Comments by "Seven Proxies" (@sevenproxies4255) on "Top Roman Historian Rates Famous Movie Scenes RESPONSE" video.

Honestly, the community of the sword here on youtube should be advisors for historical movies.
389
I have to be honest, in some ways I like the Lorica Segmentata more than many sets of medieval armour. From a structural integrity sense, I like how the leather straps holding the segments together on the segmentata are riveted to the INSIDE of the armour. But with many kinds of medieval armour, you have a lot of leather straps and cord being tied to the outside. Yes, I know, "unlikely to get hit" and all that, but in my engineering obsessed eyes it just looks like an exposed weakness. An unlucky hit might cut a cord or a strap and suddenly you may find yourself in a situation where pieces of your armour begins to come loose in the heat of battle. And this prospect is pretty terrifying.
78
@michaelterrell5061 The historians worth their salt, for sure. But when looking at hollywood productions, it seems like they hire the most awful historians and military advisors imaginable for every single production. I'm willing to bet that if a movie crew decided to consult with Raf, Shad, Jason Kingsley and the others and followed their advice, you'd end up with a film that even the most nitpicky viewer would have trouble finding faults with in terms of historical accuracy.
37
I think he use the term "Lorica Segmentata" with incorrect pronounciation because he's refering to a certain type of armour of Roman origin. I'm not sure if there is an official english name for the armour in question. Maybe you could get away with just saying "segmented armour", but in english it sounds too general so people may have more trouble understanding that you're refering to Roman armour. Kind of in the same way that we use "Katana" for a specific kind of Japanese sword. Even though the word just seems to denote the word "Sword" in Japanese.
28
@michaelterrell5061 My reasoning here is that many typical historians are academics first and foremost. They study the manuscripts and the archeological finds. The community of the sword in contrast seek to live and breathe history. They don't just want to "look" at history, but try it out in practice (wearing armour, testing weapons, doing HEMA, archery and such). Even though most of them may be more like enthusiasts than academic scholars, I think their knowledge and experience would translate much better to film.
24
@101Mant Yes, it's a scourge on the film industry too. The "artistic license". What I find ironic is that "artistic license" is the norm rather than the exception. To the point where if a historical film actually attempted to be as historically accurate as possible, it would be an absolute rarity in film in general. Directors and script writers really need to eat some humble pie. Their "artistic vision" is not always superior to actual history, since there's plenty of historical figures you could do a movie about who lived exceptionally interesting lives, where no "artistic" embellishments are needed.
17
@michaelterrell5061 A doctor has practical experience with medicine though. A historian rarely has practical experience with arms and armour.
10
@michaelterrell5061 Thank you. And you made a lot of good points as well. I think we can agree that there is a difference between being an expert reader and student about a subject, and being an experienced and passionate practitioner of it. That's a fair point, right?
8
@PrinceAlhorian Yes, but that's the pinnacle right? 😉 Took a couple of hundred years of trial and error to reach that point. Hehe, imagine going back in time and bringing with you the secret of manufacturing velcro straps. 😁
6
@Great_Olaf5 As other posters pointed out, late medieval armour had the straps hidden under plate or mail. I'm thinking that there's a reason for this development. Someone, at some point did have their straps cut in battle and survived to tell the tale. 😁
6
As far as testudo formation in hand to hand combat goes... When looking at footage of how riot police fight with shields and batons against large groups of attacking rioters, there is some merit to using a testudo-like or shield wall-like formation when dealing with large masses of bodies in close quarters.
4
@vikingskuld I agree. I kind of find "peer review" in the humanities to be a bit silly to begin with. And is usually abused by low quality academics in order to make a name for themselves by trying to attack better ones in public. Peer review has a lot of merit in STEM fields however. Since peer review there is about trying out the same experiments as the original author and see if they can replicate the results. If different results show up for the peer reviewer, then there is a cause for announcing it so more research can be done into the issue. But in the humanities? There's no real objective baseline to settle the issues. Just a lot lf subjective opinions, based on equally subjective interpretations.
4
@Dell-ol6hb Where did I say that it didn't? You're attacking strawmen of your own manufacture here.
2
@mgntstr I'm not sure I'd call the Queens English "proper" english. Like most of the upper class in Britain who got their education at Eaton, they put on an "upper class" accent. But it's still an accent, even if it's used by the English elites, and not really representative of regular english, no more than cockney would be.
1
@tinman1843 Yeah that's why I used the word "or". One or the other. So I guess your attempt at sniping at me failed because your reading comprehension sucks, now didn't it?
1