Teaching & Learning Guide for: Teaching the Middle Ages on Film: Visual Narrative and the Historical Record
Authors: Driver Martha 
Published: March 2008

Author's IntroductionA comparatively new medium, film can be used for a range of discussions about the ways in which history is recorded, edited, shaped, and remembered; it is also useful for teaching contemporary interpretation of older literatures. Like historical fiction – or works of art more generally – movies with historical themes are most productively studied in their broader contexts, alongside, and in conjunction with, written sources. The classroom provides a perfect venue for such study. While reading and analyzing older texts, students can also be taught to read films for their authenticity, their accuracy or inaccuracy of detail in portraying the past, and for effective (or ineffective) use of purposeful or intentional anachronism, among other approaches. Film enhances the study of texts; careful reading of texts may, in turn, lead to more critical evaluation of film.Author RecommendsJohn Aberth, A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film (New York, NY: Routledge, 2003).This comprehensive and ambitious study discusses the historical contexts of films about King Arthur, Vikings, the Crusades, Robin Hood, Joan of Arc, and the Black Death, examining ways in which historical events are played out (or not) on film. Because of its wide scope, the book is sometimes superficial in its treatment of the historical themes, but it is a very good starting place to begin to explore them.Susan Aronstein, Hollywood Knights: Arthurian Cinema and The Politics of Nostalgia (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).Aronstein is one of the smartest critics around in terms of reading films about the Middle Ages from a political perspective. This book, one of her many publications, explores the ways in which movies about King Arthur reflect American values in the twentieth century and beyond.Richard Burt, ‘Getting Schmedieval: Of Manuscript and Film Prologues, Paratexts, and Parodies’, Exemplaria 18/2 (2006): 1–22. Available on order from http://www.maney.co.uk/search?fwaction=show&fwid=696.This informative essay is one of two by Burt in the issue; the other considers beginning and end title sequences and visual narration in film and in the Bayeux Tapestry. The essays discuss (among other films) Luc Besson's The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), The Knights of the Round Table (1953), and Paul Wegener's silent Der Golem (1915). Tom Shippey's evaluation of King Arthur (2004) is particularly worth reading.Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983) and Slaves on Screen: Film and Historical Vision (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000).While The Return of Martin Guerre is historical narrative, telling the story of the 1560 trial of the impostor Arnaud du Thil which was made into a film (1982) on which Davis worked as a consultant, Slaves on Screen is a more direct analysis of the process of retelling history on film. Several essays on a range of movies from Spartacus (1960) to Beloved (1998) contain useful observations on the tensions between historical sources and history as told through film.Martha W. Driver, ed., ‘Medieval Period in Film’, Film & History 29/1–2 (1999): 1–90; 29/3–4 (1999): 1–100. Available on order from http://www.uwosh.edu/filmandhistory/.The two numbers contain essays on film representations of Joan of Arc, Robin Hood, Perceval, Merlin, William Wallace, Edward II, among other historical and fictional characters. Other highlights include an overview and filmography of medieval movies by David John Williams.Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray, eds., The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2004).The essays in this collection consider issues of historicity and authenticity, women heroes on film, heroic representations of children, contemporary appropriation and rereading of medieval themes, and teaching the medieval movie. Contributed by scholars from several disciplines, the essays discuss a broad range of movies and medieval texts.Martha W. Driver, ‘“We Band of Brothers”: Rousing Speeches from Robin Hood to Black Knight’, in Ruth Evans, Helen Fulton and David Matthews (eds.), Medieval Cultural Studies: Essays in Honour of Stephen Knight (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006), pp. 91–106.This essay traces the uses of ‘rousing speech’ employed in a range of films (mainly about Robin Hood) to its parent and original, the St Crispian speech in William Shakespeare's King Henry V and might be used as one type of model for a more simplified writing assignment by students.John M. Ganim, ‘The Hero in the Classroom’, in Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray (eds.), The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004), 237–49.A recounting of one professor's discussions with students, Ganim's essay neatly analyzes several main issues when teaching medieval literature, culture, and history with film.Kevin