Historical-Fiction films categorized under History Genre

Searching on English language, Released, Feature films, and genre of History results in titles that also have the keyword/phrase "Historical Fiction" (and are just that). Plots with settings located in the past but about fictional people and/or fictional events shouldn't be classified as "History" should they? Not to me.

Some of the plots do read like 'true stories' but I think those are just good summaries. A few films I researched were more Biographical than Historical....and some are 'adaptations', 'inspired by...' etc. It does get murky. Perhaps the genre 'History' should be split into 'History-Fiction' and History-Non-fiction' or something? Seems the Genres might need to be updated overall anyway from what I've read here today. Comments?

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sue_ad9wf5nmuvdf1

3 Messages

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114 Points

8 years ago

PS...didn't mean for this (my first post!) to come up as a 'problem' for the board (just me) SORRY! PSS: Thanks for the search and navigation hints I found on these boards...the regular site boards weren't helping. :(

1

gromit82

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7.4K Messages

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275.4K Points

Mac: Don't worry about the "problem" vs. "question" categorization on this message board too much. It's not really an issue which of those categories you use. The staff has the ability to recategorize a thread if necessary, and usually they only do that if they think something should be classified as an "idea" to be suggested and dealt with in the long term.

8 years ago

gromit82

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7.4K Messages

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275.4K Points

8 years ago

Mac: The IMDb policy is that "Use of actual persons in an otherwise fictional setting, or of historic events as a backdrop for a fictional story, would not qualify" for the History genre. See https://contribute.imdb.com/updates/guide/genres#history.

This was re-affirmed a few years ago in a discussion on the Contributors Help board, which led to the definition of the History genre being strengthened to more clearly exclude historical fiction. At the time, Titanic and Saving Private Ryan had been listed in the History genre in apparent violation of the then-definition of the genre. After the discussion, they were removed from that genre because they clearly did not meet the revised definition.

As one of the IMDb staffers put it at the time, Lincoln (2012) qualifies as History, but Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) doesn't.

So if you find any titles which clearly do not belong in the History genre as defined by IMDb:

Primary focus is on real-life events of historical significance featuring real-life characters (allowing for some artistic license); in current terms, the sort of thing that might be expected to dominate the front page of a national newspaper for at least a week; for older times, the sort of thing likely to be included in any major history book. While some characters, incidents, and dialog may be fictional, these should be relatively minor points used primarily to bridge gaps in the record. Use of actual persons in an otherwise fictional setting, or of historic events as a backdrop for a fictional story, would not qualify. If the focus is primarily on one person's life and character, rather than events of historical scope, use Biography instead. Objective.

... please feel free to submit a deletion of the History genre for that title, explaining that the title does not count as History because it is primarily focused on fictional persons or fictional events.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

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rootsmusic

250 Messages

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5.4K Points

How should contributors categorize historical fictions?

6 years ago

Peter_pbn

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14.3K Messages

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329K Points

There are various keywords that can be used, including:

historical-fiction
historical-event
period-piece
period-drama

6 years ago

sue_ad9wf5nmuvdf1

3 Messages

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114 Points

8 years ago

Thanks gromit82. Yes, the guide concerning History is clear. I had already submitted edits to remove History from genre on 2 films. There is a sentence in the guide about "Biographies" that mentions using History 'instead'...may be causing a little confusion.

Personally, as an amateur genealogist who loves films, I'd like to see a 'sub-genre' or some kind of classification for Period Films. Sometimes just by plot summaries, movies don't appeal to me..then when I find it has some historical context to it, I am more inclined in SOME cases, to add to my watchlist. I do see years or decades in keywords though and that helps. Is that the best route?

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rootsmusic

250 Messages

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5.4K Points

.....

(edited)

6 years ago

keyword_expert

2.7K Messages

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47K Points

@sue_ad9wf5nmuvdf1

IMDb is now treating the keyword "alternate-history" as a Subgenre keyword, and it is now expressly listed as a "suggested" Subgenre keyword in IMDb's keyword guidelines, but only for TV shows (it is not currently listed for films).

I support designating and classifying all of the following keywords as Subgenre keywords (although some of these keywords could and should be consolidated and merged):

period-piece (669 titles)

period-film (181 titles)

historical-fiction (635 titles)

fictional-history (31 titles)

period-drama (1293 titles)

historical-drama (155 titles)

historical-romance (76 titles)

alternate-history (442 titles)

revisionist-history (73 titles)

forgotten-history (17 titles)

ancient-history (106 titles)

20th-century-history (75 titles)