What If the South Had Won the Civil War?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concept of an alternate history where the South won the American Civil War, particularly focusing on the portrayal of this idea in movies. Participants explore the implications of such a scenario, the historical accuracy of the representations, and the entertainment value of these narratives.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express skepticism about the movie "CSA," arguing that it oversimplifies complex historical changes by focusing primarily on slavery as the only significant difference.
  • Others contend that the film's premise is historically improbable, suggesting that it fails to consider the broader implications of a Confederate victory on societal development.
  • A participant questions the logic of maintaining the same historical figures, like Martin Luther King Jr., in a drastically altered timeline, arguing that such assumptions are unrealistic.
  • Some participants acknowledge that while the movie may not aim for total realism, it still raises interesting questions about how history could have unfolded differently.
  • There is mention of other works, such as those by Turtledove, that explore alternate history scenarios in a more nuanced way, suggesting that there are better examples of this genre.
  • One participant shares a link to a Wikipedia article on alternate history timelines, indicating a desire to provide more substantial references for the discussion.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally disagree on the effectiveness and plausibility of the movie's portrayal of an alternate history. While some see value in exploring "what might have been," others criticize the execution and historical assumptions made in the film.

Contextual Notes

Participants express varying levels of skepticism regarding the historical accuracy of the movie's premise and the implications of a Confederate victory, highlighting the complexity of alternate history narratives.

Townsend
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Movie trailers...

First, I would not recommend these to someone still on a 56k modem...

For the first trailer we have a movie that I think the math people here will enjoy..

http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/proof.html

And here is something that is pretty interesting...what would the world be like if the South had won during the American Civil War?

http://www.ifcfilms.com/ifcfilms?CAT0=3127&CAT1=6526&SHID=23963&VID=4263&CLR=red&BCLR=&VTYPE=6829

Comments...
 
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Proof looks half decent. I might even watch it if I find somewhere to download it. :biggrin:

But CSA is just stupid. Just, plain, stupid. A moronic movie.
 
Smurf said:
But CSA is just stupid. Just, plain, stupid. A moronic movie.

Why is that?
 
Well, obviously hard to tell from the trailer but it seems the entire movie is about slavery, as in that's the only change.

That's what is stupid about hollywood, they think that if you change one thing it makes for good entertainment.

It's totally historically improbable (and I'm not talking about the war). I've seen better hypothesis' from High School Students.
 
Smurf said:
Well, obviously hard to tell from the trailer but it seems the entire movie is about slavery, as in that's the only change.

That's what is stupid about hollywood, they think that if you change one thing it makes for good entertainment.

It's totally historically improbable (and I'm not talking about the war). I've seen better hypothesis' from High School Students.

Slavery is not the only thing that seems to change in this movie...In this movie the US is part of the axis of evil and apperently all sorts of other things...

I guess I thought it seemed like an original idea for a movie...why not look at what might have been?
 
It's great to look at what might have been, it's how they're doing it that's stupid.
It's completely ridiculous, What if Martin Luther King was a slave? Come on! There wouldn't have even BEEN a Martin Luther King if his hundred year anscestors had a completely different fate! Come on, have sex on tuesday instead of monday and you got a completely different kid. How can you honestly expect all the same people to show up hundreds of years later, with only a few laws and geopolitical specifics having been changed!?

And that's assuming that slavery would've even lasted that long in the states. Which I honestly don't believe it would have, at least not on the open-market kind of system we're assuming. Also It's ridiculous to assume that the USA would ahve risen to the same state as superpower had a MAJOR historical event gone completely differently.

It's not looking at "what might have been" it's looking at "what is with a few differences", and it's stupid.

I'm done editing now, you can respond.
 
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Smurf said:
It's great to look at what might have been, it's how they're doing it that's stupid.
It's completely ridiculous, What if Martin Luther King was a slave? Come on! There wouldn't have even BEEN a Martin Luther King if his hundred year anscestors had a completely different fate! Come on, have sex on tuesday instead of monday and you got a completely different kid. How can you honestly expect all the same people to show up hundreds of years later, with only a few laws and geopolitical specifics having been changed!?

Well, yeah, I see your point. But of course the idea of this movie is not to be totally realistic about everything...that would make for a boring movie. The point is to examine how the events that have happened would possibly be different. Obviously changing the winner of the civil war would have changed the world so completely that you could never really make a good prediction about anything.
 
Smurf said:
I'm done editing now, you can respond.

shoot... :smile:
 
Townsend said:
Well, yeah, I see your point. But of course the idea of this movie is not to be totally realistic about everything...that would make for a boring movie.
What? That would make a FASCINATING movie.
The point is to examine how the events that have happened would possibly be different. Obviously changing the winner of the civil war would have changed the world so completely that you could never really make a good prediction about anything.
I don't know, the whole 'what if confederates won the civil war' scenario is pretty old and I've seen some pretty interesting predictions. Focusing mainly on geo-political events, since they're pretty easy to predict (by comparison).

I'll try to dig up some links for you, so you know how stupid this is by comparison to some of the good stuff about it. Turtledove and/or Sterling did something on it I think.
 
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  • #11
Smurf said:
I can't believe I JUST thought of using Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline-191

:smile: You're not going to use your infamous one liner at such a golden opportunity as this? :smile:

[edit] seems like a good artical by the way...I would expect nothing from Wiki of course [/edit]
 
  • #12
Townsend said:
:smile: You're not going to use your infamous one liner at such a golden opportunity as this? :smile:

[edit] seems like a good artical by the way...I would expect nothing from Wiki of course [/edit]
Well I'm kind of embarassed I spent ages googling and shuffling through my bookcase trying to find Turtledove's name, and then trying to find his website.
I actually didn't think of using Wiki at all, It came up in a google search (I slapped myself in the head).

But remember kids: Wiki is your friend.