The Farb, the Farb!!!!!

[le Voyageur]

From Wikipedia

 

Farb is a derogatory term used in the hobby of historical reenacting in reference to participants who exhibit indifference to historical authenticity, either from a material-cultural standpoint or in action. It can also refer to the inauthentic materials used by those reenactors.

 

Flipping on the tele this am for a bit of detraction while sharpening saw chains, tuned into Daniel Boone (Fess Parker, 1964).

The farb had me howling...would not suggest this program as a historical source for anyone. The episode today had actors with Stetsons, wearing Levi's, toting trapdoor Springfields, and Baker rifles. And poor little Israel, running about in a circa 1885 Little Lord Faunteroy outfit!!!! As for the time period, had ole Daniel headed for Philly, instead of being somewhere on the Wilderness Road headed for the Cumberland Gap. What a hoot, can't wait for tomorrow's show to see all the farb. Maybe, I'll be able to finish up a few more saw chains...

 

 

[HiLo]

I remember watching that show on our black and white tele as a kid. And now you're telling me it wasn't real. Oh dear. Another piece of my childhood destroyed.

 

 

[Eagle92]

I can relate to you on some of the History Channel Programs that either inconveniently leave out facts or are out of date, i.e. new information has just been released from an archive somewhere to contradict the program or adds more background. Wife refuses to watch WWII and Korean War programs on History Channel because of it.

 

 

Speaking of Farbs, farby things,etc ever read Confederates in the Attic

 

 

[shortridge]

Just don't say Fess' "Davy Crockett" wasn't real. I might start crying.

[le Voyageur]

 

 

 

 

In a way, I think these old programs would be good for comparative lesson material for high school history classes. Sort of a show and tell that seperates out the Hollywood, from the historical record.

If there is one area of historical re enactment that I enjoy the most, is when I have a gaggle of high school history teachers asking tons of questions at an event.

[skeptic]

Bad news; your "coon skin hat" wasn't real either!

[le Voyageur]

Today's episode on Daniel Boone..an alliance between two tribes to avert a war by an inter-tribal marriage. Boone, and Mingo to deliver a Cree maiden (Brenda Bennett - her blaze orange glazing did little to hide the fact that she was not ndn) to the Shawnee. The farb starts from the get go, the big gaff was not seeing the traditional gift giving, or hospitality that would of been required at the parley between Boone, and the father of the prospective bride. Additionally, Boone was not presented with a white wampum belt, tobacco, rum, and additional dowry gifts to carry along with the young lady. Boone's overall agreement of the task should of been sealed with him saying...Hey-gagh cohweh heglohmekah. From there, the story went downhill at an alarming rate...overall, an impossible story made possible by the Disney myth makers.

 

None the less, an episode that would serve in a High School history class to begin an introductory discussion on gift giving, oral contracts, and social customs on the fronteer.

[Stosh]

Farb is shorthand for "far be it" from authentic.

 

One must also remember that TV, Movies, Novels, etc. from most sources is produced as entertainment, not documentary.

 

After 10 years of reenacting, VERY FEW reenactors are, or try to be, authentic. The "'taters" (spectators) don't know the difference. Equipment wise, they are pretty "good", but their speech, manerisms, and social context seldom exist at most reenactments.

 

'Taters are a hoot. They ask where we sleep at night, i.e. in our tents, is the fire real, yes, stand back, and the food you're eating, is that real? I think a lot of people spend too much time in museums looking at the fake fires and wax characters. Our boys are taught to portray history correctly. They know the drill, they personify a character and they act the part. They can talk the history of the time period, know about their civilian life background and know camp-life as well as battlefield tactics and drill. They are all capable of putting on at least an hour's worth of legitimate presentation to a general audience without inaccuracies.

 

We are not the norm, however, and asking groups for your packs and troops need careful scrutiny as to the material they give.

 

Yes, there are a ton of people out there that know the North fought the South, but can't place the Blue/Grey colors correctly, even if they are certified teachers. Go figure.

 

Watching the History Channel is a hoot, but it does go a long way to educate my boys by providing a lot of "Don't use this material" examples for their presentation. Know your stuff and present what's correct!

 

Stosh

[Eagle92]

Yes History Channel can be fun at times (sarcasm off). Forgot what series it was, I had to turn it off b/c I got disgusted with it, but they were touting Douglas Brinkley as an expert in the topic at hand, when it should have been one of his colleagues at the University of New Orleans. Don;t get me started on Brinkley.

 

 

[Hal_Crawford]

on the History Channel a couple of years ago they ran a series of promos for a show about the American Revolution. In the background there was martial music that I recognized as "Marching Through Georgia".

 

Talk about Disney; anyone see the animated "Pocahontas"? Nothing but farb.

 

Hal

 

 

 

 

[CalicoPenn]

Wait, are ya'll telling me that Daniel Boone was real and not just a fictional Disney character on TV?? Why am I just hearing about this now?

