the movie?
The trope 'somewhere a historian is crying' has evolved into a stronger form. Somewhere a historian is roasting you with truth bombs on a monetized video.
History is truth, and truth matters. 'My truth' does not.
Im a historian and agree with this comment.
I'm also a historian and I agree with this comment
We also forget that those rulers and chieftains are often the sellers of slaves, because it was a convenient by-product of their power struggles, so they are the least innocent. edit typed before I got to that part
Yes I have gone super historian
Thx Metatron for being a voice of reason
I just hate that we feel the need to make historical programs suited for a modern audience and give these historical people 21st century values and beliefs.
It's kind of inevitable, though. Most people wouldn't really understand, relate, or empathize with actual historical people.
Seriously, I can't stress enough how many series about American Pilgrims just ignore the fact that they were mostly criminals and religious nutjobs. No modern person is going to empathize with a culture that thought kissing your wife in public (after a long, grueling trip, no less) was an offense worthy of the stockades and public shaming. Most people also don't want to contend with their actual history - because it implicates almost every demographic's history into something pretty awful.
Hollywood is here to make things entertaining, and absolutely should not be making claims to historical accuracy - probably ever. Most people want clear-cut good/evil divides, and that's something that history almost never affords.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 Isn't that the point of learning history? To try to grasp a sense of their mindset and to dissect how we perceive good/evil here and now vs those times and places.
This is exactly the critique that he levered on these pieces -- if you want to claim historical relevance, you work to keep as much accuracy as you can; people can decide to like it or not, but you have something to standby rather than trying to hide behind nothing (worse, while creating falsehoods many who aren't interested to research might take as truth). One can always just label it as fiction.
@@IHateUniqueUsernames That's the point of learning history, not the point of Hollywood.
These movies should not have claimed historical accuracy, but Hollywood movies failing to live up to their "Inspired by a true story" catch line rarely spur this much controversy. It is INCREDIBLY COMMON for historical accuracy in Hollywood/Disney to be thrown aside for the comfort of the audience. In this case, I'd posit that this movie's inaccuracy was actually for the comfort of both their white and black audience. While no fuss made over white comfort has ever hurt the economic success of a movie, somehow offering that false comfort to black people inspires some outrage.
What's terrifying, as I'm increasingly seeing in this comment section, is the intent/takeaway to blame black people for their own enslavement and for white people to wash themselves of that culpability. I'd like to hope that Metatron isn't trying to promote that poor understanding, but the extremely short and incomplete description he gave seems to be leading most of his commenters to that conclusion.
You have NOT seen what I've seen of this comment section, let me tell you 😟
@@IHateUniqueUsernames No one watches a movie and really thinks it's real history. That's like saying people get violent by playing video games. Now something like documentaries are different.
Now people might reference a movie if they have no other literal knowledge, but that doesn't mean they trust that source 100% and ignore everything else forever.
@@monsieurdorgat6864 I mean you have a poiint but at the same time; outside of Valkyrie (which was about a plot to assassinate Hitler anyway), I dont think theres ever been a movie about Nazis depicting them as heroic as to maybe inspire Germans and Europeans, and German Americans or something...
If you want something to equate this to, imagine a movie about Hitler portraying him as a great painter, a war hero, and a vegan fighting to liberate the Jews against the evil Bolsheviks. Imagine how well that movie would go in people’s heads.
I mean, at least the painter\vegan is accurate. That's more than most historical dramas.
Add 'an animal rights advocate'.
Finally I found a channel based on historic facts and a.creator who knows how to explain history in a fun and easy to understand way.
As a German I would have used the analogy "this is like a movie about the Nazis was telling you the Nazis wanted to help Jews" yeah........
Thanks Metatron, you delight me and you do incredibly important work
Well there was Schindler’s List but that actually happened. And anyone who wanted to make a living in Germany was forced to join that political party.
Primo
@@emberfist8347 being a Nazi National Democratic Socialist Workers Party member has a lot more to do with signing a piece of paper caring card. It had to do with ardently supporting the party under Adolf Hitler supporting anti-Semitism as well as giving in to the brainwashed ideology. Oscar Schindler apparently didn't do any of that
@@emberfist8347 Doesn't the second part of your sentence conflict with the first? If most were forced to join the party to earn a living wouldn't that mean they were nazis in name only?
@@jessiemeisenheimer8675 That was my point. Oscar Schindler wasn’t a hard-line Nazi but as businessman in Germany at the time, he needed to join the party like it or not. It is why he he did what he did to save as many Jews as he could.
As an African I’m enraged that the movie is so false. I would love to watch a dark historically accurate film. Why do they have to lie.
They will only consider making a good movie about Africa history if a African person asks and gets support for it, otherwise it will go nowhere
Money + Propganda
@@BjornHeiden Rather, they will only do it if they think there is money in it.
First thing you gotta understand is, Hollywood have been doing this for years. Whether it be any film about Thermopylae, Braveheart etc. It's just now that they realised they can make money off African history too.
It's basically trying to do for African Americans what Braveheart did for Scottish Americans. What major military success do the Scottish have to brag about winning all by themselves? Not in union with the UK, JUST Scotland.
Maybe Braveheart isn't quite so egregious as William Wallace's fight for independence from England wasn't TOTALLY at odds with "freedom" (quite like presenting the Dahomey's raid to kidnap and enslave people as an anti-slavery battle) but Wallace was not fighting for freedom. He wasn't against the exploitation of the feudal system, he wanted to take control of the feudal system for himself.
I don't know why there aren't more stories companies of black soldiers in the US civil war. I'm aware of only ONE major movie about that and that's a genuine story of black people literally fighting to free other black people, the US civil war was entirely over the enslavement of black people.
Maybe it's how it's part of something else that is "other", like how an all-Scottish regiment isn't a Scottish achievement if the Scottish regiment was under British command at the time.