J. Harty, The Reel Middle Ages: American, Western and Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Asian Films About Medieval Europe (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1999).The Bible of all medieval filmographies, this volume lists nearly 600 movies with medieval themes dating from 1897 to 1996. Each film is briefly identified by title, date, director, and its production company; the action is summarized and supplemented with a bibliographical list of critical reviews. Portions of the published filmography have been updated in the revised edition of Harty's Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2002), 252–301, though this list focuses specifically on film versions of the King Arthur legends, and also by Harty online (see below).Charlene Miller‐Avrich and Virginia Blanton‐Whetsell, Medieval Women in Film, Subsidia Series, Medieval Feminist Newsletter, Forum (2000). Available on order from http://www.minotstateu.edu/mff/subsidia.shtml.This special issue contains a number of essays forming a case study of The Sorceress (Le Moine et la sorcière, 1987), a film based on a thirteenth‐century account of the cult of the greyhound by the Dominican friar Étienne de Bourbon (1190–1261). The volume includes annotated lists of films and databases, along with notes on pedagogical approaches and several helpful essays by Constance Bouchard and other feminist scholars.Tison Pugh and Lynn T. Ramey, eds., Race, Class and Gender in ‘Medieval’ Cinema (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).This collection includes several important essays that rethink representations of gender, race, and class in films with medieval themes by John M. Ganim, Caroline Jewers, Pugh and Ramey, Lorraine K. Stock and Candace Gregory‐Abbott, and others.Robert A. Rosenstone, Visions of the Past: The Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995).Though the focus is on films about twentieth‐century history, the theoretical and methodological approaches, along with some of the questions raised by Rosenstone, are useful models for anyone writing about or teaching film with medieval themes in the classroom.Online MaterialsArthuriana: http://faculty.smu.edu/arthuriana/ This Web site promotes the journal Arthuriana and contains a useful list of abstracts of articles from the journal, many of which discuss film. Access to full articles is by subscription only. The site also contains a link to ‘Arthurian Film’ by Kevin Harty http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/acpbibs/harty.htm, a filmography with critical apparatus.Arthurian Literature and Film Bibliography: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/acpbibs/harty.htm Harty continues his filmographic and bibliographic list of films about the King Arthur legends (or related to them) with a comprehensive list of critical essays for each entry. His research was carried out in British Film Institute in London, the New York Public Library's Performing Arts Branch at Lincoln Center, and the Library of Congress.Arthurian Multimedia: http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/kinga/artmulti.html Bonnie Wheeler has compiled clips from many films with medieval themes, along with sound clips from Camelot (1967), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), and First Knight (1995), and her interviews for historical programs on A&E, which can be downloaded and viewed or heard on the computer. History Compass and Literature Compass: http://www.history‐compass.com/http://www.literature‐compass.com Several informative articles on medieval history and medieval and early modern literature on film have been published on the Compass journals on this site including, for example, Peter Burkholder's ‘Popular [Mis]conceptions of Medieval Warfare’, History Compass 5/2 (2007): 507–24. DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00394.x.British Film Institute: http://www.bfi.org.uk/ Links to press interviews with actors, directors and producers, along with online images, filmography, and recent bibliographical citations are helpful features of this Web site. Queries directed to curators of BFI about details or other aspects of a specific film are answered promptly by e‐mail.Dartmouth Writing Program: Writing about Film: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/humanities/film.shtml A useful guide for students (and their professors), this site emphasizes the importance of observation and careful research, and clearly and simply explains how to write a formal analysis of a film, differences between historical sources, film history and production history, and also supplies film terms with their definitions, some of which students can readily employ in their essays.IMDb: The Internet Movie Database: http://imdb.com/ A comprehensive site covering all movies made for a range of venues including television, this listing contains accurate titles, dates, and lists of directors, actors and production companies for films from silent movies to the most recent. There are also helpful links between subjects for those wishing to