A Very Long Engagement: The Use of Cinematic Texts in Historical Research

Historians who base their research principally on cinematic texts may, at times, feel uneasy with regard to the epistemological foundations of their research. This is due to a number of reasons. Firstly, to study films, or principally films rather than written documents, means to go against a long and illustrious tradition of historiographical studies which normally privileges written texts over visual evidence as primary sources for historical research. Secondly, within the range of visual sources, historians have for a long time been especially suspicious of cinematic texts. Finally, a universally accepted, coherent and comprehensive methodology for studying film as a source for historical analysis has not yet been formulated. Such awareness accounts for the title of this essay: cinema and history have had a very long engagement, but a proper wedding has yet to be celebrated. It is worth noting that the long-term diffidence of historians towards film is not entirely unreasonable. The use of cinematic texts as historical sources presents difficult theoretical problems with respect to their selection, use and methods of analysis. In the mid-1970s, historian Paul Smith, while advocating the use of films in historical research, provided a succinct summary of the issues troubling professional historians:

[film] can quite easily be faked, or put together in such a way as to distort reality, give a tendentious picture, and practise upon the emotions of the spectator.