History Buffs

History Buffs is a YouTube channel that became active in mid-2015. Focusing primarily on reviewing historical movies and series, it's hosted and run by Nick Hodges, a young amateur historian from the United Kingdom who's represented in the videos by an animated avatar.

Although relatively new, the channel has seen growing popularity thanks in part to a blend of entertainment, historical context and fair criticism on a given film or show's authenticity and accuracy. Not to mention Nick's rather frank yet fair treatment of the subject matter, while remaining down-to-earth and approachable.

The channel can be found here.

History Buffs provides examples of the following tropes:

• Aluminium Christmas Trees: Pops up here and there, such as when bringing up how certain ludicrous elements in 300 are actually based on historical records or folklore. Or how The Ghost and the Darkness is actually based on real life events.
• Anachronism Stew: Certain movies are shown to have done this, whether out of ignorance, neglect or laziness. Among the more blatant being Braveheart which portrays the Scots as a skewered mash of various periods in Scotland's history.
• Artistic Licence History: Although Nick is something of a sticker for historical accuracy, he also makes a point to emphasize how taking liberties aren't necessarily a bad thing at all. Done right, it can capture the feel and authenticity of the setting. It's when it's done poorly that he really takes issue with.
  • Films like Alexander meanwhile are shown by him to be examples of how a movie can still suck horribly, despite the commendable effort for being historically accurate.
• Author Appeal: European (especially Scottish) and Japanese history in general.
• Author Avatar: Nick is generally depicted on-screen by an cartoon version of himself.
• Author Tract: While Nick's frank with his assessments and views, he generally tries to avoid ranting unless it's warranted. Nonetheless, he makes an effort not to let it affect the historical facts.
• Berserk Button: So far, he's expressed a strong loathing of Braveheart,^[1] the more blatant examples of Hollywood History and anything inaccurate about Christopher Columbus among others.
• Burn the Witch: Nick brings up in his commentary on Christopher Columbus how utterly inaccurate and grossly exaggerated the portrayal of the Spanish Inquisition and Catholic Church in general tends to be in works set during Columbus' time.
• Damned By Faint Praise: He'll still make a point to acknowledge how The Patriot had accurate costumes and props, or how Alexander goes above and beyond to be historically accurate, which doesn't distract at all from how bad those movies are.
• Darkest Africa: Discussed in films such as Zulu and The Ghost and the Darkness, both of which take place at different periods of 19th Century British imperial rule in Africa. Both films also show how this trope can be very much justified while simultaneously being fair to both sides of the colonialism characteristic of that era.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Nick brings up how the TV series Vikings excels in this trope by portraying the titular Norsemen as they were, who would loot, kill and plunder while still being the protagonists.
• The Dung Ages: Defied. he's tellingly frustrated by how Hollywood and certain others seem fond of depicting medieval Europe as this. In his Braveheart review in particular, he brings up how no evidence exists to suggest that the infamous prima nocta, like the chastity belt, was ever upheld by England during that time period, if at all.
• During the War: We Were Soldiers, with Nick appreciating how it not only shows The Vietnam War from both sides, but also makes a good attempt at portraying the actual conflict rather than the emotions, politics and consequences surrounding the war. He also applauds Zulu for depicting the Anglo Zulu War without playing favorites with either the British or Zulus.
• Fair For Its Day: He generally acknowledges a work's attempt to puts into account the context, norms and whatever Values Dissonance of the setting it's trying to portray, preferably leaving it to the viewer to judge.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Nick sees Christopher Columbus as underserving of this in various works that persistently glamorise his memory.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: One of the biggest gripes with both Braveheart and The Patriot is how the English/British are given this treatment to the point of being reduced to demonic caricatures.
  • Nick views Antonio Salieri's portrayal in Amadeus as a rather underserving example, given how in reality Salieri respected Mozart and was a great artist in his own right. He does concede however that the movie isn't really based on actual history so much as the conspiracy theories surrounding Mozart's death, though Mozart's depiction is rather true to life.
• Hollywood History: The channel in general absolutely hates it when filmmakers and executives sacrifice accuracy, authenticity or competence in favor of the worst aspects of this trope.
• Mighty Whitey: Brought up concerning The Last Samurai but ultimately refuted by Nick, as Tom Cruise's character was never meant to be one in the first place.
• MST3K Mantra: He makes a point in highlighting how making an entertaining or compelling story can often justify overlooking historical inaccuracies or blunders. At least, so long as it's within the audience's Willing Suspension of Disbelief or otherwise retaining a fair spirit - rather than following to the letter - of the period being portrayed.
• One of Us: In addition to his love for historical fiction and history in general, he's also shown to be at least familiar with historical games like the Total War series. At one point in the review on The Last Samurai, Nick couldn't resist putting this line in:

"Our men are running from the battlefierd. A shamefur dispray!"

• Patriotic Fervor: Nick takes his British homeland and Scottish heritage seriously^[2], which makes his skewering of Braveheart all the more personal. It doesn't stop him either from riffing on The Patriot, which tries to be a rousing American film but comes across as patronising and insulting to both sides of the American Revolution.
• Politically-Correct History: More than once, Nick has shown his disdain for this, wherever it comes from. Kingdom of Heaven in particular is treated a serial offender for its skewered take on both the Islamic East and Christian West.
  • 1492: Conquest of Paradise, which purportedly covers the exploits of Christopher Columbus is shown to be an even worse offender of this trope.
• Reality Is Unrealistic: Pops up, such as with how Spartan women as seen in 300 were really powerful compared to elsewhere in Ancient Greece. Or how the Colosseum scenes in Gladiator were actually toned down compared to the documented, over-the-top spectacles that happened back in the Roman Empire.
• Recycled Premise: He notices in his Braveheart review how similar it and The Patriot are in terms of story and plot despite taking place in very different eras. Which is further demonstrated by a montage showing how at certain points, they're borderline identical.
• Shown Their Work: In addition to Nick Hodges' own efforts, he also gives credit where it's due regarding works that actually did their research. The 1970 film Waterloo is praised in particular for not just being faithful to history, but also for recreating the titular Battle of Waterloo as much as possible.
• Special Effect Failure: Occasionally pops up, particularly in how a bad bit of CGI or questionable choice in props can break one's Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
• What the Hell Hero: Most evident in the videos on both The Patriot and Kingdom of Heaven, whether it's over Idiot Ball moments or utterly hypocritical and ahistorical actions on the part of the protagonists.
• X Meets Y: The channel could be described as a younger version of Lindybeige or Sargon of Akkad in terms of historically-themed content.

1. ↑ Coincidentally, he's also expressed a frustration with Mel Gibson in general, save for his role in We Were Soldiers.
2. ↑ It's mentioned by Word of God that his father's side is descended from the Clan Robertson/Donnachaidh of Inches, one of the oldest surviving clans of Scotland.