History and Fiction
Historical themes and novels have always attracted filmmakers. Yet treating history and adapting novels holds certain problems for the filmmaker. Similarly films and novels hold problems for the historian - even documentary films have to be treated carefully.
Think about the following questions:
- What do you think is the main task of: a historian? A novelist? A feature filmmaker?
- What do you think are the challenges that face a feature filmmaker when he/she comes to make a film based on a historical subject?
- What do you think are the challenges for a filmmaker when he/she comes to make a film based on a novel?
- In what ways are feature films reliable sources for historians and in what ways are they unreliable?
- To what extent do you think feature films can help people access a time in history they may not have experienced themselves?
John Boyne talks about representing the historical events behind The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Transcript)