Hope of Seeing Our Loved Ones Again
Ken Burns' Benjamin Franklin — the documentary filmmaker's latest deep dive into an of import effigy in American history — is now out on PBS. When I heard the film was coming out, I got excited. Through the magic of filmmaking, documentaries similar this i can brand the past come live. They tin take historical scholarship and turn it into an exciting drama. The music rises and falls; you can't help just feel carried abroad.
That feeling is pretty compelling; it'south also tough to allow get of it. Historical documentaries try to make you experience like you've been through an experience, and that now you understand, just I think that feeling is a petty dangerous. It'due south and then important that we learn most the events of the past, but it'south as well actually important that we don't think we know everything. More and more, nosotros seem to be looking to history as a source of entertainment, and that has all kinds of complicated implications in how we call back about the by.
Looking to the Past for Certainty
You may have noticed that there are a whole lot of documentaries effectually these days. Information technology feels like every time I peek at the offerings on Netflix or other streaming services, I'thou presented with options for everything from true-crime docs well-nigh serial killers to docuseries about cults to deep dives on historical figures like the aforementioned Benjamin Franklin.
At that place are, of course, lots of reasons why so many documentaries are getting made. To be sure, the pandemic has been a huge factor, but beyond that I wonder if nosotros're also craving a kind of settled narrative that only isn't available to us in the present moment. Life is pretty confusing these days. We're living through global health crises, wars, divisive politics, and the terrifying implications of ongoing climate modify. It feels really hard to know anything.
Under those circumstances, you lot tin can see the appeal of plopping yourself downwards in front of something like a history documentary. You sentinel, and yous get to feel like you know the story of something that happened. The past, in that mode, can feel settled and sure in a way that feels comfy to united states of america in the present.
The Positive Side of History equally Entertainment
There are, of form, some skillful things about all of this. The best documentaries ask compelling questions and leave us feeling a sense of wonder nearly the world. When I was a kid, I remember being then bored in history classes that I thought I had no interest in the topic whatsoever. As an developed, I've become actually interested in the history of the American Civil State of war, but I remember blowing off entire reading assignments on the subject in loftier schoolhouse.
The success of historical documentaries similar Burns' The Ceremonious War, dated and problematic as information technology undeniably is, is absolutely part of why I've come to realize that I actually love learning almost the by. With and then many documentaries available — and the proliferation of history podcasts and companies like MasterClass that sit on the edge of didactics and entertainment — it's more possible than e'er for people to realize, exterior of the context of schoolhouse, that they actually enjoy learning. The adventure is that these learning opportunities can lead to a state of affairs where the dominant historical narrative is being curated by people and companies driven by profit rather than by the rigors of historical research and truth.
How Nosotros Feel About the Past
As who we are changes, how we feel about who nosotros used to be changes likewise. Contemporary criticisms of Burns' The Ceremonious War are a good example of this. Burns himself has admitted that he "would probably be making a unlike kind of film now," from the i he made in 1990. The film he fabricated, though, was incredibly influential, and for many people it concretized a lot of what the American Civil War became in our collective memory.
At that place is a lot of splendid fabric in the documentary, but unfortunately, on the whole, its conception of the American Civil State of war itself is deeply flawed. From perpetuating the idea that the war was about a failure to compromise to the thought that a human being like Robert E. Lee "disapproved" of slavery, The Civil War presents a express and occasionally troubling perspective. That perspective becomes even more problematic when it becomes the ascendant manner the war itself is remembered. It takes a lot of fourth dimension and free energy to undo these misconceptions — to assistance people open their minds to the idea that things might have been dissimilar than how they were portrayed.
History Isn't Just Facts
In the terminate, information technology's of import to remember that history is a discipline and a discourse. History isn't merely a set of facts that we receive and know how to interpret, just an ongoing conversation that happens over time. That conversation changes, as I said above, based on who we are and what we value in a given menstruation. It also changes based on how the facts are presented and who controls the power to nowadays them.
Documentaries are not, more often than not, conversations; they are statements. The best ones — and Burns' Benjamin Franklin might very well end up being one of these — encourage usa to explore further and to ask more than questions. They might even go out us feeling a little unsettled, similar we aren't sure whether the great historical figures of the past are heroes or villains. That's a good matter, because nigh of the time, the figures of the past are neither. They are people, like u.s.a., full of flaws and doubts. Hopefully, when nosotros learn about them, we learn about the importance of being willing to modify our minds and ourselves.
Source: https://www.ask.com/culture/when-we-look-to-history-for-entertainment?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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