I don't see the film as telling use "who" Lawrence was, because he doesn't even know. There is some truth in the film, even if it is not entirely factual. It's a response to the legend of Lawrence, which is as much a part of history as the man.
I think I see what you mean. Tombstone fandom (such as it is, consiting mostly of me and about five other people), has a similar situation regarding historical "canon." So many movies, dime novels, etc. have been made about Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp that they've become as much mythology as history (much like the American West itself, actually). There's the real historical men, but there's also Stuart Lake's version of Wyatt (Frontier Marshal), John Ford's version of them (My Darling Clementine), John Sturges's versions of them (Gunfight at the OK Corral and Hour of the Gun), George P. Cosmatos's version (Tombstone), Robert B. Parker's version (Gunman's Rhapsody), Randy Lee Eickhoff's version (<>The Fourth Horseman), and a good dozen more, and most of them are as "real" in people's minds as the historical truth.
It gives you a fair amount of leeway as regards strict historical accuracy--no matter how much you fudge details and alter things for dramatic effect or plot convenience, thee's the comforting knowledge that it's damn near impossible to be less accurate than My Darling Clementine.
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Re: from *metafandom*
Date: 2006-04-18 06:08 pm (UTC)I think I see what you mean. Tombstone fandom (such as it is, consiting mostly of me and about five other people), has a similar situation regarding historical "canon." So many movies, dime novels, etc. have been made about Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp that they've become as much mythology as history (much like the American West itself, actually). There's the real historical men, but there's also Stuart Lake's version of Wyatt (Frontier Marshal), John Ford's version of them (My Darling Clementine), John Sturges's versions of them (Gunfight at the OK Corral and Hour of the Gun), George P. Cosmatos's version (Tombstone), Robert B. Parker's version (Gunman's Rhapsody), Randy Lee Eickhoff's version (<>The Fourth Horseman), and a good dozen more, and most of them are as "real" in people's minds as the historical truth.
It gives you a fair amount of leeway as regards strict historical accuracy--no matter how much you fudge details and alter things for dramatic effect or plot convenience, thee's the comforting knowledge that it's damn near impossible to be less accurate than My Darling Clementine.