I Do Not Hope to Turn Again
Ken Burns' Benjamin Franklin — the documentary filmmaker's latest deep dive into an important effigy in American history — is now out on PBS. When I heard the picture show was coming out, I got excited. Through the magic of filmmaking, documentaries similar this one tin can make the past come alive. They can take historical scholarship and turn it into an exciting drama. The music rises and falls; yous tin can't help but feel carried away.
That feeling is pretty compelling; it'southward also tough to let go of it. Historical documentaries try to make you feel like you lot've been through an experience, and that at present yous understand, simply I recall that feeling is a piffling dangerous. It'southward so of import that we larn about the events of the past, but information technology's also really important that we don't think we know everything. More than and more, nosotros seem to be looking to history as a source of entertainment, and that has all kinds of complicated implications in how nosotros think about the past.
Looking to the By for Certainty
You may have noticed that in that location are a whole lot of documentaries effectually these days. It feels similar every time I peek at the offerings on Netflix or other streaming services, I'm presented with options for everything from true-criminal offence docs about series killers to docuseries about cults to deep dives on historical figures like the aforementioned Benjamin Franklin.
There 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 we're also craving a kind of settled narrative that just 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 change. It feels actually difficult to know annihilation.
Nether those circumstances, you can run into the appeal of plopping yourself downwards in front of something like a history documentary. You lot watch, and you lot go to feel like you lot know the story of something that happened. The past, in that way, can feel settled and certain in a way that feels comfortable to us in the nowadays.
The Positive Side of History equally Entertainment
There are, of class, some good things about all of this. The best documentaries ask compelling questions and go out united states of america feeling a sense of wonder about the world. When I was a kid, I remember being so bored in history classes that I idea I had no interest in the topic whatsoever. Every bit an developed, I've get actually interested in the history of the American Civil War, simply I remember blowing off unabridged reading assignments on the subject in loftier schoolhouse.
The success of historical documentaries like Burns' The Civil War, dated and problematic as it undeniably is, is admittedly part of why I've come to realize that I actually dearest learning almost the past. With so many documentaries available — and the proliferation of history podcasts and companies similar MasterClass that sit on the edge of instruction and entertainment — it's more possible than e'er for people to realize, outside of the context of schoolhouse, that they actually savour learning. The risk 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 past the rigors of historical research and truth.
How We Feel Most the Past
As who we are changes, how we feel nearly who we used to be changes too. Gimmicky criticisms of Burns' The Civil State of war are a good example of this. Burns himself has admitted that he "would probably be making a different kind of film now," from the one he fabricated in 1990. The moving-picture show he made, though, was incredibly influential, and for many people it concretized a lot of what the American Ceremonious War became in our commonage retentiveness.
In that location is a lot of excellent material in the documentary, only unfortunately, on the whole, its conception of the American Civil War itself is deeply flawed. From perpetuating the thought that the war was nigh a failure to compromise to the idea that a man similar Robert Eastward. Lee "disapproved" of slavery, The Ceremonious War presents a limited and occasionally troubling perspective. That perspective becomes even more problematic when it becomes the dominant manner the war itself is remembered. It takes a lot of time and energy to undo these misconceptions — to help people open their minds to the idea that things might accept been dissimilar than how they were portrayed.
History Isn't Simply Facts
In the end, information technology's important to remember that history is a discipline and a discourse. History isn't just a ready of facts that we receive and know how to translate, but an ongoing conversation that happens over time. That conversation changes, every bit I said to a higher place, based on who we are and what we value in a given period. Information technology also changes based on how the facts are presented and who controls the ability to present them.
Documentaries are not, mostly, conversations; they are statements. The all-time ones — and Burns' Benjamin Franklin might very well finish up existence one of these — encourage u.s. to explore further and to ask more questions. They might even leave us feeling a piddling unsettled, like nosotros aren't certain whether the keen historical figures of the by are heroes or villains. That'due south a expert thing, because most of the time, the figures of the by are neither. They are people, similar us, total of flaws and doubts. Hopefully, when we learn about them, we learn about the importance of being willing to alter 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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