Just go full force and give us fantasy films set in ancient Africa, they could be as historically accurate as this and tell stories with modern morals
Honestly, hearing you tell the history, I would watch a movie about them. Maybe have the main character be a young woman who is a peasant but becomes one of the warriors. Show her changing from a relatively sweet person into more or less a bloodthirsty monster. But make the story sympathetic.
Like, yes, she has become a monster but this is what was done to her. She had no other choice.
LOL, pathetic. There's always a choice. And everyone makes one. According to their nature.
I'd watch that, but not this politically motivated fairy tale
@drewwilson6639 I think a lot of people would because it would show that sometimes people become who they are out of necessity rather than desire.
They really need to get over this obsession with claiming that anybody who doesn’t go see your movie is some “insert now meaningless buzz word”. It doesn’t work and hasn’t worked. It makes people even less likely to watch it.
I just laugh because they claim people need to feel represented and see themselves in movies, but then they blame and shame the demographic that isn't represented in the movie for not going to watch it.
Yikes - ignore the corporations shilling controversy all you want (controversy sells, conversely to what you think), but if you seriously think the words I'm sure you're referring to are "meaningless", then you should seriously take a step back and rethink.
Telling people they are racist/sexist if they don't see your movie makes it meaningless. Calling people these words for simply disagreeing with you makes them meaningless. When everything is ist/phobic nothing is and reasonable people simply start ignoring them. I've been called racist because I didn't agree with Barack Obama, and communist/socialist because I didn't agree with Trump. Being called those things means nothing, because they been used as a weapon to try to silence anybody who disagrees.
There is also the oxymoron of making a movie "for black people to watch" and then not understanding that non-blacks would by their own logic not want to watch it.
Historically this strategy was successful. The church says that we are all sinners, therefore we have to give them 10% to help us save our souls.
But there are a lot of irreligious people right now, who do not pay their fair share, so Hollywood might try to be their church. Why not.
The Woman King makes Braveheart looks like a documentary.
Pretty much
This
Wait, people think braveheart is accurate?
@@TheAngryYumm Only by comparison to this movie.
@@artm1973 Oh geeze. I wish schools would teach these kids how to research... >.
As a historic reenactor I definitely get this essence. As obvious just like the people in movies and TV shows, reenactors are essentially actors portraying a fictional character with very specific guidelines. Just like in reenactment, we always have to remember that history is made by REAL people and is not a work of fiction or game of any kind, and that we owe it to those people and their descendants to do things right, and kind in mind the people that we could wrong if we are not respectful and humble, which needs to be accounted on both sides of a coin, an example of this is that, the aspect of respect and humble nature in WW2 reenactment doesn't only apply to the German and other axis reenactors, it goes for every portrayal, regardless of the flag on the person's shoulder.
If we want to learn and experience what it was like to be living in a historical period, then it's hypocritical to try and paint their experience with our modern bushes. It's also worth noting that if we just pull stuff out of our butts and say "that's how it was" without any academic backing, we are not only being dishonest to the historical people, but also ourselves in modern times since the ancient civilizations in most cases didn't actually disappear or go anywhere, they were for the most part conquered and the conquering civilization would replace the standard cultural practice of the land with their own. The fact that there's 32 different Mayan dialects that still exist, with the most widespread being the Yucatec variation with over 5 million speakers.
The Woman King blatantly lied about everything that African tribe did.
The tribe DID exist and they DID have a woman as their leader, but they weren't poor helpless Black people who were genocided by the French like the movie claimed. In fact it was the tribe THEMSELVES who did the genociding. They would invade other tribes, kill as many as they could, and capture the rest and either sell them into slavery or enslave them themselves. They were actually an extremely important part of the West African/Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade back in the day.
And the only reason the war between them and the French started was because it was around the time that France was starting to outlaw slavery, and they demanded that the tribe stop enslaving and genociding other Africans at once, and the tribe refused so they launched an attack on the French and started the war in the first place. You heard me right. The only reason the events of "The Woman King" happened irl was because it was the European colonizers who wanted to stop slavery and it was the African tribe who didn't want to. I couldn't even make this shit up if I tried.
Metatron is putting some spice in his spaghetti today
Thatsa SPicy Meatball!
He's using Black Truffle Pomodoro sauce. Quite spicy. At least for mayonnaisers.
But will he upgrade to Greek Fire?
Mamma Mia I'm getting hungry.
He wouldn't be Sicilian, otherwise.
Arrabbiata perhaps?
In the Netherlands, there was an activist who agitated the crowd at a big rally in Amsterdam to ‘punch any white person who does blackface’ and pointed at the city center and said it was all paid by slavery. The irony? He is a Ghanian Dutch, descending from the Ashanti tribe. The Ashanti were long term allies of the Dutch - to such an extent that when the slave trade was banned, the Ashanti became mercenaries for the Dutch in other colonial regions. There were large contingents of Ashanti soldiers in Indonesia for example. After the English left, many Ghanian Ashanti left for their ally the Netherlands, since they feared revenge from other non-slaverer tribes in Ghana and surrounding regions.
In short, this man was encouraging a racial war, being completely oblivious of the fact that his very ancestors had much more to do with slavery than the average ‘white’ Dutch person.
He's not a slave to his past. Just like not all modern Germans are Nazis ansd which is why Hitlers grave is in some random parking lot and not celebrated.
