March 30, 2007
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"IT WORKS FOR ME"
Last night I stared at my Xanga and thought, "I have nothing to say anymore. All my students are positively carbonated, bubbling over with interesting thoughts to post, but I have nothing to say anymore." Part of the problem, of course, is that the older I get the less I know; the more I read the more ignorant I feel; the more of the wisdom of the past I study the less I feel anything I have to say is worthwhile except to keep telling people to read the wisdom of the past. The other part is simply that my brain is just plain dull and I'm embarrassed to write anything after reading all the smart and witty stuff my students write.
But Deaj has posted something that stirs me up. Dan Neil writes an interesting and entertaining article about how Hollywood is our history teacher and I enjoyed reading it, but he ends this way: "I can't help but smile when I think of all those teenagers poring over dear, dead Herodotus in search of a story that, when found, will be better than the movie. If this is America's version of a classical education, it works for me." In spite of his confused style, what he means is that those teenagers will not find that story in Herodotus to be more interesting than what they've already gotten in the theater, and so the theater is a good substitute for classical education.
I have a question: is there anything we're losing by getting the story through a movie instead of through reading it in Herodotus, especially through reading it in the original Greek? Even if the movie gets the story one hundred percent right? And I don't just mean that reading lets you make your own mental images.
Comments (3)
I think it depends on why your reading/watching the story. If your searching for entertainment, most people are going to find the movie more entertaining then Herodotus. There are stories that are much more entertaining to read than to watch, but in general, really old dead Greek men don't write those stories. Of course, I'm sure there are a handful of nerds out there like us who would find it much more fascinating to read the original story in the original language, then to watch the movie, but normally the movie is going to be more entertaining.
If your watching it to learn about it, to be educated on it, part of that education is going to include understanding it the way the Greek's understood it: The way Herodotus wrote it down and people have understood it since then. A movie, no matter how accurate, will never be the same medium as a book, and it will never be a similar medium to a book. In reading one is really getting a different perspective than watching. And when reading an old book written by a dead man, a movie will never be able to give you the same understanding and perspective a book will. In that case, a movie will always be an interpretation of the book, an interpretation that will not be complete or the same, but often twisted and biased by whoever is doing the interpreting.
Mr. C i'm so glad you read that article. I thought of you when he discussed that part! Now if he'd had a dictator like you he might of had a differant view:) I don't think that the movies are a substitue however today a lot of people don't pick up a book unless it is an AP class in High School. A girl the other day was commenting on how boring and bogged down she was in Odedipus Rex to which i responded i had read and enjoyed. It is easier for most people to sit and be entertained. It is a sad fact. I like to sit there and be wowed by all the special effects but i know where to go for the accurate story.
Your first paragraph reminded me of Socrates.
Wisdon is admitting one's own ignorance.
~Meow.