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Teaching the Middle Ages on Film: Visual Narrative and the Historical Record
Author(s) -
Driver Martha
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2006.00378.x
Subject(s) - anachronism , narrative , paratext , representation (politics) , convention , point (geometry) , perception , aesthetics , visual arts , grice , affect (linguistics) , history , psychology , literature , art , sociology , social science , political science , politics , linguistics , communication , law , philosophy , geometry , neuroscience , mathematics , pragmatics
This article provides an overview of some of the contentious issues concerning the role of film in historical studies of the Middle Ages. Is it appropriate to point out inaccuracies of detail in historical film? As a collective commercial enterprise, is a movie inherently limited in its portrayal of the past, and does this matter? How does film convention affect representation? Can movies err on the side of historical truth? What are the uses of purposeful or intentional anachronism? How have perceptions of movies changed with the advent of the paratext on DVD? How might movies with medieval themes be used effectively in the classroom? Responses to these and related questions are drawn from writings on film from 1915 to the present.