>"We have been asked to give a presentation on the relationship
>between film and history as part of an Honors Day Program. We are
>interested in learning about any recent scholarship on the subject,
>or perhaps a web site that might supplement our research. We are
>particularly interested in representations of the '60s and Vietnam,
>but would like to hear of any sources, even by Michael Medved!"
You could do worse than to look at the critical dissection of the
phony (as it turns out) "documentary" "Harvest of Despair", which I've
cited before. One series of articles on it, by Progressive Labor
Party, is at
http://world.std.com/~plp/cd_sup/ukfam1.html
through /ukfam6.html
and another, by Jeff Coplon of the Village Voice, is on my page,
http://www.shss.montclair.edu/english/furr/vv.html
Talk about the political use of film as propaganda! Many
interesting critical issues are raised.
I use film only rarely in my courses for exactly this reason --
it's so "plausible", so hard to be critical of it. _Everything_ can be
faked, especially film.
Take a look at the fascinating film "The Stuntman", with Peter
O'Toole, for a fictional discussion of the way film can and does
deceive us.
Sincerely,
Grover Furr