It really depends on which films you use and how you
use them. Many professors will bring films to the classroom
simply as a pleasant diversion, which is a mistake, or as a
means of seeming to "make the past alive," which is naive. I've
found films in the classroom to be a useful means of
stimulating critical analysis, however. Most students who enter
a class on medieval history, for example, will have been
exposed already to the pop belief that the period was one
"illuminated only by fire," a belief reinforced by films such
as "The Name of the Rose" and others. Many may have acquired
certain prejudices from drivel like "Lady Jane Grey" or
artistic but ahistorical films like "A Man for All Seasons."
Wouldn't it be worthwhile, if not to view, then at least to
discuss how films and pop history of today portray medieval
society? Demonstrating the worthlessness of most films as
history will help students to approach the subjects with more
caution in the future and avoid the delusions of pop history -
certainly a worthy lesson for an historian to impart. I've used
films for this purpose in a course I'm teaching now on the
First World War, and have been most pleased with the results.
For What It's Worth,
Ed Lengel
egl2r@fermi.clas.virginia.edu
University of Virginia
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