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What Does Film Tell Us About History
is more successful in ‘evoking’ rather than ‘representing’ the past and this presents a problem for the historian who works methodologically by collection, organization and verification of verifiable data and facts. By making use of emotional evocation, film would tend to present situations that exceed this methodology However, as underscored by Rosenstone the study of the visual medium is different from that of the written medium. A dissection of which is the better form would be missing the point and dismissing the merits of both. A more useful and value-adding way would be to not compare the two, but to recognize that a fresh and unique approach is necessary towards gaining new insights from films.
As mentioned before by David Herlihy, film cannot capture a historical period in its full entirety. However, film does tend to capture the ‘essence’ or what Natalie Davis calls the ‘spirit of a period’. Conventional definitions of historical authenticity argue that history in any form must remain factually true and substantially accurate. Natalie Davis however comes up with a new definition of ‘historical authenticity’ applicable to film-based history. She argues, “Historical authenticity comes first and foremost from the film's credible connection with "the spirit of a period" - in its large forms and sometimes in its small details”. In Braveheart, the spirit of the Scottish rebels during the period of English tyranny is easily accentuated and empathically felt. Champions of film-based history will not look to the details regarding Wallace’s clothing, actual birthright or his impregnation of King Edward Longshanks’ daughter. Rather, they marvel at the cinematography of the movie, revealing the grandeur and pride of Scotland’s commoners. The movie also aptly projects the admiration and respect that Scotland places upon her national legend. Just as war films like Saving Private Ryan presented little in terms of factual historical detail about World War II, it serves to correctly convey the experience of soldiers involved in a long drawn out war. The effectiveness of the visual medium is of such.
John E. O'Connor, identifies four broad ways in which historians can work through films. He notes that they can “study film as a representation of history, use it for insights into the social and cultural values of the past, examine it as a form of historical evidence, and study the history of the film and television industries” . What he has not mentioned however is also the fact that film likewise provides insights into the social and cultural values of the present as well. Marshal Flaum recognizes that artistic license that often takes place with feature films and documentaries. He however argues that “even the distortions and lies we often find in that celluloid mirror reveal some inescapable truths not only about those who created the falsity, but about those who demanded it and avidly paid for it at the box office” .
The film Gallipoli immediately comes to mind with regards to this ‘celluloid mirror’. Gallipoli is as an Australian reconstruction of the famed Anzac legend. [next page]