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Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are coming out with a study about how people who watch historical movies remember them better than if they’d read a historical textbook. Which may sound hunky-dory…until you add in something called creative license. Hollywood blockbuster movies, even those based on actual historic events, can sometimes play around with the details. Just a smidge, of course. Only kids and movie makers can get away with such things.

The researchers point out this example (among others): In the 2000 movie Tombstone, Doc Holliday kills Johnny Ringo. In reality, they say, he was in a courtroom with witnesses that day, making this event…well, a movie boo-boo. Apparently Ringo committed suicide IRL.

True confession: Here at Chez Polka Dot, we like historical movies. Check out my Netflix list — I keep the History Channel videos coming in a non-stop rotation. And then I toss in some Hollywood historical flix for fun. But word to the wise: Keep those textbooks dusted off, too. In fact, what a great opp this presents: Get the kiddos into finding errors/descrepancies between the movies and the actual events. Ooh, or fun times: Have the kids study an event and then do a short script of it, making one realistic and the other Hollywood-ish. Of course, then you’d need to be sure they remember the correct version…that is, if you remember yourself…