Arts & Culture
5 Things Movies Get Wrong About the Medieval Era
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Article
There’s a reason you’ve never heard Nicole Kidman say, “We come to this place for a history lesson,” in her AMC commercials. Movies don’t have the best track record when it comes to historical accuracy, especially where the Middle Ages are concerned. Some dubious medieval tropes show up more than others, of course, and these are five of the biggest offenders. Credit: 20th Century-Fox/ Archive Photos via Getty Images Prima Nocta In one of Braveheart’s most upsettingly memorable scenes, Edward Longshanks invokes prima nocta (Latin for “first night”): the right of a feudal lord to ...Read More
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Arts & CultureArticle546 Childhood Games Only Baby Boomers Will Recognize
Whether using a pocketknife, a piece of string, or just their imagination, the games baby boomers enjoyed entertained them for hours and created memories that lasted decades. Which of these…
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Arts & CultureArticle465 Strange Rules From Hollywood’s Hays Code
The golden age of Hollywood was an era of glamorous stars and timeless films, but behind the sparkle was a somewhat less romantic reality. From 1934 until the late 1960s,…
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Arts & CultureArticle198Why Don’t We Write in Cursive Anymore?
For generations, American children learned to loop their letters into graceful, flowing words. Notes passed in class, signatures practiced on notebooks, the elegance of a handwritten letter — all of…
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Arts & CultureArticle71Why Do We Eat Cake on Our Birthday?
Few traditions feel as universal as gathering around a frosted cake, lighting candles, and singing “Happy Birthday.” While the ritual seems timeless, the story of why we eat cake on…
