Provocative excerpts from primary and secondary sources (some with audio glosses). Read the rationale behind these sound bites for more information.
581-590 of 734 Sound Bites. [show all]
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581) I could not get all my friends to agree on what exactly happened at dinner last night. How would we think we could ever agree about monumental and complicated events that happened 100s of years ago? (Sarah Morgan, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #1221]
582) It may be possible to escape history (by knowing none) but there is no escape from the past. (P. J. Rogers 17) [SoundBite #455]
583) No real emotion seeps into these books, not even real pride. Instead, heroic exceptions to the contrary, most American history courses and textbooks operate in a gray emotional landscape of pious duty in which the United States has a good history, so studying it is good for students. (James W. Loewen 295) [SoundBite #1320]
584) In addition to creating a powerful impression of "witnessing again," the reenactment involves a form of double consciousness, a rethinking of the past. Reenacting the past necessarily calls forth the imagination of the part of the filmmaker and the film spectator. (Robert Burgoyne 8) [SoundBite #1375]
585) In tennis people say that it pays to have a short memory. When a point is over, there is no turning back -- you simply have to move on and play out the next one. However, I would alway argue that you need to draw from match history in order to improve. While after a tough loss most people would be happy not to think about it again, it is essential to reflect and recover what you can about what went wrong. (Samantha DiStefano, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #1228]
586) Hollywood’s dim view of our religious, military, business and law-enforcement institutions coincides with its overall vision of America as a society that is cruel, corrupt, and hopelessly unjust. (Michael Medved 223) [SoundBite #430]
587) Thus, rooted at least as much in the present in which it is written as the past that it takes as its referent, history – be it "scientific," mythical or the explicit historical fiction – always bears the impression of the prevailing attitudes and values of the culture at the time of its writing. (Mike Chopra-Gant 58) [SoundBite #1250]
588) What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one's heroic ancestors. (James Baldwin 9) [SoundBite #411]
589) Film, better than any other medium, can provide a vivid experience and a powerful emotional relationship with a world that is wholly unfamiliar. To employ another vocabulary, historical film can defamiliarize our image of the past. (Robert Burgoyne 11) [SoundBite #1374]
590) I have found that by both hearing and viewing a representation of American history, as opposed to simply reading a history book, my thoughts and emotions are invested at a deeper level. I feel more connected to our past, which allows me to feel more prepared and willing to positively change our future. I think we must take each film, similar to each experience in life, with a grain of salt as it is, after all, one person’s interpretation. However, because we will never know the absolute truth of anything that happened in history, we must recognize and appreciate the film-maker’s retelling. I think the biggest lesson I have learned after this course is to be proactive in commemorating the great events that compose our past, as well as be a part of new events that will hopefully one day be memorialized in films as great as these. (Taara Ness-Cochinwala, Lehigh University) [SoundBite #2529]