 

Next, you'll be telling me that there really was a Jacques Cousteau and that those underwater adventures of his weren't just special effects.

[DanKroh]

"After 10 years of reenacting, VERY FEW reenactors are, or try to be, authentic."

 

I've often wondered what the differences were between reenactors, and recreators. In the SCA, we consider ourselves "recreators", and in that respect, recreating authenticity, and doing the research to back it up, is highly prized among most of our group. Yes, there are always the folks who show up in wildly inappropriate outfits with wildly inappropriate accessories. They are usually divided into several categories: 1) noobs (newbies), who are usually cut some slack because they don't know any better, 2) fighters (aka "stick jocks") who are only there to hit people with sticks and don't give a rodent's behind about research or authenticity, and 3) the folks who think they are at a convention or a party, who dress up in whatever they feel like that they think will get them attention (and it's usually the *wrong* kind of attention), and can be identified as faeries, vampires, fur-bikini-clad-wench/warrior princess wannabees, Conan wannabees, pirates (out of our time period), etc. This last group doesn't usually last long, unless they are kids, again, to whom some slack is given, but only until they can be educated otherwise.

 

That said, I've never heard the term farb before. We usually use "period" for authentic stuff and "not-period" for everything else. And the "period police" make sure you know the difference!

[emb021]

"After 10 years of reenacting, VERY FEW reenactors are, or try to be, authentic."

 

Oh?

 

After 20 some years of re-enacting, I find that MANY reenactors try to be authentic. The better ones have large, personal libraries of resource materials, including lots of pictures of period items. And these people help those re-enactors trying to be authentic.

 

Yes, sadly, there are some re-enactors who don't do a very good job, and some are just horrible. I'd like to think they are the minority.

 

[Stosh]

What? You think KOA camping with a Civil War theme is authentic? Obviously one has not attended many national events where people all gather for a mega event. Cell phones, Colman coolers, plastic wrap, etc. all are evident every place one turns.

 

If one were to do a truly historical event the public would be appalled. We did an event where there was no resurrection following the main battle. Instead the "wounded" were carried back to the surgeons and holes were dug and the "dead" were buried under a thin layer of dirt. The members of my crew look their ages and when they were carried off to the surgeons the crowd followed. They were "tended" to, yet they died and had a blanket thrown over them, dragged off and piled up. People were crying. On of the members lost a leg in a motorcycle accident and had to have his leg "amputated". It was thrown out the window when they were done. A few people passed out. Common language of the day was prevalent and many folks were upset. Prisoners were treated as prisoners and solders went through the pockets of the dead and took their boots and wallets. Chickens in the farm yard were caught and butchered, and eaten the civilians who fought back were shot. The "rations" for the reenactors were buried in the garden and they helped themselves to it by digging it up. Silverware and valuables from the farm house was "stolen". By the time we were done, the organizers of the event told us we were NEVER to do that again, it was too realistic and people were upset and complaining. Years afterwards the reenactors still comment about that one event and how "perfect" it was, but you'll never see it happen again any time soon.

 

Modern society is not in the mood to know what really went on in history. They prefer the mythological legends portrayed by Hollywood because if they really knew what went on back then it would grate on their sense of civilized humanity.

 

VERY few reenactors have the courage to do real living history. If they do, the world around them simply won't accept it.

 

Stosh

[Frank17]

This reminds me of the "lemmings" myth that prevades our metaphors thanks to Walt Disney. Good filmmaking sells.

 

From snopes.com:

 

Claim: During the filming of the 1958 Disney nature documentary White

Wilderness, the film crew induced lemmings into jumping off a cliff and

into the sea in order to document their supposedly suicidal behavior.

 

Status: True.

 

Origins: Lemming suicide is fiction. Contrary to popular belief,

lemmings do not periodically hurl themselves off of cliffs and into the

sea. Cyclical explosions in population do occasionally induce lemmings to

attempt to migrate to areas of lesser population density. When such a

migration occurs, some lemmings die by falling over cliffs or drowning in

lakes or rivers. These deaths are not deliberate "suicide" attempts,

however, but accidental deaths resulting from the lemmings' venturing into

unfamiliar territories and being crowded and pushed over dangerous ledges.

In fact, when the competition for food, space, or mates becomes too

intense, lemmings are much more likely to kill each other than to kill

themselves.

 

Disney's White Wilderness was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which is not a

native habitat for lemmings and has no outlet to the sea. Lemmings were

imported for use in the film, purchased from Inuit children by the

filmmakers. The Arctic rodents were placed on a snow-covered turntable and

filmed from various angles to produce a "migration" sequence; afterwards,

the helpless creatures were transported to a cliff overlooking a river and

herded into the water. White Wilderness does not depict an actual lemming

migration at no time are more than a few dozen lemmings ever shown on

the screen at once. The entire sequence was faked using a handful of

lemmings deceptively photographed to create the illusion of a large herd

of migrating creatures.