pursue titles of all films with medieval themes in which a specific actor starred, for example.Sample Syllabus The Medieval Hero on Screen This course focuses on historical figures and their representation in history, literature, and film. In this context, students consider several broad themes, including historicity and authenticity, knights and knighthood, heroic women, and contemporary appropriations of medieval ideals or ideologies. Depending on an instructor's emphasis, film clips rather than the entire film can be shown. The syllabus is designed so that units may be excerpted to fit classes in medieval history, literature, or women's and gender studies. The readings can be used fully or excerpted for use by students, depending on the focus and level of the course. Unit 1: Ibn Fadlan (

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921) Texts: Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, trans. R. M. Liuzza (Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2000).Michael Crichton, Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan Relating to His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922 (New York, NY: Knopf, 1976), excerpts.James E. Montgomery, ‘Ibn Fādlan and the Rusiyyah’, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 3 (2000): 1–25. Available online at http://www.uib.no/jais/v003ht/03‐001‐025Montgom1.htm.Lynn Shutters, ‘Vikings through the Eyes of an Arab Ethnographer: Constructions of the Other in The 13th Warrior’, in Lynn T. Ramey and Tison Pugh (eds.), Filming the Other Middle Ages: Race, Class and Gender in ‘Medieval’ Cinema (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 75–89. Film:1999 The 13th Warrior, dir. John McTiernan and Michael Crichton, with Antonio Banderas (US: Touchstone). Unit 2: Eleanor of Aquitaine (

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1122–1204) Texts: In literature and women's studies courses, the troubadour lyrics of Guillaume IX, Bernart de Ventadorn, the Countess of Dia, Bertran de Born, Piere Vidal, Castelloza, and others in conjunction with ideas of courtly love, and related subjects, might supplement discussion of Eleanor's biography.Meg Bogin, The Women Troubadours (New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1980).Elizabeth A. R. Brown, ‘Eleanor of Aquitaine, Parent, Queen and Duchess’, in W. W. Kibler (ed.), Eleanor of Aquitaine: Patron and Politician (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1976), 9–34.Peter Dronke, ‘Personal Poetry by Women’, in Women Writers of the Middle Ages (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 97–106.Peter Dronke, ‘The Provencal Trobairitz: Castelloza’, in Katharina M. Wilson (ed.), Medieval Women Writers, reprint ed. (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2004 [1984]), 131–52.Frederick Goldin, trans. and ed., Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology and a History (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1983).Amy R. Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings, rev. ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991 [1959]), excerpts.Margaret Wade Labarge, A Small Sound of the Trumpet: Women in Medieval Life (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1986), 46–52.D. D. R. Owen, Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993), excerpts. Films:1964 Becket, dir. Peter Glenville, with Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole (UK and US: Paramount), brief clips only.1968 The Lion in Winter, dir. Anthony Harvey, with Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, Peter O'Toole (UK: Avco Embassy). Unit 3: Saladin (1138–93) Texts: Literature classes might wish to read troubadour lyrics of Blondel de Nesle and Richard Coeur de Lion in addition to some historical texts.John Aberth, A Knight at the Movies: Medieval History on Film (New York, NY: Routledge, 2003), 70–107.James Brundage, trans., Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi, ed. William Stubbs, Rolls Series (London: Longmans, 1864), VI.27–28 (pp. 427–30), in The Crusades: A Documentary History (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1962), 185–6. Available at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1192peace.html.John M. Ganim, ‘Reversing the Crusades: Hegemony, Orientalism, and Film Language in Youssef Chahine's Saladin’, in Lynn T. Ramey and Tison Pugh (eds.), Filming the Other Middle Ages: Race, Class and Gender in ‘Medieval’ Cinema (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 45–58.Frederick Goldin, trans. and ed., Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology and a History (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1983).Robert Irwin, ‘It's God Guignol’, Times Literary Supplement, May 27, 2005, p. 17.Arthur Lindley, ‘Once, Present, and Future Kings: Kingdom of Heaven and the Multitemporality of Medieval Film’, in Lynn T. Ramey and Tison Pugh (eds.), Filming the Other Middle Ages: Race, Class and Gender in ‘Medieval’ Cinema (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 15–29.Amin Malouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, trans. Jon Rothschild (New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1984), 176–200.Steven Runciman, History of the Crusades, 3 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954–55).Christopher Tyerman, God's War: A New History of the Crusades (Boston, MA: Belknap Press, 2006). Films: 1963 Saladin (An‐Nasr Salah ad‐Din), dir. Youssef Chahine, with Ahmed Mazhar, Hamdi Geiss, Nadia Lutfi (Egypt: Lotus Films).2005 Kingdom of Heaven, dir. Ridley Scott, with Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Eva Green (US: 20th‐Century Fox). Unit 4: Heloise (d. 1164) and Abelard (d. 1142) Texts: Michael Clanchy, Abelard: A Medieval Life (New York, NY: Wiley‐Blackwell, 1999), excerpts.Michael Clanchy, ed., trans. Betty Radice, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (New York, NY: Penguin, 2004).Peter Dronke, Abelard and Heloise in Medieval Testimonies (Glasgow: The University of Glasgow Press, 1976).Constant J. Mews, Abelard and Heloise (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).Constant J. Mews, The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth‐Century France (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1999).Barbara Newman, ‘Authority, Authenticity, and the Repression of Heloise’, in From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Literature (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995), 46–75.Betty Radice, ‘The French Scholar Lover Heloise’, in Katharina M. Wilson (ed.), Medieval Women Writers, reprint ed. (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2004 [1984]), 90–108. Film: 1989 Stealing Heaven, dir. Clive Donner, with Kim Thomson, Derek de Lint, Denholm Elliott (UK: Amy International‐Jadran Films). Unit 5: Robin Hood (

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late 12th–13th century) Texts: Ruth Evans, Helen Fulton, and David Matthews, eds., Medieval Cultural Studies: Essays in Honour of Stephen Knight (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006). See essays by Thomas Hahn (39–54), W. M. Ormrod (57–74), Helen Cooper (75–90), Martha Driver (91–106), Thomas M. Ohlgren (107–99).Stephen Knight, ‘A Garland of Robin Hood Films’, Film & History 29/3–4 (1999): 34–44.Stephen Knight, Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994).Stephen Knight and Thomas Olgren, eds., Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, TEAMS Middle English Texts, 2nd ed. (Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University Press, 2000).A. J. Pollard, Imagining Robin Hood: The Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context (New York, NY: Routledge, 2007).Lorraine K. Stock and Candace Gregory‐Abbott, ‘The “Other” Women of Sherwood: The Construction of Difference and Gender in Cinematic Treatments of the Robin Hood Legend’, in Lynn T. Ramey and Tison Pugh, Filming the Other Middle Ages: Race, Class and Gender in ‘Medieval’ Cinema (New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), 199–214. Films: 1938 Adventures of Robin Hood, dir. Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone (US: Warner Bros).1976 Robin and Marian, dir. Richard Lester, with Audrey Hepburn, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Richard Harris, Ian Holm, Nicol Williamson (US: Columbia Pictures).1991 Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, dir. Kevin Reynolds, with Kevin Costner, Brian Blessed, Sean Connery, Morgan Freeman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Alan Rickman (US: Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek).1993 Robin Hood: Men in Tights, dir. Mel Brooks with Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Patrick Stewart, Tracey Ullman (US: 20th Century‐Fox). Unit 6: William Wallace (d.1305) John Balaban, ‘Blind Harry and The Wallace’, Chaucer Review 8 (1974): 241–51.Andrew Fisher, ‘Wallace, Sir William (d. 1305)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28544, accessed January 1, 2008.David McCordick, ed., Scottish Literature: An Anthology 1 (New York, NY: Peter Lang, 1996).Matthew P. McDiarmid, ed., Hary's Wallace, 2 vols., Scottish Text Society, fourth ser. 4–5 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1968–69).Anne McKim, The Wallace: Selections, TEAMS (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2003). Excerpts available at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/wallfrm.htm.Sid Ray, ‘Hunks, History, and Homophobia: Masculinity Politics in: Braveheart and Edward II’, Film & History 29/3–4 (1999): 22–31.Elizabeth Walsh, ‘Hary's Wallace: The Evolution of a Hero’, Scottish Literary Journal, 11/1 (1984): 5–19. Film: 1995 Braveheart, dir. Mel Gibson, with Mel Gibson and Sophie Marceau (US: Paramount). Unit 7: Henry V (1386/87–1422) Kenneth Branagh, intro., William Shakespeare's Henry V: Screenplay and Introduction (New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1997).Charles R. Blyth, ed., Thomas Hoccleve: The Regiment of Princes, TEAMS Medieval Texts (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1999).Frank Taylor, ed., ‘The Chronicle of John Strecche for the Reign of Henry V, 1414–1422’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 16 (1932): 137–87.G. L. Harriss, ed., Henry V: The Practice of Kingship, rev. ed. