Abstract
The article focuses on the use of film as a medium of historical research. It discusses the film "Shoah," directed by Claude Lanzmann, which is considered as a model for filmic history. It also looks into Robert Rosenstone's claim that people may consider filmmakers as historians and that people should derive theory from practice through analyzing how the past has been portrayed in films.
Highlights
Considering film as historical research entails thinking of it not just as a historical source or a kind of popularised presentation of history, but as a tool of production by which unique historical insights can be gained
I presume that history is not about some truth hidden in historic facts, but about a relation we establish with the past events based on present-day material and immaterial artefacts
Like any material we find in archives, the relation with the past established by the archive-mode depends on the permanence in time of the film-material and is transformed by the changing modes of perception and comprehension of the film itself
Summary
Considering film as historical research entails thinking of it not just as a historical source or a kind of popularised presentation of history, but as a tool of production by which unique historical insights can be gained. This specific relation between emotion and cognition is precisely why I would like to analyse Shoah as a model of filmic investigation of history, and not merely as an example.
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