Re-creation as Recreation

○ Someday, maybe they'll reenact the Great Emu War. While the United States is most
famous for Civil War reenactments (Gettysburg gets a lot of love) other parts of the
world reenact their own key historical moments—albeit still mainly battles, to the
lament of historians who argue that this overemphasizes the role of war in history.
Research the history of military reenactments. When and where did they begin—and
were they ever meant as a form of training? Do veterans of the battles being
simulated ever choose to take part? Discuss with your team: is it all right to simulate
battles in which one group of people must represent a cause that we find problematic
today? How long needs to pass before it is okay to reenact a battle?

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/past-present/

I had to look this up. So, war re-enacements are recreations of past wars in the forms of musicals,
simulations, plays, etc. An example is Hamilton. Modern re-enactements are typically done to entertain
and educate the public, with re-enactments of the US Civil War being the most popular. There is a long
history to these re-enactements.

The tradition began when Americans began re-enacting scenes from the Revolutionary war, and they
were intially called “Sham Fights” or “Sham Battles.” After the Civil War, war veterans recreated daily
camp life in order to share the experience with friends and family. One of the last such re-enactements
oas the Great Reunion of 1913, hosted on the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. The youngest
veteran was 61, and the oldest was 112. The highlight was the re-enactment of Pickett’s Charge, the last
assault in the Battle of Gettysburgh.

However, their role changed in the early 20th century. This is mentioned by the prompt. They were used
by military colleges to demonstrate military tactics. The most popular re-enactements were, once again,
the Civil War (egotistical America moment). An example is the re-enactmenent of the Battle of
Chancellorsville on its 72nd anniversary by the Virginia Military Institute in 1935. This was done by the
Cadets to show battle tactics and military strategy.

The modern re-enactement became popular during the 100th anniversary, or the centennial year of the
Civil War. In 1961, US Soldiers re-enacted the First Battle of Bull Ran (its also called the First Manassas).
This was shown to 50,000 spectators in Manassas, Virginia. However, while the tactics were technically
accurate, the clothing and weaponry were called “farbish.” This meant they were not authentic by today’s
standards. The North-South Skrimish association created the market for original firearms and clothing
more accurate to the Civil War. With the nation’s approaching 200-year anniversary in 1976, there was a
resurgence in the American Revolution’s re-enactements. After this, Civil War Re-enactors started to
make their re-enactements as accurate as possible. However, these were all for entertainment purposes.

I think that it is all right to simulate battle in which one group of people must represent a problematic
cause today. This is necessary in order to learn from the re-enactements. After all, someone must play
the villain. However, to disassociate from this idea and make it more education, and less personal, I do
think some time must pass after the events before re-enactements take place. I think 50 years is a pretty
fair time span.

○ To be fair, not every reenactment is about horses and bayonets; some are less guns
and more butter. Research the history of Renaissance fairs—and try to visit one if
you can. How soon after the actual Renaissance were they first held, and are they
the same all around the world? Then, discuss with your team: are Renaissance Fairs
an unhealthy form of historical escapism? Should there be similar fairs dedicated to
other periods in history?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-22/the-utopian-vision-that-explains-renaissance-f
airs

The renaissance fairs have a long and storied history. They began in America (like always) when
Phyllis Patterson, a LA History Teacher entertained her students with a commedia dell’arte party.
This started a tradition of Renaissnace fairs. With his wife Ron, Patterson organized a “Renaissance
Pleasure Faire” in 1963, which became an annual event, spreading to Northern California, etc. This
has also been cited as the start of a lot of hippie culture, as many rock bands began using Medieval
history as inspiration. An example is Led Zeppelin. (I mean the Immigrant Song is literally about
Medieval Vikings) However, in this way, they are definitely a form of historical escapism. The
renaissance was not all about cultural upheaval and intellectuals. There were still a lot of struggles in
the Renaissance that such fairs don’t address. In this way, they are idealized visions of the
Renaissance, and thus are a form of historical escapism. However, they aren’t unhealthy as long as
the visitors are aware of these facts and don’t get stuck in the Utopian vision. I think there are other
periods in History that do deserve fairs. Periods such as the Scientific Revolution, or China and
India’s golden ages also deserve their own similar fairs. These can help us really appreciate these
eras, and what they contributed to human society.

