I think films are an excellent medium to expand on the historical events or people in history. Historical thinking is a way to critically analyze within the context of the time that primary sources were written. This type of thinking critically should and could be applied to movies. While films are dramatic reinterpretation of events, these films can reveal information to the general public that may not have been known. Films like Iron Jawed Angels is a prime example of this. I did not know that women were arrested, and force fed in jail during hunger strikes just due to the peaceful protest during World War I. Films like Hidden Figures, Iron Jawed Angels, and Silkwood have been about female figures in history that may not have been fully realized or known by the general public. These are films that I would like to consider using to open a door into historical thinking about events. Since these events are not as well known, these films can open new interest in evaluating the primary sources and documents around events, people and their history.
For scholarly digital storytelling, small and shorter video projects can be used to teach the user and the audience about different historical topics. The skills to write and publish short digital history makes the learner focus on the intended audience, a streamlined history to keep the audience’s attention while informing their audience, and an awareness of the audience that you do not need in a traditional historical essay. Depending on the project, the learner could also learn technical skills for editing, sound, video, and oral presentation and interviewing skills. Oral interviewing as an historian is important skill to learn for oral histories and archives. Digital story-telling projects can be tailored and added as primary and secondary sources to past histories of events or people.
