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With films such as Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon, and Platoon, is Oliver Stone vying for "Filmmaker Laureate" by capturing and marketing America's history?
Oliver Stone served in Vietnam and wrote the movie Platoon (1986). The film was extremely popular and established Charlie Sheen’s career. In 1989, Stone released Born on the Fourth of July. With the release of The World Trade Center (2006), Stone has established himself as a self-appointed historical muse. However, Oliver Stone is a filmmaker not a historian. Historians, have been dodging the label of ‘revisionist’ since we began to record it. Stone Trained By Martin ScorceseBorn September 15, 1946 in New York to upwardly mobile parents, Stone was personally trained by Martin Scorsese at New York University Film School. He has produced, written or directed over forty films to date. He directed Natural Born Killers (1994) written by Quentin Tarantino. Not many people know Oliver Stone wrote the screenplay for the blockbuster Scarface (1983), directed by Brian De Palma. He came to attention in the early 1980’s with a remake of The Hand, (1981) starring Michael Cane. Keenly acted and directed, Stone’s screenplay stands out as excellent. But, perhaps Stone’s best screenplay to date remains, Midnight Express (1978). For those who have seen Stone’s, The World Trade Center, agree that the film was done in good taste, with personal and kind intention. It is a personal story about two firefighters doing their job. The devastation of Ground Zero and captured taped edited into the film of people jumping from the East Tower is included. Natural Born Killers Samples Stone's Taste for ViolenceFew Oliver Stone movies come without violence and in many cases, troubling imagery, to wit: Natural Born Killers. Yet, there remains the fact that Stone has had tremendous success with films that represent America’s past, such as, John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Nixon’s disgrace, The Doors, and now, The World Trade Center. Should this force Stone to become more responsible somehow? Of course not, he is free to express himself like the rest of us. The IMdB quotes Oliver Stone on Oliver Stone as, "I consider my films first and foremost to be dramas about individuals in personal struggles and I consider myself to be a dramatist before I am a political filmmaker. I'm interested in alternative points of view. I think ultimately the problems of the planet are universal and that nationalism is a very destructive force. I also like anarchy in films.” Many of Stone’s films do unquestionably draw from actual events, conversations and eyewitness accounts. Homer did not write the Iliad and the Odyssey. He was a blind storyteller that recited it exceptionally well, writing had been invented in Greece in 850 B.C., and someone at court wrote it down. It is not Oliver Stone’s vision that should substitute for American history. As media becomes more popular than education, we must begin to pay attention. We cannot and do not wish to censor the artist. The artist is moved by inspiration, history remains propelled by fact.
The copyright of the article Oliver Stone in Pop Culture Personalities is owned by Diane Germano. Permission to republish Oliver Stone in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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