Historiography meets Historiophty the perils.pdf

8/11/2019 Historiography meets Historiophty the perils.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/historiography-meets-historiophty-the-perilspdf 1/6

Historiography Meets Historiophoty: The Perils and Promise of Rendering the Past on Film

PAST IMPERFECT: History According to the Movies by Mark C. Carnes; VISIONS OF THEPAST: The Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History by Robert A Rosenstone; REVISIONINGHISTORY: Film and the Construction of a New Past by Robert A RosenstoneReview by: Bryan F. Le BeauAmerican Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring, 1997), pp. 151-155Published by: Mid-America American Studies Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40642863 .

Accessed: 01/12/2013 19:01

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Mid-America American Studies Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend

access to American Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 190.172.198.166 on Sun, 1 Dec 2013 19:01:43 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=maasa

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40642863?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp





http://www.jstor.org/stable/40642863?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=maasa



Review

Essay

Historiography

Meets

Historiophoty:

The

Perils and Promise

of

Rendering

the Past

on

Film

Bryan

F.

Le

Beau

PAST

MPERFECT:

History

ccording

o heMovies.

MarkC.

Carnes,

eneral

Editor.

New York:

Henry

olt nd

Company.

1995.

VISIONS

OF

THE PAST:

The

Challenge

f

Film

to

Our

dea

of

History.By

Robert

Rosenstone.

ambridge:

arvard

niversity

ress. 1995.

REVISIONINO

HISTORY:

Film nd the

Construction

f

NewPast. Edited

y

Robert

Rosenstone.

rinceton:

rinceton

niversity

ress. 1995.

Question:

Why

do historiansistrust

hehistoricalilm?

The OvertAnswers:

ilms re naccurate.

They

distorthe

past.

They

fictionalize,

rivialize,

nd romanticize

eople,

events,

ndmovements.

heyfalsify

istory.

The CovertAnswers:

ilm s outofthe

ontrol

fhistorians.

Film howswe

do not wnthe

ast.

Film

reates

historical

world

withwhich ooks annot

ompete,

t east or

opular-

ity.Film s a disturbingymbolf n ncreasinglyostliterate

world.

Robert Rosenstone

Visions

f

he ast

46)

0026-3079/97/3801-15$2.00/0

American

tudies,38:1,

(Spring

1997):

151-155

151







152

Bryan

F.

Le Beau

Theessays n these hree olumes eflecthe wowaysbywhich istorians

have

approached

motion

ictures

hat re historical

n

their

ubject

matter

(historical

ilms).

he

first,

nd

most

ommon,

asbeen omeasure he

ccuracy

of

historical

ilms

y

he tandards

hich

rofessional

istorians

se tomeasure

their

work. The

second,

nd

still

argely

new field f

endeavor,

as

been to

investigate

ow

film,

s a visualmedium

ubject

o

he onventionsfdrama

nd

fiction,

as been

or

might

e)

employed

s

a vehicle

for

hinking

bout

our

relationship

o the

past.

Past

Imperfect: istory

ccording

o the Movies

represents

he irst

pproach,

isions

f

he ast: The

Challenge f

Film o

our

Idea

ofHistory

nd

Revisioning istory:

ilm ndtheConstraints

f

New

Past,

the econd.

In

Past

Imperfect,

or

which

historian

arkC.

Carnes

erved s

general

editor,

ome

ixty ighly egarded

istorians

xamine he

elationship

etween

nearly

00

often lassic films nd thehistorical

reality" hey ortray.

Alan

Segal,

Michael

Grant,

Gerda

Lerner,

ames

Axtell,

Richard

lotkin,

ames

McPherson,

eon

Litwack,

lan

Brinkley,

kira

riye, tephen

mbrose,

nd

William

euchtenburgritique

heTenCommandments

1956),

Julius

aesar

(1953),

Joan

f

Arc

1928,

1948,

1957),

BlackRobe

1991),

The

Charge f

he

Light rigade

1936, 1968),

Glory

1989),

TheBirth

f

a Nation

1915),

The

Grapes fWrath1940),Tora Tora Tora 1970),The ongest ay 1962), nd

All the resident'sMen

1972),

to name

ust

a few.

