Creative Histories - Pod 13.1: History in Images - Notes

Creative Histories - Pod 13.1: History in Images

Fictional and Non-Fictional History

• Fictional and non-fictional history inform each other.
• Creative histories employ methodology, and conventional histories employ creativity.
• A distinction exists between the two, even if unclear at times.

The Entombment of Christ

• The Entombment of Christ, 1500-1600. Venetian School. Birmingham Museums Trust/Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.
• Licensed under Creative Commons 0 - Public Domain. Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0.

Example Images from History

• J. Howard Miller, We Can Do It (Westinghouse Company Poster, ca. 1942)
• Rosie the Riveter as depicted by Norman Rockwell (1943), Curtis Publishing.

Darkest Hour and Winston Churchill

• Image of Winston Churchill in 1943; Source: Imperial War Museums/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.
• Darkest Hour film poster featuring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill.

Marcus Peters and Winston Churchill

• Marcus Peters (Adé Dee Haastrup) with Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) in Darkest Hour.
• Source: Richard M. Langworth, richardlangworth.com

Historical Film and the Hyperreal

• Jean Baudrillard: Film images suggest not reality but ‘hyperreality,’ a world that is ‘more real than real’ because we have lost our capacity to distinguish between reality and artifice.
• In historical film, hyperreality is suggested in production values that aim for a perfect visual presentation of a historical era.
• This level of perfect recreation of the look of an era is ‘disquieting perfection.’

Schindler’s List Criticism

• Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993) was criticized for its use of a film aesthetic to depict the Holocaust.
• Elements include theme music, fictional characters to create a story arc, a ‘documentary’ effect.
• Lantzmann: The Holocaust should not be depicted as art.