○ In Bruce Coville's 1986 novel Operation Sherlock, six teenagers have no history
teacher—their parents are rogue scientists developing the first AI on an otherwise
uninhabited island. They learn about the past by playing historical simulations on
their computers. Today, they could choose from hundreds of games, and their
 parents would have funding from Microsoft. But, while simulations are a way to learn
history, critics note that many sacrifice accuracy for better game play or other
considerations—for instance, a game set in a place and time where women had few
rights might still allow playing as a fully-empowered female character. Evaluate which
of the following games is the most historically accurate and which would do the best
job of teaching history. Are these two different considerations?
● The Oregon Trail | Seven Cities of Gold | Sid Meier's Pirates! | Call of
Duty
● Ghost of Tsushima | Age of Empires | Assassin's Creed | Railroad
Tycoon
○ The first of these games, The Oregon Trail, remains a classic; in its heyday, millions
of American schoolchildren discovered how easy it was to die of dysentery. But the
game has also been criticized for celebrating imperialism, for discounting the cost of
environmental destruction, and for ignoring the perspective of the indigenous peoples
whose lands were being trampled—it was, in a sense, the Oregon Trail of Tears. The
developers of a more recent version addressed these concerns with help from Native
https://online.ucpress.edu/ch/article-abstract/99/3/53/189887/Retracing-The-Oregon-
Trail?redirectedFrom=fulltextstudies scholars. Many board games have also been
called out for implicitly endorsing colonialism—as a result, among other things,
Settlers of Catan was renamed Catan. Discuss with your team: what other games
from the list above (or from your own experience) should be redesigned for similar
reasons?
● Seven Cities of Gold: The Seven Cities of Gold is a fairly simple 2D Side-Scroller game. It
takes the role of a 15th century Spanish Explorer who had set sail for the New World, and
that’s basically the whole premise. The historical accuracy is there but its not fundamental to
the experience of the game, and instead only serves to provide a background for the game’s
experience.
● Sid Meiser’s Pirates: Now this one’s pretty fascinating. This is a single player open world
game that was released in 2004, and while the gameplay isn't necessarily historically
accurate, the concept very much is. There are 4 historical eras that are present in the game,
each of which are based on a different European power present during the Golden Age of
Piracy in the 16th - 18th centuries. The first choice is in 1560, where the player is simply in
the Caribbean, and there are very little colonial influences present (beyond Spain.) The last
is in 1680, which is a more “matured” Caribbean, with many non-Spanish colonies being
present and general activity also being higher. Other optional choices include 1600, 1620,
1640, and 1660, each of which have a reducing amount of Spanish influence in favor of other
nations. This decrease of Spanish influence is something that’s incredibly historically
 accurate, as the Golden Age of Piracy saw the dominance of Britain over the Carribean
Seas, whereas Spain’s influence began to dwindle.
● Call of Duty: Call of Duty is a fascinating one, because there’s a lot to talk about here in
terms of historical accuracy throughout the games. Initially, the Call of Duty games focused
solely on The Second World war, hence providing a way for you, the player, to just shoot up
some Nazis. All of the scenarios provided in the initial COD games were purely fictionalized,
but based on real events, and that was the fun of it! But since then, the series has used other
settings such as The Cold War, and the modern day, to varying levels of accuracy.
Sometimes you have something like Black Ops, that explores real life historical events
through a fictional lens, while also telling a very different, more futuristic modern day story.
Call of Duty’s role essentially boils down to using historical settings as either a sandbox, or a
narrative tool for more fictionalized stories.
● Ghost of Tsushima: Ghost of Tsushima is a game that is based in both myth and real life
events. It is based on the first Mongol Invasion of Japan that was carried out in the late
1200s. (1274) The setting of the game is also quite real, with Tsushima being a real location
where the invasion was carried out. However, the invasion in real life was not carried out by
Khotum Khan, but instead Kublai Khan. A lot of the events in the game are also heavily
dramatized for the “dramatic” effect, as after all, it wants to tell an engaging story for the
audience. The recreation of the island is also not exactly 1 to 1, as the island in real life is
extremely rocky, and hence would have proved less than engaging for an open world game.
● Age of Empires: Age of Empires is a really funny one, because its only element of history
stems from its usage of historical figures. Age of Empires is a history based real time
strategy game, in the same vein as something like Clash of Clans. The base game gives the
player the option of 12 different civilizations from the Stone Age to the Iron Age to develop a
civilization from, and there are numerous expansion packs such as the Roman Pack, along
with 4 new civilizations. The game has 3 sequels as well, with its second exploring the Dark
Ages to the Medieval Period, the third exploring mythologies, and the fourth exploring other
medieval civilizations such as the Mongols or Abbasid Dynasty. Each civilization’s behaviors
and technologies are based on what they were in real life, however a lot of the conflicts that
the strategy comes into are heavily fictionalized.
● Assassin’s Creed: Okay guys, I’m going to write a lot about this one. The first game I ever
played was Assassin’s Creed Revelations, I own every single Assassin’s Creed Game,
despise a few of them too (AC Odyssey deserves to burn), and have even created numerous
full fledged story ideas for my own Assassin’s Creed games, so let’s begin. The first
Assassin’s Creed is the most historically accurate game ever made, but the real fictional
aspect of it came from the presence of the “Apples (and other objects of Eden). Essentially
Assassin’s Creed is based upon our history alone, except it argues that millions of years ago,
 a past civilization existed on Earth, called the Isu. This precursor race created us, but then
died due to a solar flare hundreds of thousands years ago. Since then, only remains of their
civilization have existed. These remains, otherwise known as artifacts of Eden, are extremely
powerful, and the entire game series perpetuates the idea that powerful figures throughout
history have used such artifacts to not only come into power, but control the masses. These
figures include Cesare Borgia, Al Mualim, Rodrigo Borgia, and even George washington.
There’s a lot of reasoning behind why this was (for the most part), such a historically
accurate franchise. The other fundamental idea behind this franchise are the Assassins and
Templars, the “heroes” and “villains” of the franchise. Both are based on the Hashashins and
Knights Templars during the Third Crusade, within which the first game takes place.
However, the idea is that both of these groups outlasted the Third Crusade, and in secret
have been warring against one another throughout history, and by using other organizations
as their faces. This has been done with the Templars through the Borgias, The Papacy, The
British during the American Revolution, The Imperialists during the Golden Age of Piracy,
and the Radicals during the French Revolution; meanwhile the Assassins have mainly
stayed as their own separate group throughout history, and have been used to explain
numerous different historical events and assassinations that were previously deemed
mysterious. The Assassins have been notably attributed to numerous historical
assassinations, such as Amunet’s Assassination of Cleopatra (alluded to in AC Origins),
Qulan Gal’s Assassination of Genghis Khan, Darius’s assassination of Xerxes, Itlani’s
assassination of Alexander the Great, and more. (I’ll write more for Globals there’s SO
MUCH more)
● This one’s an odd one, because it’s exactly what it says it is. The Railroad Tycoon is a
railroad building simulator, and highly regarded as the best one there is. The only real
historical element in it comes from the usage of old locomotives and older business and
construction patterns, but that’s really it!