Past

mperfect

s attractivend

nformative,

ncluding

undreds

f

idebars

on

related

istorical

opics

nd

more han 00

photographs,

ilm

tills,

maps,

nd

historicalllustrations.

oreover,

he

ssayists

eview

ilms

roduced

n

many

differentimes

nd

places.

Most were

made

n

Hollywood,

ut

Australian,

Japanese,

erman,

rench,

anadian,

nd

British

roductions

re

ncluded s

well.

Somewere

not

egarded

s historical hen

hey

ere

eleased, ut,

ikeDr.

Stangelove

1964),

xplore

ocial r

ulturalhemes

f

he imes.

imilarly,

ilms

likeThe

Ten

Commandments

1956),

althoughxplicitly

istorical,

re ncluded

less for heir istoricalontenthan orwhat hey ay bout he ra nwhichhey

were

made.

Perhaps

hemost

nterestingssay

n

Past

mperfect

s not

review

t

ll,

but

an interview

ith irector

ohn

ayles

by

historian

ric

Foner,

which ncom-

passes

numberf

points

elated o henature

nd

production

fhistorical

ilms.

Saylesexplains,

or

xample,

hat

roducers

akehistorical

ilms,

atherhan

limiting

hemselves

o

pure

fiction,

ecause "the

audience

ppreciates

hat

something

eally appened"

17).

Further,

hey

re asier

o

use

because he

tory

already

xists.

Somebody

s

already

one he

iving

nd he

lot"

nd,

f

he

tory

is old

enough,

t

may

have

lready

ecome

egend

11).

Sayles dmitshat ften, hen e hashadthe hance o see historicalilms

as well as

to read he elated

istory,

e

has

found he

history

better,

r more

interesting,

tory.History,

e

suggests,

as beenmore

omplex

han

ilms nd

thereforeore

atisfying.

ut,

e

continues,

uch s that

ind f

omplexity

as







Historiography

Meets

Historiophoty

53

onlyrecentlyeen ncorporatedntohistoricalccounts,thas taken ime o

appear

n

historical

ilms.

aylesexplains:

You

have

to

remember

hat

hings

end o show

up

n movies

about hird.

irst,

istorianstart

orking

n

something

nd

take a look at the record. Their

work

usually

timulates

novelists,

nd

then

novelists

ften timulatemovie

people.

Finally,

hings

nd

up

on television

12).

Do filmmakersarewhat istorianshink

f

heir

ilms?Not

much,

ayles

reports. Every ilmmaker,ike very istorian,as anagenda.Thedifference

is

that

istoriansead ne

another,

nd

because

ofthe

cademic

world

n

which

they

ive,

here's little

more

. . documentation"

23).

Forfilmmakers

istory

is

"a

story

into be

plundered,

nd

depending

n who

you

are

and

what

your

agenda

s,

t's

either seful

r

not"

16).

Accuracy

s

important,

e

allows,

but

only

nsofar s the

film emains rue o the

pirit

fthe

tory.

ilmmakersse

historians

s consultants

or

etails

f he

etting,

rops,

nd

ostumes,

e

llows,

but

not

or the

ig picture."

hat

s

left o

thefilmmaker.

The most uccessful

ilms,

ayles

ventures,

end

o

be

smaller,

impler

stories.

The

filmmakers

iggest

ifficultiesnclude

resenting

ore

han

ne

version f vents nd

onvincing

he iewer hat

eople' thoughtrocesses

ere

differentt imes

n he

ast.

When

ou

ee a historical ovie nd

tdoesn'

quite

jibe,

t'

usually

ecause hemindset

s

wrong."

he udience

adnot

otten

into

theheads

f

he

eople

iving

tthe ime"

26).

Nevertheless,

ayles

oncludes,

thats noreason o ondescend

o he

eople

r o

poon-feed

hem.

