Essay on history and historical films
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The first films were made in the first half of the twentieth century and along with this the first historical films were made. These include ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ in 1924, ‘The King of Kings’ in 1927 and ‘The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse’ in 1921. Even since the first historical films were made, this genre has become one of the most popular out of all types of film. Due to this, millions of people watch these films every year and therefore get their perception of History mostly from film. This poses a problem for the historian. Robert Rosenstone clearly states this, “Let’s be blunt and admit it: historical films trouble and disturb professional historians and have troubled and disturbed professional historians for a long time” (Rosenstone R, 1995, p.45). Furthermore, William Guynn provides evidence of this, “In cinema, history empties out its significance and leaves us with the cold artifice of representation” (Guynn W, 2006, p.6). On the other hand, Guynn admits, “For some Historians, the cinema is not entirely lost; indeed, it can be salvaged if we acknowledge that historical film is the ‘most fictional of genres’ and abandon the idea of film as a vehicle of historical representation” (Guynn W, 2006, p.6). What this means is that although film cannot be an instrument for representing the past, it can bear witness to the historical period in which it is produced. Most people do not study history or have only briefly studied it at a younger age; therefore film has become the primary source of knowledge for them about the past. Therefore historians are forced to accept these historical films despite their historical inaccuracy. Even if a film cannot offer the critical elements and analysis insisted on in scholarly text and even if it bends history to match the characters or the plot line and completely misses out the finer details of historical accuracy, film can stimulate the imagination and create curiosity and interest into the lives of past generations. Importantly, it can cause an interest into history which can later lead to the choice of studying it or a topic of research and enjoyment. Therefore there are a number of negatives and positives to historians from film. However one thing is clear, it is not possible for a film to be historically accurate. There are a number of reasons for this. The obvious one is that how can a film be historically accurate if no one, not even historians, have an accurate picture of a historical period. Furthermore, most historical film makes don’t care whether the film is accurate of not, they prioritise making a popular film with a good story line. It is not important if a film is inaccurate, it is only important for a historian who is frustrated with the wrong facts being given out to
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the first films were made in the first half of the twentieth century and long with the first historical films were made. history is not a pure science , it is not just open to historians alone to study therefore historians do not have a monopoly on reading , studying and conveying. most films were not made for historical accuracy therefore is not open to critics from historian.