Abstract
Popular historical cinema is often criticized for being “manipulative” and simplifying history’s complexities in a dangerous way. But as I demonstrate, many popular German historical films provide the viewer with little comfort and easily consumable material. A concentration on the cognitive aspects of film reception points to the moments during which viewers are prompted to engage with, and reflect on, the depicted historical situation. By considering complex cognitive processes such as conceptual blending, Theory of Mind(ToM), and perspective-taking, alongside reflections made by casual viewers (i.e., not only by film scholars or professional critics), I show that seeing is not always believing, and that there is much more to popular historical film reception than a passive acceptance of the viewed material.
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