Re: Pedagogy and films

Dave Postles (pot@leicester.ac.uk)
Thu, 12 Oct 1995 08:27:12 +0100

Profs. Graham, Poos and Borot have hit upon an interesting thread (at least more
interesting than which movies we like). Analyzing movies can bring out the
choices of presentation that historians make. To give an example, I have
used the movie "Cromwell" in class, though, at times, it is too much to
bear. Students that have spent some time reading historians and sources
from the period will enjoy pointing out the howling anachronisms. And both
professor and student can point out the points, like the trial of Charles I,
where dialogue approximates what we do have in a recorded source. But one
can also ask the students what choices of compression they would make to put
across an accurate but brief story. In other words, what is most important
and what can (must) be left out?

So here is a pedagogical (somewhat) question: In the Richard Harris
movie, the most accurate portrayal seemed to be Alec Guiness's Charles I.
If you were to remake the life of Oliver Cromwell, who would play the lead?

Newton Key Graduate Coordinator and
History Dept. Assoc. Prof. of History
Eastern Illinois University Sec./Treas. MWCBS
cfnek@eiu.edu

--