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1993 [1986]).Paul Strohm, England's Empty Throne: Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399–1422, rev ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006 [1998]).J. H. Walter, King Henry V, The Arden Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare (New York, NY: Routledge, 1993). Films: 1946 Henry V, dir. Lawrence Olivier, with Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer (UK: Two Cities Films, Ltd.).1989 Henry V, dir. Kenneth Branagh, with Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Ian Holm (UK: BBC).2000 Henry V: A Musical Scenario after Shakespeare, William Walton [Audio CD]. Unit 8: Joan of Arc (

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.1412–31) Texts: In literature or women's studies classes, Joan might be introduced through reading Christine de Pisan's Ditié de Jeanne d’Arc in translation and G. B. Shaw's Saint Joan, along with excerpts from the trial records.Edward Benson, ‘Oh, What a Lovely War! Joan of Arc on Screen’, in Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray (eds.), The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004), 217–37.Anke Bernau, ‘Girls on Film: Medieval Virginity in the Cinema’, in Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray (eds.), The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004), 217–36.Robin Blaetz, Visions of the Maid: Joan of Arc in American Film and Culture (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 2001).Renate Blumenfeld‐Kosinski, ed. and trans., ‘The Tale of Joan of Arc’, in The Selected Writings of Christine de Pizan (New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997), 252–62.Nadia Margolis, Joan of Arc in History, Literature, and Film: A Select Annotated Bibliography (New York, NY: Garland, 1990).Warren Sylvester Smith, ed., Bernard Shaw's Plays (New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 1970). Excerpts from Joan's trial records are found on pp. 435–46.Marina Warner, Joan of Arc: The Image of Female Heroism (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981).Carina Yervasi, ‘The Faces of Joan: Cinematic Representations of Joan of Arc’, Film & History 29/3–4 (1999): 8–19.Charity C. Willard, ‘The Franco‐Italian Professional Writer: Christine de Pisan’, in Katharina M. Wilson (ed.), Medieval Women Writers, reprint ed. (Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 2004 [1984]), 333–63.Bonnie Wheeler and Charles T. Wood, eds., Fresh Verdicts on Joan of Arc (New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 1996). Films: 1928 La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc), dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer, with Renée Falconetti, Antonin Artaud (France: Société Générale des Films).1948 Joan of Arc, dir. Victor Fleming, with Ingrid Bergman, Jose Ferrer (US: RKO).1957 Saint Joan, dir. Otto Preminger, with Felix Aylmer, John Gielgud, Jean Seberg, Richard Widmark (UK and US: United Artists).Focus Questions1. What can film help us to know about the past that we might not have known before?2. Is there a political or another modern agenda informing a movie about the Middle Ages? How might this add or detract from its subject matter? Change its subject matter?3. How does film reflect historical reality? Which is more important or valuable, authenticity or accuracy? Explain these terms and use specific examples.4. What are the limitations of film to represent the past? Give several specific examples.5. What are some new ways in which film creates immediacy or a sense of participation in the past? Discuss specific scenes that seem most effective.Project Ideas: Film Journal Over the course of the semester, students keep a film journal in which they record their thoughts, emotional responses, and impressions along with examples of shots, scenes, and lines. This journal can be consulted for essays and when reviewing materials. Essays Student essays might: consider one episode or story element as represented in a historical source and in its film realization, either successful or unsuccessful; compare two films treating the same subject and discuss which more accurately represents history and which is the more satisfying experience (not necessarily the same thing); trace the sources used in writing a screenplay or to create visual elements (or costuming, sets) of a film; analyze why a film or films were made about a specific historical figure during a particular era. Make a Movie Another project might be to choose an episode from the life of a historical figure and write a short script for it, drawing on the historical sources. The text can then be performed by students in class or filmed and presented at a student film festival at the end of the term. Students might write a final essay on how this experience has influenced or changed their ideas about the relationships between film and history.