Editing The Bounty (1984 film) (section)

== Historical accuracy ==
The film is generally regarded as more revisionist as well as a more historically accurate depiction of the mutiny than earlier film versions.<ref name="MoonHandbooks">{{cite book|author=David Stanley|title=Moon Handbooks Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands|publisher=David Stanley|year=2003|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_zQ_RGjMGmB8C/page/n109/mode/2up 92]|isbn=1-56691-412-4|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_zQ_RGjMGmB8C}}</ref> According to director Donaldson, <blockquote>"The major difference between our film and the other versions is that none of the others pointed out that Bligh and Christian were friends. They'd made voyages together before they sailed on the ''Bounty''. And while they were on the ''Bounty'', Bligh demoted another officer and promoted Christian, who was at that stage nothing but a midshipman, and made him second in command. What interested me was to explore how their relationship deteriorated from that point to where Christian leads a mutiny against Bligh."<ref name="Stephen Farber"/></blockquote> Unlike earlier versions, the film did not portray Bligh as a villain. According to Gibson, "It was a kind of fresh look at Captain Bligh, and I think of all the renditions of who Bligh was, his was probably the closest. His Bligh was stubborn and didn't suffer fools, but he was brilliant and just had a lot of bad luck."<ref name="Michael Fleming 2000">Michael Fleming (July 2000). "Mel's Movies", Movieline.</ref> Bligh is portrayed as a man who is hot-tempered and foul-mouthed, but only scolds when necessary and is relatively sparing in his punishments, even clearly disliking the order to have his men flogged. On the one hand, he takes his sense of discipline and command too far when scolding Christian about the ship being filthy, exceeding the limits of the ship's company, but after the mutiny, through a return of his good character and leadership qualities, successfully guides his loyalists and their open launch to safety. ''The Bounty'' also paints a far less heroic portrait of Christian. In Gibson's description, "Fletcher was just a lad of twenty-two and he behaved like one. The first time he decided to test his horns and fight for the herd, it was a mistake. He shouldn't have done it." Gibson later expressed the opinion that the film did not go far enough in correcting the historical record.<blockquote>"I think the main problem with that film was that it tried to be a fresh look at the dynamic of the mutiny situation, but didn't go far enough. In the old version, Captain Bligh was the bad guy and Fletcher Christian was the good guy. But really Fletcher Christian was a social climber and an opportunist. They should have made him the bad guy, which indeed he was. He ended up setting all these people adrift to die, without any real justification. Maybe he'd gone island crazy. They should have painted it that way. But they wanted to exonerate Captain Bligh while still having the dynamic where the guy was mutinying for the good of the crew. It didn't quite work."<ref name="Michael Fleming 2000"/></blockquote> The film also portrays the sailors exploiting the islanders. Unlike earlier film versions, the native women are shown (accurately) totally bare-breasted. Gibson said, "It was a complete culture shock and it was unbelievable to them. It was paradise in terms of personal freedoms—freedoms that shouldn't have been taken advantage of. They exploited the people, fooled them and didn't tell them the whole truth".<ref>{{cite news|title=Mel Gibson|author=Terry Poulton|publisher=Close Up|date=Summer 1984}}</ref> Gibson chose to suddenly erupt in violent emotion during the mutiny scene because eyewitness accounts had described Christian as 'extremely agitated' and 'sweating and crying'.<ref>{{cite news|title=Is Mel Gibson Australian or American?|author=Bob Thomas|author-link=Bob Thomas (reporter)|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=4 May 1984}}</ref>