Difference between revisions of "329-2010--Week 1 Questions/Comments"
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I, too, thought it was interesting in the introduction to this book how Toplin commented about how we can actually learn historical information from the movies. I guess I should have known from the title: ''In defense of Hollywood...'' I think it is definitely true that most people would assume that historians would most definitely attack movies that claim to portray past events and historical events because they can be exaggerated but as I think we will gather from this book, there is a lot we can learn and take away from these "history-oriented movies". -Amy V. | I, too, thought it was interesting in the introduction to this book how Toplin commented about how we can actually learn historical information from the movies. I guess I should have known from the title: ''In defense of Hollywood...'' I think it is definitely true that most people would assume that historians would most definitely attack movies that claim to portray past events and historical events because they can be exaggerated but as I think we will gather from this book, there is a lot we can learn and take away from these "history-oriented movies". -Amy V. | ||
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| + | Toplin's introduction to his book critiques the notion of academics hating Hollywood productions. The intro provides a decent thumbnail sketch of the rest of his work, yet he lays out a few good nuggets of thought that will (or at least should)be the driving force behind his work, seeing cinematic history as a study worth pursuing (Toplin, 4). A simple sketch of his thoughts would include the idea of moving past a stigma against film as a non-academic view of history and take it as another medium through which to make assessments of history. The author notes that academics turn away from the film as a medium to communicate, in a very powerful way, historical events and characters. What does one get from the title and introduction of Toplin's book? A call for academics to step outside of the ivory tower and look at how non-academics are viewing history, a step past footnotes and long bibliographies. They need to perhaps even consider the implications of how a movie is crafting and framing a historical narrative rather than not view the product at all because it was published by the University Press. -Joe | ||
==Slaves on Screen== | ==Slaves on Screen== | ||
