Movies that inspire you to learn more
By burrito88
@burrito88 (2774)
United States
June 5, 2011 9:04pm CST
Years ago, saw the 1948 Black and White movie Scott of the Antarctic which starre John Mills. The movie was about Robert Falcon Scott's in fated attemp to to be the first to reach the South Pole. The movie so interested me that off and on over the years I've had to read or learn more about Scott.
For those that don't know, Scott was British naval officer who lead 2 expeditions to Antartica. During the first expedition, Scott came the closest to the South Pole (530 miles away, although that as not a goal of the expedition) and returned to England as a hero. This record was eclipsed later by Ernest Shackleton (97 miles away), who had been a junior officer on Scott's expedition. Scott and Shackleton were known to have differences and Scott was apparently not pleased that Shackleton had beaten him back to Antartica and made a closer approach to the pole.
Scott therefore lead a second expedition and managed to reach the pole, however, when he got there, he found that the Norwegian, Roald Amundson, had beaten him there. Scott and his men later died trying to make it back to their base camp.
Despite his failure, Scott was initially hailed as a hero and Amundson was scorned. Amundson succeeded in part because he used dog sleds but also because he learned a good bit about Artic exploration while being the first to go through the Northwest Passage. Scott had tried using dogs on his first expedition but did not have faith in them because the dogs died. (This was due to contaminated dog food.) So altough Scott had dogs with him (and some badly selected ponies) the plan he had was to 'man haul' the supply sled on the final leg to the pole and back.
Over the year, some of the acclaim for Scott turned to blame as he was accsed of failing due to poor planning. That would be the end of the story except we've also now collected a great deal of weather data for Antartica. One of the things that's been learned (according to a TV documentary) is that the weather in Antartica is cyclical. Every 20 years there is an extremely bad year where the tempeature is 20 degees lower than normal. The year of Scott's attempt corresponds to one of those predicted years. It therefore seems likely that Scott never had a chance,at least not unless the British were better dog mushers. g
Well,that's a long history lesson, just to ask the question, have you ever seen a movie that made you want to learn more?
8 responses
@frontvisions101 (16043)
• Philippines
6 Jun 11
After seeing Troy, I searched what happened next after the fall of Troy. It was discussed during highschool but it was a long time ago and I just felt I need to refresh my memory of it. There are certain movies that also made me research for their production history and I found out a lot of things. Like, during the shoot of Pirates of the Carribean, Keira Knightly was already shooting Domino, her schedule overlapped. She had to wear a wig similar to her hair color during the Pirates' shoot. Another thing I found is that Robert Downey Jr. didn't really get into the Ironman suit, he'll never fit in those. Also, the character Ozymandias, the leader/antagonist in The Watchmen movie, was almost taken by Tom Cruise. I can't remember the others but there were many more.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
6 Jun 11
I'd love to see a book or a website where they listed movie or TV roles and who might have gotten them. For example, Dirty Harry was supposed to be Frank Sinatra, not Clint Eastwood. For Popeye Doyle inthe French Connection they considered Jackie Gleason except that his most recent movie Gigot bombed o they took Gene Hackman. (Gleason, as I remember was great in Gigot but the movie was not a comedy so it didn't go over.) Lastly, Indian Jones was spposed to be Tom Seleck except he had signed a contract to do a little TV show caled Magnum PI.
@way2vision (613)
• Canada
6 Jun 11
Gladiator inspired me to be loyal, humble, and be more kind. I know these are attributes taught in schools but this movie was very excellent. Especially when it comes to stick by your dream and what you believe in. When maximus stood up agaisnt ceaser after taking off his helmet was probably the greatest scene. It gave me the feeling of "here i am, and im here to return the favour." i understand that it is a movie, but being able to stand up to some one with power is just very inspiring especially when you are risking your life.
This movie lead me to research the history of rome, though the movie's storyline is fictional, it still exposed me to read about rome
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
12 Jun 11
If you want to learn about the early Roman empire you should try really Robert Graves books, "I Claudius", and "Claudius the King". The books historical fiction based on Graves translation of Suetonius's history "The Lives of the Twelve Ceasars". Graves tells the history of Rome's first 4 emperors, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. Claudius wasborn with birth defects that caused him to walk with a limp, twitch, and speak with a stutter. That lead many in the Roman royal court to think that Claudius was an idiot, which he was not. Hs ability to play the idiot, however, is what allowed him to survive Caligula's reign leaving him standing alost alone in the succession to the throne. The books are long but they are a good and easy read. Masterpiece Theater filmed a min-sries of the books in 1976 that was shown on BBC and PBS and are out on DVD's. On top of this, BBC and HBO will be doing a mini-series of the books, so if you read them you'lbe ahead of everybody when the shows come out.
@Bazerk (297)
• New Zealand
6 Jun 11
I recently saw a movie that didn't really inspire me to 'learn more' but instead it inspired me to change as a person. The underlying theme of the movie was accepting people who aren't all that popular e.g outcasts, emos, whatever you call them. It was a really interesting movie with many key points to take away mentally, if you want to watch it the title is "To Save a Life", I'd definitely recommend this film.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
12 Jun 11
I think the movie may have been intended for someone like you, which I'm not saying as a negative comment.
@ebuscat (5935)
• Philippines
6 Jun 11
For me the biblical movie it can sure me to have good knowledge of it.
@way2vision (613)
• Canada
6 Jun 11
Gladiator inspired me to be loyal, humble, and be more kind. I know these are attributes taught in schools but this movie was very excellent. Especially when it comes to stick by your dream and what you believe in. When maximus stood up agaisnt ceaser after taking off his helmet was probably the greatest scene. It gave me the feeling of "here i am, and im here to return the favour." i understand that it is a movie, but being able to stand up to some one with power is just very inspiring especially when you are risking your life.
@Amberstormraven (15)
• South Africa
6 Jun 11
I saw Eat, Pray, Love. Was amazing to find a part of me in this movie. It inspired me to change things in my life, regarding relationships and my current working relationship. Must say, without watching this movie I might have never decided to make the changes I did.
@burrito88 (2774)
• United States
6 Jun 11
That sounds great especially since most movies today are jus throwaway entertianment.
@frontvisions101 (16043)
• Philippines
6 Jun 11
After seeing Troy, I searched what happened next after the fall of Troy. It was discussed during highschool but it was a long time ago and I just felt I need to refresh my memory of it. There are certain movies that also made me research for their production history and I found out a lot of things. Like, during the shoot of Pirates of the Carribean, Keira Knightly was already shooting Domino, her schedule overlapped. She had to wear a wig similar to her hair color during the Pirates' shoot. Another thing I found is that Robert Downey Jr. didn't really get into the Ironman suit, he'll never fit in those. Also, the character Ozymandias, the leader/antagonist in The Watchmen movie, was almost taken by Tom Cruise. I can't remember the others but there were many more.
@chinamma (24)
• India
6 Jun 11
I dream of being a professional dancer and films like 'save the last dance' inspire me very much.I don't want to prove that iam a super dancer i just want to learn every form of dance.i like the movies based on dance very much and i love them.