Then

you're

saying

he

people

aren't

apable

of

complexity,

that]

hey're

ot

capable

of

reading

woversionsnd

making p

their wnminds boutwhich netobelieve.

That

an be a

very angerous

oint

fview"

28).

Quite

ifferentre he wo ooks

y

Robert

.

Rosenstone,

istoriannd

past

film eview ditor orTheAmerican istorical eview. nVisions f he ast,

Rosenstone

resents

isown

ssays,

most

fwhich ave

lready

ppeared

n

the

TheAmerican istorical

eview,

inéaste,

omparative

tudies

n

Society

nd

History,

nd elsewhere.

n

Revisioning

istory

e

has

gathered

he

work f

thirteenthers Geoff

ley,

Nicholas

Dirks,

homas

Keirstead,

eidre

Lynch,

Pierre

orlin,

Michael

Roth,

ohn

Mraz,

Min

Soo

Kang,

Clayton oppes,

enise

Youngblood,

Rudy

Koshar,

Dan

Sipe,

and Sumiko

Higashi

on

the same

subject.

Rosenstone'

essays

remore

heoretical,owever,

achof he

ssayists

in

Revisioning

istory

ritiques specific

ilm

rom hatRosenstoneabels he

New

History

ilms

mostly

ramatic,

istorical

ilms f

recent

intage

rom

aroundheworld, hich avebeen more erious bout xtracting eaningrom

the

ncounter

ith he

ast

hanwith

ntertaining

udiences r

making profit

or

investors"

Revisioning,

).

The

essayists'

ntent,

osenstone

xplains,

s

not o

consider

ow he

opular

media andle

istory,

ut o

nvestigate

he

ossibilities

of

creating istory

n

film.







154

Bryan

F.

Le Beau

Two elementsetRosenstones's ooks part rom arnes': 1) the ssump-

tion

never

eally

made lear

n

Carnes'

volume)

hat ilm

anbe

a

legitimate ay

of

representing,

nterpretating,

nd

hinking

bout

he

ast;

nd

2)

the

nsistence

that istorical

ilm

hould ot e

udged

n ts

recounting

f he

astby

he

ules

of

written

istory.

n

both

ooks,

nstead f

simply

omparing

he ontent f

historicalilms o the

acts,"

hat

might

e

consideredhe

pecifics

f

historical

episodes,

osenstonend he

ther

ritersxamine

he

elationship

etween he

moving

mage

ndthewritten ord

n

such

manners

to consider

what an be

learned rom

atching

istory

n

the creen.

By-and-large,hey ngage

nwhat

Hay

en

Whitehas called

historiophoty,1

romwhichRosenstone xtractsnd

posesfor isreaders hefollowinguestions:

What

xactly appens

o

history

henwords re ranslatednto

images?

What

happens

when

mages

ranscend

he

nforma-

tion hat an be

conveyed

n

words?

Why

o we

always udge

film

y

how tmeasures

p

towritten

istory?

f

t s true hat

theword an

do

so

many hings

hat

mages

annot,

hat bout

thereverse don't

mages arry

deas and informationhat

cannot e handled

y

theword?

Visions,

).

Especially

nVisions

f

he

ast,

ut venn

Revisioningistory,

osenstone

andthe ther riterset ut

less to

critique

han o chart

he

ossibilities

fthe

historicalilm: o understandrom he nsidehow a filmmaker

ight o

about

rendering

he

ast

n film." uch n

approach,

osenstone

dmits,

s

dangerous

for hehistorianecause it

resultsn

a kind f

omplicity,

n dentificationhat

leads

directly

o

notion t

onceobvious nd

heretical:hat

he

ery

ature

f

he

visualmedia orces se

to

reconceptualize

nd/orroaden

hatever ean

y

he

word

istory"

Visions, ).

Few

historians,

ierre

orlin

eing

hemost otable

exception,

ave

even

ttempted

uch n

approach.2

Eitherirectlyr ndirectly,ll of he ssays ejecthe pproachfmeasuring

film

y

"thefacts" s

problematic

nd rrelevant.

hey

ee

it as

problematic

because t ssumes hatwritten

istory

s

the

nlyway

o

understand

he

ast,

nd

thatwritten

istory

irrors

he

eality

f

he

ast. They

nsist hatt s

rrelevant

because

ilm

s not

book,

which s to

ay

hat n

mage

s not

word.