So his past doesnt define who he can be today. Cant hold him to that. In fact, it can strengthen his resolve; he can realize the awful history of his ancestors and choose to not be like them and push to wipe out any forms of racism and blackface is perpetuating just that. Should he incite violence? Probably not .But then again nobody should be walking aroiund in modern day Amsterdam wearing Blackface either nor is; he nor responsible for his ancestors. He's his own man
@@BladeValant546 I’d suggest you read up on the long history of the Dutch national holiday of Sinterklaas and the long-standing use of blackface in this holiday. While I agree that the worst examples of blackfacing during this holiday are racist and bad, you cannot simply encourage violence against everyone who (in their minds) celebrates this holiday ‘the old way’. When I was a kid, black kids would celebrate along with white kids, getting candy from people in blackface (and black people would blackface too, believe it or not). The history of blackface in the Netherlands is very different from that in the USA. Increasing awareness has shed more light on the how the historical black painting of faces on this holiday (which happened as far back as pre-christian times) took a more racist and darker turn in the 1800’s when wigs with curly hair, big earrings, and painted lips were introduced to ‘black pete’, the blackface character. This was done because black people were seen as more jolly and innocent, and thus less scary to kids (whilst not necessarily as bad of a stereotype as black people in the US, it is hurtful nonetheless). So nowadays many people want to hang on to painting the faces ‘black-ish’ to keep up with the millennia-old tradition, but without the racist stereotypical attributes involved. But then again, what is too much and what isn’t? Do you still think ‘all’ of them should be punched?
In Dutch oversees territories and ex-colonies, black people paint their faces white to portray some of the white characters that are involved in this holiday. Should they be punched too?
You’re opening up pandora’s box in terms of violence and being negligent about applying appropriate historical context. For these reasons it is not okay to say you should simply punch anyone who does blackface in the Netherlands.
@@BladeValant546 So the Wayans Brothers should be beaten for doing whiteface?
@@BladeValant546 Return to reddit from where you came.
"No you‘re just a bigot if you don’t agree that every black person thinks exactly the same and has the same past.
Actually, everyone is equal and by equal we mean equally obliged to believe our, absolutely not propagandistic, politically correct narrative!"
-the, totally not establishment controlled, mainstream-media probably
The history, myths, and legends of Africa are so amazing they need to have their own place in the entertainment world. Not doctored to be "american'ized" but on their own! in full, beauty of their depth!
Meta, been saying it for a while after watching your content. Your channel is small potatoes compared to where you should be, because you're honest and you do your homework well.
My favorite genre of books are historical fiction ones, where the author takes real historical events and places some fictional characters in those events without changing those big historical events. You'd probably be great at those because you're honest and wouldn't alter the events to help your characters. Just a thought. If you already have that in your head, I seriously cannot wait for it. It would be a breath of fresh air to get some honesty without politics infringing on the history and truth as far as we know it.
My sister was pretty mad at me when I told her what the kingdom was really like.
Mine too 🤣
Of course they were. Cause the historical truth of humanity doesn't fit these dishonest and nonsensical "social justice" propaganda narratives, and the weak hearts and minds that are drawn in by them get upset when their fantasy bubbles are popped.
Today is the first day I've learned about the true history of this movie, too. I am a little shocked though I think most movies made of deceased celebrities are false. I am aware of the Rosa Parks (true) story also.
Mad at you or mad at the movie?
She is really mad that she has been wrong all this time, and her sister proved it to her.
The fact that the idea, “history should be portrayed as accurately as possible”, is now considered problematic with most of hollywood is a sure sign that something needs to be destroyed
The irony is they spent the last three years ranting about “facts” and science.
It’s a sign of why I want to nuke the world.
Wokeism should be destroyed
If the film was very accurate to the real history then the audience wouldn’t like what they see
Hollywood has always had a huge problem with historical accuracy... one way or the other.
The Kingdom of Dahomey was such a prolific force in the Atlantic Slave Trade, that they were instrumental in its growth and longevity. Their wealth as a kingdom was based on the slave trade, and even after the British abolished slavery, Dahomey continued. Even under threat of British blockades specifically meant to enforce abolition, they fought to protect their right to enslave and sell others. You can actually read a book by Zora Neale Hurston where she interviewed a man named Cudjo Lewis who was the last known slave to have been transported to America from Africa. His village was butchered, and he was enslaved by these Strong Black Women.
A close friend of mine is West African and told me the Dahomey Tribe is known historically for being Slave Traders and particularly brutal treatment of weaker tribes they enslaved and sold to the Atlantic slave trade that the French actually liberated sales from the Dahomey.. I am not sure if that is true but so far it seems so. I am surprised Hollywood would be so brazen to depict the Dahomey so differently in the film
"A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on" Thank you for giving truth a little speed up here. Keep up the good work.
Yeah but Hollywood will take this as a sign to never make African historic dramas again. You gave them ammunition. No Shaka Zulu's, no Mansa Musas, no nothing because they ALL had genocides and slavery
Suez Contours Sounds like something _they_ need to be punished for. Not the people speaking up about warped historical inaccuracies.
@@christiancinnabars1402 Haven't they been punished for centuries dealing with Europeans?
Very true.
One of the biggest lie in history was that ww2 was fought for our freedom, when in truth it was to keep hold of an Empire, and a build of a new one.
@@suezcontours6653 That's the cost you pay for telling lies and expecting any less from hollywood.
If you want to tell historical drama's about POC, tell the raw truth. They were just as evil, vile and awful as the rest of the human race and weren't some fragile sub-species in need of protection that the left desperately wants to paint black people as.
A studio made a movie about Jessie James. As a publicity stunt they invited the man's great-grand daughter to the premier. After the show reporters asked her how accurate the movie was. She replied, 'They got the names right. Oh, and they rode horses."
@TheGreatEggKing Probably The Assassination of The Outlaw Jesse James. Yeah, it wasn't great
Pardon my ignorance but who was Jessie James?
A bandit in late 1800s American West. His actions were novelized and romanticized by the entertainment industry for considerable profit. His fame has waned with the decreasing interest in Westerns.
