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By admin

A little while ago I attended the history major presentations in hance and was pleasantly surprised to be confronted with some presentations on less conventional topics (and more importantly, topics I have never been exposed to). I was reminded of the first presentation (one about the contextual accuracy of ‘spy fiction’, especially that surrounding the cold war) by admin’s post talking about historical accuracy in the film, The Retrieval. And I got to thinking mostly about how historical accuracy improves or degrades a piece of “fiction”‘s impact or quality.

The presenter said one line in response to Avery’s question that really stuck with me; when asked about whether or not she thought there was a market for factual truth in spy fiction, the presenter responded by saying, “the best spy story is a true spy story”. I wasn’t sure what to think of this, however. I was brought up on Bond films, on the books of Anthony Horowitz, and I even remember (albeit shamefully) the storyline of Spy Kids: 3D. No matter how much I wanted her to be right (so that I could feel like a suitably sophisticated fellow who appreciates historical accuracy in all scenarios rather than the brash showmanship of hollywood), I couldn’t imagine any of these works of fiction being improved by substituting a daring escape on skis down a mountainside chased by goons on snowmobiles with a careful piece of filing, or swapping out a chase between a missile-loaded Aston Martin and an equally tricked-out Mercedes-Benz with a long, in depth meeting about the likeliness of a nuclear strike devoid of dramatic, non-diegetic, horn stings.

But then it hit me that I was probably misinterpreting her statement. I spent so long mulling this one sentence over in my head that I failed to listen to her talking about the importance of accuracy in the context of narrative. In other words, the importance of setting the story in a realistic, period correct environment. The presenter went on to talk about authors setting certain rooms in a very distinct way, going so far as to research exact dimensions and placement of chairs. With this in mind it seems more sensible. I could definitely see myself appreciating the notion that all of this high-octane action was occurring during a period of real history, imagining that the only thing stopping the real Cold War from boiling over (odd juxtaposition of phrases I know) was one suave, philandering individual and their tranquilizer-firing fountain pen.