Therefore,

a film

annot

ossibly

o

what bookdoes but

either

an book

eplicate

hat

a

film

astooffer.

erhaps

he

istorian . J.

Raack,

who

has

lso been nvolved

inthe

roduction

f everal

ocumentaries,

ay

havebeen

ight

hen e

argued

that

espite

ts

imitations

n the

raditional

ense,

film

may

be an even more

appropriate

edium or

history

han hewritten ord. Written

istory,

aack

suggests,s too linear ndtoo narrow n focus o renderhefullness fthe

complex,

multidimensional

orld n which

humans

ive.

Only

film,

with

ts

ability

o

uxtapose mages

nd

sounds,

with ts

quick

uts o

new

sequences,

[and]

low

motionan

possibly

ope

o

pproximate

eal

ife: he

aily

xperience







Historiography

Meets

Historiophoty

55

of deas,words,mages, reoccupations,istractions,ensory eceptions,on-

scious

and unconsciousmotives nd emotions."

Only

films an

provide

n

adequate

empathetic

econstructiono

convey

ow

historical

eople

witnessed,

understood,

nd ivedtheirives.

Only

film

an "recover

ll

the

past's

iveli-

ness."3

%

Film nsists n ts wn

ruths,

osenstone

nsists,

ruths hich

rise romts

visual nd auralrealm. And

although

soenstone

inds

t

difficulto

explain

exactly

what hose ruths

re

perhaps

hemost

glaring

weakness

n

his two

books he and the thers hohave

oined

him n

Revisioning istory

t east

provide persuasive rgument

or he xistence f such ruthsnd

point

n

the

directionf heirventualiscovery.t snot neasy ask.As Rosenstoneoints

out,

his

ewhistorical

ast

n

films

potentially

s muchmore

omplex

han

ny

written

ext,

s

written

istory

as

fromhe ral raditiont ucceeded.

t

ertainly

requires

s

major

shiftn consciousness bouthow

we

think bout

our

past

(Visions, 5).

In the

nd, hen,

osenstone'

essay

n

Visions

f

he

ast,

s wellas those

he has collected

n

Revisioning istory,

re

provocative

ut

ncomplete,

ven

fragmentary.y

Rosenstone'own

dmission,

hey

re

not

meant

o

be seen s

definitive

tatements,

ut s

"forays,xplorations

.

[and]

nsights"

12).

They

neverthelessdvance he search

or

method

f

getting

t hese

moving

rtifacts

that

lways

eem o

scape

our

words,

hat verflow ithmore

meaning

han ur

discourse an

contain,"

nd hat istorians

eject

r

gnore

ttheir

eril

Visions,

13).

As

Rosenstone

eminds

s,

not

nly

has the isualmedia ecome

rguably

the hief arrier

f

historical

essages

n our

ulture,

ut lso:

it

s

not

arfetchedoforesee time

are

we almost

here?)

hen

written

istory

illbe

a

kind f soteric

ursuit;

hen istori-

ans will be viewed much

ike the

priests

f

a

mysterious

religion,

ommentators

n sacred

texts,

nd

performers

f

rituals or populace ittle nterestedn theirmeaning ut

indulgentnough

let

us

hope)

to

pay

for hem o continue

(Visions,

3).

Notes

1

Hayden

White,

Historiography

nd

Historiophoty,"

he

American istorical eview 3

(October 988):

1193.

2. Pierre

orlin,

he

Film n

History:

estaging

hePast

Totowas,

NY: Barnes

nd

Noble

Imprints,

980).

3. R. J.

Raack,

"Historiography

s

Cinematography: Prolegomenon

o Film Workfor

Historians,"

ournal

fContemporaryistory

8

July

983):

416,

418.





Historiography meets Historiophty the perils.pdf

Documents