Views of History: The Mutiny on the Bounty
100 Historical Things, Number 12
On this day in 1789 was the famous Mutiny on the Bounty. This is an event that has been celebrated often in works of historical fiction, including Byron's poem The Island and movies in 1935 (Clark Gable as Christian), 1962 (Marlon Brando as Christian)
and 1984 (Mel Gibson as Christian).[1] But what exactly are they celebrating?
Works of fiction have a tendency to romanticise the mutineers, and cast them as overworked and harshly treated men who just wanted to have fun with some Tahitian girls. Needless to say, Bligh's own account in his log[2] was somewhat less romantic! Who was acting honourably here? Fictional accounts tend either make a choice for you or ask you to make the choice yourself.
And this brings us back to one of the points I originally wanted to make about history. There is no single truth about who was in the right and who was in the wrong in the case of the Bounty - it's a case of reading different people's accounts. You build up a picture of the event through those accounts, and if there are conflicts in the details it allows us to examine people's motivations, their opinions and feelings, their biases and so on. Humans are complex, and the complexity is the truth, if you like. I think that may be one reason why historical type research sometimes seems counter-intuitive to someone with a science background?
On the material side, however, it is rather pleasing to know that the wreck of the Bounty was discovered in 1957 by the American polymath Luis Marden.
[1] By my reckoning, that's an average of 24.5 years between movies, which means we're overdue one! Richard Armitage as Christian and Keith Allen as Bligh anyone? :)
[2] For visual stimulation, here is Bligh's very own list of the mutineers.
On this day in 1789 was the famous Mutiny on the Bounty. This is an event that has been celebrated often in works of historical fiction, including Byron's poem The Island and movies in 1935 (Clark Gable as Christian), 1962 (Marlon Brando as Christian)
and 1984 (Mel Gibson as Christian).[1] But what exactly are they celebrating?
Works of fiction have a tendency to romanticise the mutineers, and cast them as overworked and harshly treated men who just wanted to have fun with some Tahitian girls. Needless to say, Bligh's own account in his log[2] was somewhat less romantic! Who was acting honourably here? Fictional accounts tend either make a choice for you or ask you to make the choice yourself.
And this brings us back to one of the points I originally wanted to make about history. There is no single truth about who was in the right and who was in the wrong in the case of the Bounty - it's a case of reading different people's accounts. You build up a picture of the event through those accounts, and if there are conflicts in the details it allows us to examine people's motivations, their opinions and feelings, their biases and so on. Humans are complex, and the complexity is the truth, if you like. I think that may be one reason why historical type research sometimes seems counter-intuitive to someone with a science background?
On the material side, however, it is rather pleasing to know that the wreck of the Bounty was discovered in 1957 by the American polymath Luis Marden.
[1] By my reckoning, that's an average of 24.5 years between movies, which means we're overdue one! Richard Armitage as Christian and Keith Allen as Bligh anyone? :)
[2] For visual stimulation, here is Bligh's very own list of the mutineers.