@@cristinagarrido3930 he was a famous american outlaw during the wild west :)
@@cristinagarrido3930 Former Confederate Bushwacker turned brutal outlaw after the Civil War. Some folks glorify him like he's some Robin Hood type.
I've known for a long time about Dahomey's pivotal role in the triangular slave trade. I also knew about their female regiments. When I first saw the opening seconds of the trailer for this film, I just thought.... WTF!
Somehow I doubt Roman movies elicit that same reaction from you.
It aggravates me that accepting queens can be kings or vice versa will really screw up the game of chess as we know it.
"They have the power to tell other people who you are. Let's make sure they do it right." This statement completely sums up what we've all been trying to say to these entertainment outlets over the last several years. Well said, Metatron!
Speaking as a black man in America, Speaking the truth is not in fashion these days. I am so happy that you made this video. Keep them coming.
His video is was off in many areas, though.
@@admirekashiri9879 for example?
@@elizabethstone3352 3:30- 3:46 You think with people boycotting this they'll try to make an African centered film again? Ye likely not, they'll just stick to tokenism and race swapping of Eurocentric stories, any African story after this will likely be boycotted too.
6:41 - 7:13 The film isn't about that, their marketing is a huge factor behind why many people are triggered. It takes place in 1823 around the time the Dahomey kingdom was at war with the Oyo empire, the European characters aren't the main villians they're more so background antagonists who play a small part towards the end of the film. The real antagonists are is the Yoruba Oyo empire which made Dahomey a tributary state for much of its history and demanded annual slave tributes.
7:45 - 8:20 Yes Dahomey was involved in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade however, they weren't the biggest suppliers of slaves. The Kingdoms they conquered called Allada and Whydah exported way more than they did. Plus do remember there was no Pan Africanism just like you Europeans Africans identified with ethnicity and kingdom not race.
And literally its just one character in the film who spoke out against slavery we aren't shown what the rest of them or the majority believe.
8:20 - 8:30 King Ghezo was a usurping tyrant that fact of history is known, he only got into power with the help and support of European slave merchants. They should have shown instead the reign of the twins King Akaba and princess Hangbe when the Mino were new, the political intrigue, the wars etc would have shown how things were.
8:31 - 9:00 It's historical fiction like all the other stuff you've covered, tell me why wasn't there such effort to boycott those other projects? This film is simply a fictional retelling of the Dahomey Oyo conflict which was real, but ofcourse it didn't happen as shown in the film, would have been better aa an R rated film at least they could cover the conflict better.
9:00 - 9:12 You're literally one of the most educated people I know Metatron you know full well history is not black and white. The Dahomey kingdom faced oppression and they too lost people to the slave trade, major figures in the Haitian Revolution were Fon people of Dahomey. The problem here is most of you people are attacking without a full understanding of the entire history. Yes them being oppressed at one point did not justify their cruelty indeed it should have been showcased if they really wanted to cover this Kingdom but, given their surroundings and circumstances this was the norm though due to their weakness they became brutal to try and intimidate their bigger enemies and rivals such as Oyo, and the Ashanti kingdom etc. In my opinion this film was a missed opportunity to showcase why and how exactly they partook in the slave trade, there was an arms race and there was no Pan-Africanism each kingdom was out for self, some people were good others were evil within these lands it wasn't as clear cut as Souls good or souls evil.
@@elizabethstone3352 if you still need examples look at my comment I posted above more recently. Anyone who watched the movie can smell the BS in this whole vid😂
@@donovansmith1686 Well, I didn't find it. Quote?
Excellent video. Timely, well produced, well researched and interesting. Keep it up. We need RUclipsrs like you.
I lost it when in the trailer for the film the male lead said "you are as deadly as you are beautiful" or some such nonsense. I laughed so hard.
“This king was so into slavery that he was nicknamed the slave king”
😂😂 I almost shot milk out my nose😂😂
Here I thought moses was the slave king
He was a real slavery enojoyer alright
He also was a well known whipping aficionado.
King ghezo. One of the "protagonist" in the movie. The one who potrayed as anti-slave trade. Is actually the biggest slave trader in the continent. The british in 1830s, had begun cracking down on the atlantic slave trade. In 1840s the british preassure the dahomeys to put an end to practice of slave trade. King ghezo respond:
"The slave trade is the ruling principle of my people. It is the source and the glory of their wealth…the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery".
While some dispute this quote as western propaganda. It does not change the fact that. King ghezo continue on the slave trade. Until the british blockade all the ports and forced him to put an end to the slave trade in 1852, reluctantly..... And then resumed on 1857. And continue to do so until 1890s.
Oh did I mention that they also practice human sacrifice using slaves they capture?. Yeah...they are good guys alright.... same as calling stalin a family man.
We wuz slave kings and shit
When Viola Davies' character rallied her stronk wahmen warriors by saying:
"The evil colonizers can take away our lives but never our slaves!", while she was sacrificing 2 of her slaves to get the favour of her gods for the upcoming battle , I got literal chills and I clapped.
Pure cinema!
Viola could do anything a man can - but better (unless it's a Transman - they they are equally as great!)
I lost it when she stood up and exclaimed "It's Slavin' Time" before Vanquishing the evil white abolitionists. It was definitely one of the movies made.
The Northman shows that people are effectively willing to watch that story.
Now, see? I didn't get what to be mad at until I saw it was possible to make a childish mockery of language over it. Stronk? It opened my eyes in a way that the real word just couldn't. I owe you gentlemen an apology for my deficiency of rage.
When she went "It's enslavin' time" and then went and enslaved them all. Literally crying, what a beautiful scene.
A few years back, I had a conversation with an intelligent, well-educated, professional woman, and she talked about things that she had not learnt in school. One thing that she remarked on was, "I didn't know that they had slaves in Africa." She had found that out later from reading she had done on her own. I mentioned that some time later to another intelligent, well-educated, professional woman, and she queried, "They had slaves in Africa?"
