Just a footnote to add to David Kiracofe's interesting take on film and
education.  The neurologist Oliver Sacks, writing in the New York Review of
Books, explained that one hypothesis about conciousness is that
consciousness is a field that is recreated in the brain at a rate of
something over 20 times a second.  It just so happens, as Sacks notes, that
the secret to animated projection is that it looks like movement when the
frames are flashed at a rate of 22 times a second.  This seems a neat,
almost too neat, explanation of why film so often trumps writing and other
forms of expression.  Yet, it is worth keeping this notion in mind as we
deal with the power of film to set perceptions of history.

Harold S. Forsythe
Visiting Fellow (2005-2006)
Program in Agrarian Studies
Yale University
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Kiracofe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: New World Movie


> Maybe I'm just not inclined to bash Hollywood movies (too easy), but
> actually I find there is a lot of educational value in looking at movies
> as a form of interpretation -- a historiographical approach if you will.
> Why do "we" (okay, present company excepted) want a romantic encounter
> between Smith and Pocahontas?  Smith the soldier is more romantic than
> Rolfe the businessman.   That storyline obviously isn't new -- it dates
> back at least to the beginning of the 19th century -- and we certainly
> would look at that earlier usage of the romantic story as a subject
> worthy of interest: racial views, gender stereotypes, how the native was
> "civilized," etc.    As a teacher I know that much of what my students
> ever think about any topic coming into class is derived from media --
> but rather than just try to blast the errors from their consciousnesses,
> I prefer to try to build on what they've seen and why it was made, and
> to shape it into a more sophisticated understanding of the past.
> I'll leave the questions of details in costumes/make-up and such to
> others, but I will note that John Smith was only about 26 when he came
> over in 1607 -- but that Farrell fellow looks too tall....
>
> See you at the movies!
>
> Dave Kiracofe
>
>>From beginning to end, it's a dumb distortion of everything we know.
>>Farrel/smith is in his early 20's!
>
> David Kiracofe
> History
> Tidewater Community College
> Chesapeake Campus
> 1428 Cedar Road
> Chesapeake, Va 23322
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html