Learning History Through Film

Books are often used while studying history, they can easily be substituted with movies and not negatively impact learning. History is about past events and the best way to understand past events is to reenact them. While many movies primary purpose is to entertain the audience, there are some movies that are also meant to teach the audience history. Two great examples are Glory and 12 Years a Slave.

12 Years a Slave is a great movie to teach students how slaves were treated in the past and to also show many other events that were going on in the past. The director of 12 Years a Slave wanted the movie to be as close to being realistic as possible. The director, Steve McQueen said “Everyone's an Adult here; they know how to deal with it. It’s not about sort of sugarcoating it. We’re here to do something we feel that is necessary.” Steve McQueen did not care about how people might react to what was in the movie, he just wanted the movie to be as close to real life as possible. There were some mistakes made in the movie however. For example Solomon did not have 2 children instead he had 3, and Patsey did not beg Solomon to end her life. Even though there are a few mistakes made in a movie does not mean the movie is not able to teach a student anything. The people researching what to put in the movie will most likely be looking at the same history we are. Also if a mistake is made then all we have to do is simply look up “historical inaccuracies” on the internet, and we will learn about all of the mistakes made so we will not believe them. Learning historical facts is not the only thing needed to have a knowledge of history.

While history is about knowing about all the past events it is also about know how life was back in the time period being studied. The director of Glory, Ed Zwick said “make a movie about the African-American experience.” If a teacher who only wanted to teach events in history heard this about Glory, they would assume it would have no educational benefit, but it does. It allows us see what the “ African-American experience” was like and how it is different from the modern day “African-American experience.” Even though Ed Zwick was said “make a movie about the African-American experience,” that does not mean that is was not historically accurate.

Glory was for the most part historically accurate, it had a few inaccuracies here and there, but nothing major. One great thing about movies that talk about history is that is often able to teach you a large amount of history in a short amount of time. The screenplay written by Jarre, for Glory, was mainly based on letters written by Colonel Shaw. Simply reading letters from one person's point of view does not give us a good understanding of history so we would need to read many other accounts of the historical events described by Colonel Shaw to understand history accurately. Historically accurate movies like Glory and 12 Years a Slave  have already gathered all of the information a put it into one view that best fits the many views used to make the movie.

To get a benefit from watching a historical movie you must first learn to think critically about it. Without thinking critically about what is going on in a movie then you are simply watching it for entertainment. In the movie Glory, of the slaves in the 54th regiment is a slave and one is a free man. Without thinking critically i might think that it is simply a difference in their personality that causes them to handle situations differently. When i think about is analytically I am able to see that is not only their personality but also that they are from completely different backgrounds and they believe very different things.

Glory and 12 Years a Slave have taught me a lot about history and have helped me understand life in that time period.  Movies many be considered unfit for education, but how how different are they truly from any other method of learning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Years_a_Slave_(film) -12 years a slave cost and goals and intentions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(1989_film) - gory cost and goals and intentions

http://ashbrook.org/publications/oped-owens-00-patriot/ -inaccuracies of Glory

http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reel_new/films/list/0_10_9_22 inaccuracies of Glory

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/12-years-a-slave.php -inaccuacies of 12 Years a Slave

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/how-em-12-years-a-slave-em-gets-history-right-by-getting-it-wrong/280911/ - inaccuacies of 12 Years a Slave

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/08/12-years-a-slave-steve-mcqueen-12 years a slave goals and intentions

http://www.historynet.com/basking-in-two-decades-of-glory.htm- glory goals and intentions

Practicing Incorporating a Quotation

      Steve McQueen the director of 12 years a slave wanted the movie to be as accurate as possible and to not hold anything back from the audience. In a interview McQueen said "Everyones an adult here; they know how to deal with it."

This is what Mrs. Lawson wanted me to learn today:

-Only use quote when it adds power and style to my writing.

-Always make it clear, from context, that i understand the full meaning of the quote.

-Whether I quote of paraphrase, always be transparent about the source and how I'm using it.

-If I use another author's exact words or phrases, to any extent, I have to use quotation marks to give credit.

-If I use another author's presentation of facts or ideas, but put their ideas in my own words, I better have a good reason for doing that and MUST give credit.

-Hyperlinking is so easy, there is no excuse for not being transparent about my sources.

I UNDERSTAND THIS!

Paraphrase Practice

In this article I found a quote by the actor Morgan Freeman and i will paraphrase below. 

"I don't have a problem with that. You cannot reasonably ask a white writer to do it differently. Now, if we're going to start citing some unfortunates, it might be unfortunate that a black writer didn't write it, but if a black writer had written it, there's a good chance he wouldn't have found a producer. So there you are. This is a movie that did get made, and a story did get told, and that's what is important."

This is my paraphrase. 

I do not have any objection with that. You are not able to acceptably request for a writer to do it in another way. If we are going to talk about mistakes then it is very sad that a black writer did not write it. If a black writer had written it then it would have been hard to find a producer. So that is it. This movie told the story and got made and thats what matters. 

Empathy vs. Sympathy

       Empathy is the intellectual identification or vicarious experience of the feelings, thought, or attitudes of another. Sympathy is experiencing feelings of pity or sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
       Feeling empathy for someone is not only possible if you have been in the same situation. I can Empathy for a slave owner in the 1800s. I do not support slavery at all and I think that it is terrible and I could never be a slave owner. I am able to feel empathy for the never the less because I am able to put myself in there shoes. I am able to think about how they must have thought it was not that bad because so many other people had slaves and it was not a big of a deal in the 1800s. Empathy is a key skill in studying history so that you are able to better understand why people in history did what they did and so that you will not judge them or study them with a bias view.