- Cabeza de Vaca: The Rider on the Psychic Borderlands in Nicholas Echevarria's Cabeza de Vaca
- By Paul Galante, with comment by Kelsey Cannon
Scholars are involved in an ongoing debate on the notion of film as an appropriate medium for the representation of history. Historian Robert Rosenstone suggests that "no matter how serious or honest the filmmakers, and no matter how deeply committed they are to rendering the subject faithfully, the history that finally appears on the screen can never fully satisfy the historian as historian (although it may satisfy the historian as filmgoer)" (1173). Rosenstone notes that for many academic historians "something happens on the way from the page to the screen that changes the meaning of the past as it is understood by those who work in words" (1173). Other scholars such as Hayden White argue that what happens in a screen representation...
- The Many Faces of Cabeza de Vaca
- By Sara Asheroff and Michael Joseph, with comment by Kim Weber
What is history? What makes an event historical? According to Michel-Rolph Trouillot, "History is the fruit of power." With this statement, one can infer that the historian who writes and portrays history has the power to persuade the minds of future generations. Both students and teachers often overlook this power. Do we ever stop to ask ourselves the validity of the account that we are reading? When watching films and documentaries, do we even wonder how the viewer can be manipulated by the director into believing his or her own opinions about history? It is important for us, the learners of history, to understand that through different media, we can perceive the same events in highly different lights. Writing, producing, or...