I’m so happy you covered this! As a history buff, I was aghast at the flagrant lies that even the trailer of this movie was telling. So even if you didn’t see the film, you could still potentially be misled by it. Keep up the good work brother,
Lupita Nyong'o, the Black Panther actress, did a documentary on the women warriors of Dahomey in 2019. She went to the old capital of Dahomey, in modern-day Benin, because she wanted to learn about the warriors who had inspired her Black Panther character. She wasn't prepared for the complex history that she found. She had more than a few OMG moments.
A revelation near the end of the show forced her to confront the slavery aspect in an uncomfortable way. She later said this: "The role of fantasy is to create the heroes we cannot have in the real world, because people are complicated." she considered the women warriors very complicated. But not heroes - at least not heroes to people who are not their descendants.
BTW, Nyong'o met a woman who'd been trained to be an Agodjié (woman warrior). The last of the 19th century Agodjiés died in 1979. She was over 100, so it's possible that the woman in the documentary, who looked to be in her 80s, may have been trained by her. You can find the documentary here: ruclips.net/video/F7oeWZMwbvI/видео.html
Thanks for the Link, will watch it afterwards
Exactly the reason why Black Panther works and Woman King won't because atleast Panther is honest of being a fantasy and not based off history. Its not distorting anything to possibly create confusion. Its just making something new.
@ME B well unfortunately BP movie was pushing the same agenda as the The Woman King fantasy or not..and sadly there's folks over here that really think that the history in BP is real..very sad..
@@Nemy360 equality or feminism isnt a bad agenda to begin with. But if it goes too far to sacrifice something like the truth or other values then yeah its flawed. If ur talking about the 2nd film, it was great how they transitioned the story and knowing marvel they were setting up more characters (female or otherwise) It didnt feel forced for the most part. T'challa only had a sister, mother and her female warriors... what do people expect the successor to be
@@migssby Your first sentence shows how much you have yet to learn how profoundly erroneous it is.
I'm actually really glad that this movie came out because it's gotten people to talk about something that was ignored or not known by a lot of people. African slaver's.
You mean stupid people. It's called The slave trade for a reason.
I agree, it gets us talking about a time when only one side are seen as the bad guys, this at least shows the African tribes were more complicit in slavery than anyone. More and more blacks today are waking up to the fact and the generations to come will hopefully learn it too. Though i'm sure white ppl are always going to be used as a racial bogeyman!
The implication is far worse, if there was no cooperation by African Kingdoms then it just reduces these people to animals, as if white people can just hop off a boat and cast a net out like fishing and catch some random black people, and no locals would do anything to stop this?!?! How would they be so incapable, the slave trade was when European powers only had single shot muskets.
No, it was only possible by the complicit actions of native Africans and racism was a huge component. Not racism as in black vs white but racism like seen in Germany in WW2, how different ethnic groups were hated though to outsiders the differences seem so trivial.
I think people with fuzzy history may think "oh they colonized Africa and THEN began the slave trade", no, the rush for Africa came AFTER all the western nations had banned slavery. One of their rationalisations for their takeover of these countries was to put an end to slavery. And European powers couldn't even hope to take over such large swathes of Africa without having a far greater firepower advantage, they needed rapid fire repeating weapons and artillery, it was the only way colonialism was possible.
What made these colonies impossible to hold was losing that firepower advantage as independence movements slowly started getting automatic weapons, colonial powers could not hold onto any colonies without a supreme firepower advantage.
Yep. Slavery has been monopolised by the media as a stick to beat whiite Europeans. Left wing politics. The barbary slaves and roman slavery is just ignored. If you do studies in slavery, you'll just focus on african slave. Nothing on modern slavery. Media sucks
Yeah the backfire has been better than the actual film
Hollywood Writer: Let's make a movie about one of the most brutal Slavers in Africa.
Fans: Alright that can be a pretty intense drama about a villain protagonist.
Hollywood Writer: Let's portray her as a basically perfect queen.
Fans: What?!
Hollywood Writer: And downplay all her crimes to the point they're portrayed as a good thing that happened.
Fans: Are you insane?! That's extremely offensive!
Hollywood Writer: Did you hear something?
Other Hollywood Writer: No.
I’m with you on this. I strongly feel that when it comes to characters that come from mythologies, folklore, fairytales or histories of specific ethnicities should be played by actors who belong to those ethnicities. At least they have to look like them. Enough of the leftist propaganda, LBGTQ, anti-white, feminist propaganda in films, tv series, and pretty much all media today. We are sick and tired of it.
To add to that. The French depicted in the film didn't invade to enslave them, but as a response to the Dahomey raiding a French colony for slaves. And the Dahomey got crushed unlike what the movie depicts.
It was a French protectorate
Dahomey invade and kill/capture villages under French protection
France lands small army, fixes bayonets and basically marches on the Dahomey capital.
Same in the Namib with the Germans and the Hereros... but today the Hereros are considered good and poor poor victims!
Wasn't this group of female warriors also destroyed within hours by the French?
@@nonombre7159 45 minutes I think.
@@Thor-Orion With modern weapons
The more I've learned about African history and cultures, the more amazed I am and the more astonished that they go completely unheard of in media. There is so much potential, but everyone wants to just conquer the already established thing instead of exploring an entire new and rich landscape.
Media is ultra marxist, it must push a victim oppressor narrative. Divide and conquer.
The 'liberal' establishment has expended so much energy demonising the West, the progressive force for 300yrs, using modern sensibilities that other cultures will look bad in comparison.
In reality, this judgement of the past with modern values is futile. If we don't progress we've failed. So, of course the past looks bad after progression.
Personally, they need to tell good stories and ignore the children who can't understand the world has moved on and people were worse in the past.
