Good History from
Bad Movies
Allan Kerr
HTAV Annual Conference
26th July 2012
Rationale
 The majority of your students will never encounter a History text
after high school;
 Their only contact with History may be through film – we want
them to have the skills to decode, deconstruct and criticise;
 I present films as imperfect – I encourage students to see film as a
version of events, a representation – it lays the ground work for
understanding historiography in final years;
 It’s easy (and fun) to find holes and inaccuracies in a film but we
need to go beyond what is wrong with the film - I often ask my
students, ‘what does the film get right?’
 Historical representations in film have more to do with the
present than they do with the past.
Peter Weir
 Weir lays blame for the tragedy of the Nek squarely on the fictional
character of Colonel Robinson. Colonel Robinson was played by
English actor John Morris, despite the character being primarily
representative of the Australian commander, Colonel Antill.
 However, Weir claims this portrayal of Robinson as British was not
intended. ‘Despite his uniform being that of an Australian officer, some
audience members assumed, wrongly, that he was British.’
 Weir portrays the reason for the Australian attack on the Nek as a
diversion ‘to draw the Turks down on us [the 3rd Light horse] so
[25,000 British troops] can get ashore’ who were ‘drinking tea on the
beach’ at Suvla Bay at the time of the Nek attack. However, in reality,
the main reason for the Battle of the Nek, was to act as a diversion for
the New Zealand offensive at Chunuk Bair.
Gallipoli
Dead
Wounded
Total
Total Allies
44,092
96,937
141,029
– United Kingdom
21,255
52,230
73,485
– France
(estimated)
10,000
17,000
27,000
– Australia[5]
8,709
19,441
28,150
– New Zealand[5]
2,721
4,752
7,473
– British India
1,358
3,421
4,779
– Newfoundland
49
93
142
Ottoman empire
(estimated)
86,692
164,617
251,309
Total (both sides)
130,784
261,554
392,338
Braveheart
Braveheart
 Year 8 History – Siege engines and castle
construction
 Also good for:
 Propaganda
 Torture – medieval techniques
 Totalitarian power - did ius primae noctis exist? Droit du
seigneur?
 Social mores in the Middle Ages and today –does the
representation of the homosexual son say more about 1996 or
the 13th Century?
Mississippi
Burning
Mississippi
Burning
Mississippi
Burning
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Why is the guy sitting in the chicken coop?
Why does the Reverend abandon his son?
Who are the heroes?
How are African-Americans depicted?
Why do none of them go on to movie careers?
Why didn’t Will Smith or Laurence Fishburne get
a role in this film?
Forrest
Gump
Forrest
Gump
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Meaning of Life?
Political Messages?
Why is Forrest a hero?
What do you think of Jenny?
Why does she die?
What’s the message of the film?
300
300
MARIE
ANTOINETTE
MARIE
ANTOINETTE
 Introduction to Historiography
 How does it explain MA?
 Is it an apology for her?
 Could it be an apology for a certain type of action?
 What’s the message of the film?