Historically Inaccurate Film Analysis
Name: Steven
Date: Aug 16th 2013
091A Research Paper II
Can Historically Inaccurate Films Have Positive Effects on Education?
“Titanic” is one of the most famous films in the world, which is based on a real shipwreck mixed with fiction. About 2 years ago, My girlfriend and I saw the film and discussed the facticity of the film. Both of us thought that the film was a historical true story, because everything was perfect matched in the film and we could not find any mistakes in it. Nevertheless, what surprised me was that a research in Duke University found that there was a great deal of historical inaccuracies in the “Titanic” such as First Officer William Murdoch did not commit suicide on the ship, and he was believed to have …show more content…
On one hand, historically inaccurate films usually are more attractive than historically accurate films, because inaccuracies events or stories which are created by directors can make the films more entertaining and dramatic. For example, “Saving Private Ryan” is another famous film which is based on a real story in the invasion of Normandy. The invasion of Normandy is a significant battle in the World War II. The film told a story about Ryan, and he was a soldier whose three brothers have died in the war. He is the only one son who is still alive in his family, so American government sent a small group of soldiers to rescue him from the battlefield of Normandy. However, the real story is no soldiers were sent to save Ryan. The director of the film changed the story and created a rescue operation, which attracted a lot of young people to see the film. Thus, students are more likely to have interests on historically inaccurate films. On the other hand, Borim Kim (2011) writes that “Having represented events in the past through actors, films stimulate the students’ motivation of and interest in learning”(p.2). It shows that historically inaccurate films can arouse the curiosity of students. If teachers use historically inaccurate films to teach history, it will be more interesting than textbook. Furthermore, Carlson (2007) also notes that his students are very interested in learning history from inaccuracies in historical films, because historical events and figures in films are more lively and easily to understand. In consequence, historically inaccurate films encourage students to learn much more historical
Date: Aug 16th 2013
091A Research Paper II
Can Historically Inaccurate Films Have Positive Effects on Education?
“Titanic” is one of the most famous films in the world, which is based on a real shipwreck mixed with fiction. About 2 years ago, My girlfriend and I saw the film and discussed the facticity of the film. Both of us thought that the film was a historical true story, because everything was perfect matched in the film and we could not find any mistakes in it. Nevertheless, what surprised me was that a research in Duke University found that there was a great deal of historical inaccuracies in the “Titanic” such as First Officer William Murdoch did not commit suicide on the ship, and he was believed to have …show more content…
On one hand, historically inaccurate films usually are more attractive than historically accurate films, because inaccuracies events or stories which are created by directors can make the films more entertaining and dramatic. For example, “Saving Private Ryan” is another famous film which is based on a real story in the invasion of Normandy. The invasion of Normandy is a significant battle in the World War II. The film told a story about Ryan, and he was a soldier whose three brothers have died in the war. He is the only one son who is still alive in his family, so American government sent a small group of soldiers to rescue him from the battlefield of Normandy. However, the real story is no soldiers were sent to save Ryan. The director of the film changed the story and created a rescue operation, which attracted a lot of young people to see the film. Thus, students are more likely to have interests on historically inaccurate films. On the other hand, Borim Kim (2011) writes that “Having represented events in the past through actors, films stimulate the students’ motivation of and interest in learning”(p.2). It shows that historically inaccurate films can arouse the curiosity of students. If teachers use historically inaccurate films to teach history, it will be more interesting than textbook. Furthermore, Carlson (2007) also notes that his students are very interested in learning history from inaccuracies in historical films, because historical events and figures in films are more lively and easily to understand. In consequence, historically inaccurate films encourage students to learn much more historical