Watching historical movies along with extra research is a great way to gain a better understanding of history. Watching movies gives one a visual image to help associate concepts and timeframe, a basic overview or good foundation of ideas to build off of, and can even change one's thoughts on a once previously covered topic of discussion. Two great movie examples of these effects are Glory and Twelve Years a Slave.
When discussing topics such as a slavery, prejudice, or any topic that covers a lot of different perspectives and opinions, doing just research can become confusing or convoluted. A film often provides a fixed opinion and perspective, or doesn't contain any bias whatsoever. For instance in the film 12 Years a Slave it is told from the perspective of Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was captured and put into slavery. This perspective never changes throughout the film and his opinions never change, and neither does anyone else's. Not just because it is only a two hour timeframe that has to cover an entire story, but also because it allows the watcher to gain a better understanding of one perspective. Which not only limits the amount of confusion and sheer amount of information that one can accidentally gain by researching, but also allows the ability to spark new interests or a wanting for more information. Since it is a limited timeframe that one can write a movie into, often it makes sure to cover a general idea or a basic overview before getting into the smaller details. Which could be argued as a negative since it doesn't get into specific details for the topic, however I would argue the opposite. I would argue that by not adding as much detail it makes sure that it can convey the basics and the main problems the historical issue had.
By only being given the basic information or general overview of a concept a movie can give an opening for watchers to research what they are specifically interested in. The movie Glory is a great example for this. While yes it only covered one black regiment and followed the perspective of the white Colonel Shaw this is a good thing for the watcher.
An Image of the 54th regiment storming a confederate fort. Link
The film doesn't give you every detail about every character and over every fight, because if it did that the two hour film would only cover three characters and would bore the watcher by giving their entire biography start to finish. But by only telling you their names, why they're related to the regiment, and what became of them because of it, it allows the watcher to notice things on their own and want to learn more by researching the topic later. For instance, after I watched the film I was interested in the inclusion of only two black regiments, and wanted to learn more about how many more there were and their contribution to the wars outcome. And while doing this I found out that there were many of ethnic regiments, and they weren't all African American either. So by only giving me basic information and an overall topic I found something I wanted to research more and was able to gain more out of it. And in Twelve Years a Slave after watching Ford and Solomon's relationship I didn't believe that a slave could get away with talking back or in anyway mistreating a superior no matter how kind of a slave owner it was.
Which means movies are not only good for building new thoughts and ideas, but they also can change old thoughts. After researching more to find about the animosity between slave and slaveowners I found a letter written by Frederick Douglas. This letter was written to Frederick's former slave owners, and wasn't writing about his hatred towards his former owner, but rather his appreciation towards him. Since Frederick ran away from his former owner it was a letter apologizing for running away, but states that it wasn't that he was running away from his owner, but rather his slave owner. And not only does he apologize but he wants to know how his family is doing, especially his kids after they were so kind to him as a slave. After seeing the relation between Ford and Solomon, and reading this letter, my thoughts that were originally closed off in believing that all slaveowners had some sort of prejudice or aggression against African-Americans became more open and I learned that some slave owners were kind and had slaves only because if they didn't have slaves they would quickly go out of business and their families would be starving or in trouble.
After reading this essay about the benefits and all the good effects historical movies I hope you will change your thoughts about their usefulness to the learning and understanding of history. Because while there are many of films that throw historical accuracy out the window to gain profit from the film, there are still plenty of movies that can provide valuable learning to the classroom and easily keep the students captivated, and with added research can teach them a lot about whatever topic in American History you wish to discuss.
Works Cited
Burton, William L. ""Title Deed to America" Union Ethnic Regiments in the Civil War." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 124.6 (1980): 455-63. Web.
Dargis, Manohla. "The Blood and Tears, Not the Magnolias." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/movies/12-years-a-slave-holds-nothing-back-in-show-of-suffering.html>.
Dogulas, Frederick. "Apology Letter from Frederick Dogulas." Letter to Hugh Auld Esq. 4 Oct. 1854. MS. N.p.
Ebert, Roger. "Glory Movie Review & Film Summary (1989) | Roger Ebert." All Content. Freddie Fields, 12 Jan. 1990. Web. 28 Sept. 2016. <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/glory-1989>.
1. I thought that it was interesting that you talked about the decisions that the filmakers have to make to keep an audience interested and fit all the events into a two hour time frame.
ReplyDelete2. The only question that I had is that is there actually no bias? I think that there could be depending on the director.
3. I think that you did answer the argument given but you left some things out such as how can your analytical skills be improved and you didnt really talk about critically thinking.
1. I found the fact that Frederick Douglas wrote a letter apologizing to his master for running away quite interesting. Since it seems a bit strange to apologize to the person who held you captive.
ReplyDelete2. The post did make me wonder why there aren’t more films like Twelve Years a Slave where we get a slave’s perspective.
3. The post was well written, and made a good argument. Films have to incorporate a lot of content in a two hour time frame, which means they are typically focused, and convey a lot of information in a short time.