I'd be happy with a truthful tale of the rise of the Dahomey if it was a good story! But having made so much of US slavery, dahomey, Ashanti, Benin etc society at the time will not compare favourably.
I think they are the real racists to be honest, since they don't seem to think that regular black history will sell movie tickets. So they need to race-swap them into previously white stories instead. African history is really rich but it's never really told. Which is a shame.
The wise heed the warning of our ancestors about woMEN and seek Mama. Go ahead get your man but know this you deny WaWa for his salty drink.
Like with the little mermaid. If you want her to be black, jut place her story in africa, where there are black mermaids mythos and legends.
Hail noble Metatron... And I do mean that sincerely! In the beginning of your video you went through the king of this and the king of that and then you said, "what's next? The King of Pasta?" And you showed yourself as the king of pasta. I thought that was very funny! LMAO!!! It was pretty good! I do know the history if this African tribe you speak of, years ago in matter of fact. A job well done, right on target! All the historical inaccuracies you pointed out, you put the round right in the black! Excellent job, keep up the great work young man!
I hear that the Dahomey got so bad that British and French Abolitionists (who had ended their slavery long before The United States did) tried to force them to stop and a French army fought against them in a battle where the Dahomey lost 600 people and the French only lost 6
Don't forget that the French were just using bayonets in melee combat with the Dahomey with that victory. They didn't even have to fire the guns
When you get slammed by the French, you are no warriors.
The USA made the slave trade to America illegal in 1808. The freeing of slaves in America was a more difficult problem since it involved property rights and compensation. The British made the slave trade illegal about the same time as the Americans but they paid reparations (compensation) to the slave owners in the Caribbean in the 1830s.
@@X525Crossfire the French were actually very good soldiers. They were the ones that held the line in WWI. Also a lot of the troops that fought the Dahomey were the foreign legion. The foreign legion are dead hard lads.
@@X525Crossfire France has ones of the best military records of any European country, but everyone still makes of them for losing ww2
As Ghezo, King of Dahomey said in the 1850s...
"The slave trade has been the ruling principle of my people. It is the source of their glory and wealth. Their songs celebrate their victories and the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery."
When the Royal Navy enforced a worldwide ban on slavery, one of the biggest protesters was King Gezo of Dahomey.
Fun fact about the casting of John Wayne as Ghengis Khan, he absolutely considered that role to be the worst movie he ever made and himself to be the worst possible casting for the role. He said he never should have taken the role.
Also, they filmed it near an abandoned uranium mine and more than half the crew got cancer from it.
"The King" and "The Outlaw King" were both very good, generally historically accurate films. "The Woman King" is literally a group of people glorifying a tribe that enslaved their ancestors, while completely warping the truth to fit an insidiously mistaken political narrative.
The King wasn't very historically accurate and it inserted modern feminist ideology into the setting. It's not as bad as The Woman King, but it certainly has big issues.
@@therightarmofthefreeworld4703 I agree, that is why I threw in the "generally". Both had their issues but certainly were still closer to historical accuracy than the Woman King.
Tbf the King wasn't that historically accurate since we know it's based off of the Shakespearean play
@@jetorixjones both are not historical accurate! All movies are for entertaining not documentary
@@nikolamilicevic1040 Here we agree. Google This.Isn’t.Sparta. He does an amazing takedown of the myths and how awful Ancient Sparta was even IN the context of Ancient Greece. pretty eye opening!
Actually, "The Pasta King" could be a decent movie because the guy who runs Barilla pasta today was an F1 driver in the 80s. He definitely had an interesting life, given what the F1 scene was like in those days
I'd be drawn in just with a title like "The Pasta King". Heck, "Pasta Emperor" would also pique my interest
The Sicilian King, would be my pick for a movie staring our favorite YT historian and language personality.
Two hours of how pasta is good for you, I would pay to see that.
Now that sounds like a great movie.
@@GeorgeSemel 🤣
My dear friend from Nigeria has told me many wonderful stories, myths, legends & facts about his country & its people. Its a shame that they dont do this on a grander scale.
This false history in this movie is an insult to the truly agonising suffering of African women in history. African history is extremely ancient and stepped in stories…thankyou for your truth
Yeah it's really fucked how they could've easily had a wholesome "all sides come together to take down an evil slave empire" story but decided that they'd rather twist actual history for the sake of a false narrative.
Except the African tribes were the biggest perpetuators of slavery lmao
The story is about Dahomey fighting the Oyo empire the Europeans are not the main antagonists. Its loosely based on the Dahomey Oyo war
but then evil wins
@@Hamstray ??
@@admirekashiri9879 Strange how that's not actually what the film is based on, it's based off the franco-dehomey wars.
Hence why there are frenchman in the film.
The movie could've easily been about how the neighboring tribes/kingdoms actually helped out the french similar to the situation of the spanish involving south America.
The movie blatantly tries to paint these slavers as freedom fighters against slavery when it was the opposite.
Imagine a gripping story about the characters where they learn to appreciate one another regardless of pigmentation.
Unfortunately what we got is the equivalent of garbage pandering and attempts at historical revisionism.
Edit: spelling errors corrected.
It takes a lot of balls to bring this into the light in our current insane state of affairs, paisan. Great job!
He didn't say anything controversial he didn't evem address the main criticisms
@@jangbo111 he called them out for leaving out the fact that Dahomey was instrumental in the African slave trade. What more would you have had him say?
lmfao
@@nikolamilicevic1040 Yes but the king those women fight for is historically pro slavery.
@brooklyn again Almost everyone that is African American knew about this tribe because it contributed to their suffering in slave trade.
Actually one of the biggest things I got out of this movie was that they actually recognized the cooperation of this African nation in the slave trade. That in itself is breaking new and much needed ground on the history of African slavery.
