History on Film/Film on History
History films have often been criticized by academics and journalists
as inaccurate depictions of the past. Yet there is no escaping the
fact that blockbuster history films, documentaries and docudramas
are increasingly influential in shaping our understanding of
historical people and events. The very controversies that erupt
over so many historical films are testament to the central role that
films play in making history accessible.
Robert A. Rosenstone argues that to leave history films out of the
discussion of the meaning of the past is to ignore a major factor in
our understanding of past events. He champions the dramatic feature
as a legitimate way of doing history, even though it is largely
fictional. He examines what history films convey about the past and
how they convey it, demonstrating the need to learn how to read and
understand this new visual world. Integrating detailed analysis of
individual history films, including Glory, Reds,
October and Schindler's List, Rosenstone examines:
- different types of films - American, European, Mexican and
Soviet - made in different political systems and climates;
- the dramatic feature, the biofilm, the documentary and the
innovative or opposition drama;
- the filmmaker as historian, focusing on Oliver Stone as a
brilliant historian of the Vietnam era;
- how a group of works devoted to a single topic, such as the
Holocaust, can engage the larget discourse.
Publishing Information
2006. Publisher: Pearson/Longmann
Translation- Spanish
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