Revisioning History: Film and the Construction of a New Past

Published by Princeton University Press 1995

Revisioning History

Film and the Construction of a New Past

Edited by: Robert A. Rosenstone

Volume 5 in the series Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History

https://doi.org/10.12987/9780691209708

Overview
Contents

About this book

In Revisioning History thirteen historians from around the world look at the historical film on its own terms, not as it compares to written history but as a unique way of recounting the past. How does film construct a historical world? What are the rules, codes, and strategies by which it brings the past to life? What does that historical construction mean to us? In grappling with these questions, each contributor looks at an example of New History cinema. Different from Hollywood costume dramas or documentary films, these films are serious efforts to come to grips with the past; they have often grown out of nations engaged in an intense quest for historical connections, such as India, Cuba, Japan, and Germany.

The volume begins with an introduction by Robert Rosenstone. Part I, "Contesting History," comprises essays by Geoff Eley (on the film Distant Voices, Still Lives), Nicholas B. Dirks (The Home and the World), Thomas Kierstead and Deidre Lynch (Eijanaika), and Pierre Sorlin (Night of the Shooting Stars). Contributing to Part II, "Visioning History," are Michael S. Roth (Hiroshima Mon Amour), John Mraz (Memories of Underdevelopment), Min Soo Kang (The Moderns) and Clayton R. Koppes (Radio Bikini). Part III, "Revisioning History" contains essays by Denise J. Youngblood (Repentance), Rudy Koshar (Hitler: A Film from Germany), Rosenstone (Walker), Sumiko Higashi (Walker and Mississippi Burning), and Daniel Sipe (From the Pole to the Equator).

Author / Editor information

Robert A. Rosenstone is Professor of History at the California Institute of Technology.

Reviews

"This excellent book of 13 articles explores how films construct an image of the past. . . . Revisioning History asks: what are the particular set of rules by which the past in represented on moving images? How does the present influence the representation of the past in films? Dealing with such topics as colonialism and Nazism, the films were made in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Robert A. Rosenstone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One. CONTESTING HISTORY
1. Distant Voices, Still Lives THE FAMILY IS A DANGEROUS PLACE: MEMORY, GENDER, AND THE IMAGE OF THE WORKING CLASS Geoff Eley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
2. The Home and the World THE INVENTION OF MODERNITY IN COLONIAL INDIA Nicholas B. Dirks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
3. Eijanaika JAPANESE MODERNIZATION AND THE CARNIVAL OF TIME Thomas Keirstead and Deidre Lynch Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
4. The Night of the Shooting Stars FASCISM, RESISTANCE, AND THE LIBERATION OF ITALY Pierre Sorlin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Part Two. VISIONING HISTORY
5. Hiroshima Mon Amour YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS Michael S. Roth Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
6. Memories of Underdevelopment BOURGEOIS CONSCIOUSNESS/REVOLUTIONARY CONTEXT John Mraz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
7. The Moderns ART, FORGERY, AND A POSTMODERN NARRATIVE OF MODERNISM Min Soo Kang Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
8. Radio Bikini MAKING AND UNMAKING NUCLEAR MYTHOLOGY Clayton R. Koppes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
Part Three. REVISIONING HISTORY
9. Repentance STALINIST TERROR AND THE REALISM OF SURREALISM Denise J. Youngblood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
10. Hitler: A Film from Germany CINEMA, HISTORY, AND STRUCTURES OF FEELING Rudy Koshar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
11. From the Pole to the Equator A VISION OF A WORDLESS PAST Dan Sipe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
12. Walker and Mississippi Burning POSTMODERNISM VERSUS ILLUSIONIST NARRATIVE Sumiko Higashi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
13. Walker THE DRAMATIC FILM AS (POSTMODERN) HISTORY Robert A. Rosenstone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
Film Credits Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
PRINCETON STUDIES IN CULTURE/POWER/HISTORY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	256