Hidalgo" s Hoofprints Leave Controversial Impressions
Set in the 1800s, the Disney movie Hidalgo, has sparked questions as to the historical accuracy of the events as depicted in the movie. Declared to be based on a true story, the film revolves around Frank Hopkins (one of the most liked disney characters) identified as the best rider in the west, and his Spanish mustang Hidalgo. The plot builds up to a race known as the Ocean of Fire that pits rider and horse against man and nature.
Disputes have been raised on the existence of Aden, the starting point of the race and the race itself that supposedly stretches 3000 miles across the Arabian peninsula since there appears to be no record of either one. Issues as to the true identity of Hopkins, specifically his mixed heritage brought about by a White American father and a Native American mother is also being argued. There are records of a Frank Hopkins who lived in the Old West but his claims to fame, such as his affiliation with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show are quite unsubstantiated.
The depiction of the Bedouins from a negatively light also hit a nerve. A lone mustang rider against a hundred of his counterpart atop Arabian thoroughbreds indeed creates a dramatic impact. Unfortunately this approach stereotypes the nomadic Arabs in the similar way that North Americans are relegated as antagonists in the cowboy-and-Indian dynamics in the old American west.
Controversial issues have also gone beyond the movie itself, extending to even the frankhopkins.com site, named and dedicated after the same character portrayed by the movie's central figure. Hidalgo screenwriter John Fusco's involvement with the site has been the subject of a lengthy diatribe from Arab historian and H-Levant editor Anthony B. Troth in the History News Network site. A horse enthusiast himself, Fusco has been quoted in a separate interview that when he set out to write the story, it was with a mix of research and creativity. "... I got the story, and [thought] this can really be fun. Arabia, 1890. I studied travel narratives, looked at some of the stuff that went on, you know, just true adventure," With a somewhat sketchy record of Hopkins' biography and the exercise of artistic license over the material, it is indeed difficult to draw the line between fact and fiction as far as the Hidalgo tale is concerned.
The use of the phrase "based on a true story" seems to have been the film's Waterloo as it gave room for historians and critics to question the authenticity of certain details. Nevertheless overall it is an adventure story about the travails of a man and his horse set against the meeting of two cultures.
Disputes have been raised on the existence of Aden, the starting point of the race and the race itself that supposedly stretches 3000 miles across the Arabian peninsula since there appears to be no record of either one. Issues as to the true identity of Hopkins, specifically his mixed heritage brought about by a White American father and a Native American mother is also being argued. There are records of a Frank Hopkins who lived in the Old West but his claims to fame, such as his affiliation with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show are quite unsubstantiated.
The depiction of the Bedouins from a negatively light also hit a nerve. A lone mustang rider against a hundred of his counterpart atop Arabian thoroughbreds indeed creates a dramatic impact. Unfortunately this approach stereotypes the nomadic Arabs in the similar way that North Americans are relegated as antagonists in the cowboy-and-Indian dynamics in the old American west.
Controversial issues have also gone beyond the movie itself, extending to even the frankhopkins.com site, named and dedicated after the same character portrayed by the movie's central figure. Hidalgo screenwriter John Fusco's involvement with the site has been the subject of a lengthy diatribe from Arab historian and H-Levant editor Anthony B. Troth in the History News Network site. A horse enthusiast himself, Fusco has been quoted in a separate interview that when he set out to write the story, it was with a mix of research and creativity. "... I got the story, and [thought] this can really be fun. Arabia, 1890. I studied travel narratives, looked at some of the stuff that went on, you know, just true adventure," With a somewhat sketchy record of Hopkins' biography and the exercise of artistic license over the material, it is indeed difficult to draw the line between fact and fiction as far as the Hidalgo tale is concerned.
The use of the phrase "based on a true story" seems to have been the film's Waterloo as it gave room for historians and critics to question the authenticity of certain details. Nevertheless overall it is an adventure story about the travails of a man and his horse set against the meeting of two cultures.