9/23 Distortions of Reality

 Ever since we are young we are told things that we regard as fact without considering if there is  another truth. I remember growing up only knowing Columbus was the great man who discovered America. This was a fact that the teachers and adults that I regarded as all knowing gave me so I never thought to even question it. As I grew up I did begin to question these thoughts more and with these questions came facts like how the vikings discovered America long before Columbus and how the natives weren’t actually treated the same way that i had been told. However, I never thought about how much of Columbus’ voyage was actually being romanticized. 1492: Conquest of Paradise made it really obvious how altered the history of Columbus actually was. I honestly was very disturbed by the fact that they were allowed to claim that the film was all fact even with its biased research and production. Though sadly I know that there are people who wouldn’t even question the accuracy of the film and that really hurts me because these people will in turn use the movie as fact to tell others which will cause more false information. However, the origin of this miss information is Columbus’ letters that were used as the inspiration and the information for the movie. The letters were only one person's view of what happened and this description was made in a way to persuade the reader toward the opinion that the new land was perfect for settlement and other benefits toward the Spanish. Because this was the main source of information for the movie, it ends up being extremely bias towards Columbus and facts are distorted.