Thanks very much for this informative video! Well done! (One small suggestion. At 1:43 to 1:45, you might want to fix the typo “HISOTRY” to “HISTORY”.)
What's even funnier is that it was the British who put an end to the Slave Trade in that area lol
And the amazon's fought one battle against the French and got the shit kicked out of them
i can be wrong but i think were the french
@@razoo911 yea they were French
@@bdleo300 im not talking about the movie but the history if im not wrong, i mean the french invasion it was the thing that stopped the slavers and destroy that kingdom of west africa
edit: did you delet your comment Bbleo?
Yawn! Remind me, when did we finish paying reparations to slavers…
They also failed to mention how the slave trade in the area was actually ended by a Brittish naval blockade....
Irony....
But us Brits are all evil racist colonisers Hollywood told me so
Huh what do you mean that every British person that paid tax before 2014 contributed to ending the slave trade by paying off the 200 year old debt!?!?!
You mean the ones who created the demand in the first place?
full of press ganged sailors aka slaves oh white thats fine lol
They should have made a movie about that
@@umwha it would indeed be a great movie. But not in keeping with the narrative. Look up the West African Squadron? A story about the HMS Black Joke would be good in its own right.
Not sure if this was asked before, but now I'm curious (from 2:18) : what are your feelings towards the "Fate" series (games/novels)? Also, I've just discovered your channel from Shad and the recent youtube issue - loving it so far! I'm looking forward to catching up with more videos in your channels. Best regards!
If they want a movie about a badass black female warrior just do a movie about queen Amanirenas already
The best is when I heard them trying to call this group "real world Amazons." Uh...non...the Agoji are about as opposite from Amazons as one can get. Yes, they were a female warrior group, but their whole existence was to worship and serve a man (the king) by killing and enslaving their fellow women. Someone please tell Viola Davis that neither Nanisca nor Amanda Waller will be an Amazon in the Justice League any time soon.
the analogy to Amazons I believe was observed and made by either the British or French at the time. this movie didnt come up with that
@@budgiecat9039 Not just with the Agoji, the Amazon comparison has been happening with female warriors and warrior groups for about 3000 years now....before the British or French were even a thing. ;o) I was speaking more specifically about the creators, promoters, and actors of this film. Many of them in interviews have been incorrectly making an Amazon comparison. And I'm sorry, but no...the Agoji and the Amazons are nothing alike. Not in mythology, not in reality, and certainly not in whatever one wants to call this film.
@@unarealtaragionevole Yeah but I'm saying the producers and actors are specifically using that comparison based on what actual European slave buyers described them as (or one of them at least as its documented him saying it) upon first viewing them
Bill Burr once talked about white-guilt movies, and how they had to start scraping the bottom of the barrel. There are plenty of black movies, problem is they only tell the story about overcoming racism. Same goes for holocaust movies. They’re important historical topics, but at some point you’re just beating a dead horse.
Exactly! Morgan Freeman said it best. "The way to get rid of racism is to stop talking about it"
I'm so sick of the Holohuax. Even if it did happen Americans fought against it so why tf are we giving Israel reparations ?!
I totally agree. There's only so many ways to say "racism is bad mmkay?" That's not to say we can't make movies about it. But I would be far more interested in a movie that analyzes racism and asks questions as to why people can get into those lines of thought.
@@spinlok3943 racism is a meaningless communist term. Racial segregation is natural and healthy. This "they hate skin color" bs has never been real. Look at culture look at crime statistics look at how we live and how they live. If everyone hates racist whites why is every attempt of them to live alone stopped ? Where are whites allowed to have their own space and be left alone ?
And now he's married to a white guilter himself.
I knew it was bad, but this makes it so much worse. Thanks @Metatron for the truth, as always. 👌
My pleasure my friend
Great video on this subject we definitely agree totally on this one! 💪🏿❤️
There is so much amazing TRUE African history that can and should be told. I would love to see a film about Ghana, Mali, or Songhai empires.
They would be boycotted and attacked too they had slaves and partook in the slave trade so.theyre evil and not suitable to be shown in western media.
Ethiopia would be incredibly interesting as well.
All those empires also had slaves and participated in the internal Arab slave trade. You can't run away from the fact that most empires had slaves.
@@tvs9978 No one's trying too. What were saying is that if Hollywood had the balls to accurately portray these cultures it would be fantastic stuff. Personally speaking, i find the geopolitics around Ethiopia is incredibly fascinating. Especially the Italo-Ethiopian War.
@@tvs9978 They definitely did! Its very important to not shy away from historical fact, but these medieval West African civilizations are extremely interesting. A great movie or historical tv show could easily be made about one of the empires while still being faithful to the real history of Africa.
Imagine if someone made a movie where Nazis were depicted as heroes saving the world for tyranny. That's basically The Woman King.
There's a similar one happening on Russian TV these days.
If only it could be a true story
Well, we did fight the wrong enemy.( General Patton)
College Students were burning books about degeneracy we see in the West today.
Someone did make that movie, it was pretty intense.
That's called Birth of a Nation my friend.
Weren't "The Help" and "Hidden Figures" very popular movies when they came out? I don't remember hearing anything against them. And those two movies both have strong female leads fighting the battles of their day and age. They may not have been warriors in the sense of wearing armor and what not, but they were definitely warriors in another sense of the word and I don't think anyone could say the events depicted weren't battles in their own way.
The actress who said that people who don't like "The Woman King" are racist and sexist apparently forgot that.... and she's in "The Help"
@Metatron - out of curiosity where did you get those historical details you mentioned as counterarguments. I am simply curious.
The irony of if all is that the whole historical background has a lot of potential for an emancipation story: get a protagonist who takes part in the system forcefully (a girl taken to be part of the king's harem for example), grows up to be trained as a warrior, has her fair share of mental and moral burden by killing and enslaving her own kin, then either get a Hollywood ending - she organizes a coup or a rebellion or whatever (artistic/narrative liberty) - or get a tragic one, where she realizes everything was wrong but also that she can't stop any of it.
É isso mesmo
exactly what i thought
That would have been awesome.
Exactly. But we live in a highly politicised world.
I'd be happy with a good story about the rise of the dahomey empire! So long as it's a good story and doesn't try to totally rewrite history.
I think most people are mature enough to realise the world was always worse in the past but people's lived in the context of their day. But sadly, the loud, immature and politically motivated dominate in Hollywood at the moment. And it's suffering. This was the worst September takings in 25yrs, even excluding inflation.
The main issue I have with this movie it literally juxtaposes the heroes and villains, painting a racist narrative to plug into the already heightened racial tensions in the US. Playing to a racist narrative is one thing. Lying to do is a whole other level.
Sergio Corbucci material here
For people interested in IRL African stories and folk tales, I remember growing up reading a book titled "Famous South African Folktales" by Pieter Grobbelaar. It's a mix of European-African and southern African folk tales with really good illustration. Some of the stories in the book give some background to superstitions some people from the southern Bantu cultural group still believe today.
Thank you for the recommendation, sounds very tempting.
There's also a collection of South African folk and fairy tales compiled by Nelson Mandela called Madiba Magic, which is also beautifully illustrated by a number of South African artists.
Thank you both for writing this, and I look forward to checking out both of your book suggestions.
Yes I had a book of African folk tales as a kid and I loved it. If they want fantasy there's so much in any culture, as telling stories is what humans are best at.
Not a smug put-down, but a genuine question. Did Bantu’s reach all the way down to South Africa?
@@mychannel3774 Yes, there's this event called the "Great Bantu Migration" out of West Africa centuries ago that displaced or wiped out most of the Kapoid people in southern Africa.
Most southern Bantu languages adopted their clicking sounds which Africans from up north don't have.
The Kapoids survived in the Namib and Kalahari deserts as well as the western half of what's South Africa today, which wasn't settled by Bantus.
We need to see the movie ‘Pasta King’ as soon as possible.
I gotta say, that impersonation was awesome!😂
This wouldn't be that much of a problem if they didn't claim that this was "historical and true".
Wakanda forever?..
@@nephicus339 I guess the punchline comes from Black Panther but I haven't seen a Marvel movie for a long time ^^
@@Par-Crom you’re better off that way, honestly
Agreed, they could have just used them as inspiration...
Same with DaVinci code shit
The actual history around the Dahomey sounds like it would make a great horror movie.
Damn right
I can never stop hitting the like button on your videos!
The pasta lol, I love the serious thumbnail for that. 😂❤
Ryan Gosling as Shaka Zulu would be hilarious.
At least he's actually a solid actor, unlike most of the diversity hires we see in Hollywood these days
I think you mean Aryan Gosling.
There's a 0% chance they would ever make an accurate movie about Shaka Zulu no matter who they cast.
@@plain_simple_garak Well they are in South Africa.
@@okay8136 They're working with historians but if you feel thst way avoid it like you're doing this film.
The saddest part is that this movie could have actually have a great plot with an african tribe enemy to the Dahomey trying to defend and survive the evil slavers, both white and black. Not only historically accurate, but also a very interesting plot since we have a villain with a very deep history.
Add in a bit of romance for entertainment like a forbidden love relationship between the Dahomey and that african tribe that only tries to survive and you have the perfect plot to make the sweet sweet money and drown in Oscars.
Edit : This reminds me a bit of the plot of Aida, an opera written by Verdi. Although the timelines are not the same, the plot is resembling to what I described. Maybe an adaptation of Aida as a movie would be fantastic.
The film is about the Oyo empire fighting the Dahomey kingdom. Plus no matter what it would have been boycotted still I'm sure. They should just avoid African stories and stick to Eurocentric ones Africa is too controversial for the West.
Just a general thing: try to speak of african states. The word tribe is realy ... problematic for a lot oof reasons and in this region especially, we are talking about highly organized states with standing armies and everything ...
@@admirekashiri9879
The primary reason fir the boycott is that they took historical slavers and pretended they were anti slavery.
There are plenty of African stories that few in the west would boycott. Make a movie about the rise of the Solomonic dynasty, it's actually interesting and wouldn't be controversial in the west.
@@admirekashiri9879 i hope onw day africa stop being controversial, there are lot of cool stories there but saddly it doesn't seem possible to tell them.
@@JP-rf8rr The film is about the Dahomey fighting the Oyo empire. Dahomey was anti-slavery when it come to its population the Fon people, but they didn't care about anyone else. Oyo enslaved and oppressed the Dahomey kingdom until they declined and dissolved, then Dahomey took revenge with cruelty. I wish they showed this but, this was pg13 and the conflict they show with Oyo was sufficient though it could have Bern handled better. So they were freedom fighters for themselves but cruel to their enemies snd people who were easy pickings for them.
Solomonic Dynasty it would be boycotted they sold slaves too. Trust me anything African aside from modern poverty films will be boycotted from now on.
I've tried to debate my aunt about this issue and I get the same response "it's just a fictional movie".
0:08 -_The Pasta King_ sounds great! I kinda dig food shows, and I'm not even a foodie or anything.
The book 'The 15 y.o. Captain', while being a more than a century old adventure novel, does a pretty good job at portraying what West African slaver kingdoms were actually like. Why couldn't they make an adaptation of that?
Because its true... And true is OFFFFFFENSSSSIVVE!!!! REEEEEEEE
Because they wanted a movie about female empowerment.
it does not fit their propaganda narrative.
I red that book so many times as a kid. I remember worrying and crying reading it for the first time