“History is not just about the past but it is also about how we think about the past.” It is a very impressive statement of Professor Thompson from the very first day of the class. Moreover, I have admit that I am not a big fan of History but this course not only makes history becomes more interesting but also changes the way I think about History. One of the reason I love this course so much is because of the teaching method applied to this course: films and documentaries. In my opinion, films play a major part in teaching American History. Because film is one of the most effective ways to visualize and demonstrate the message from the books or any events, especially history. In fact, film plays a role as motion pictures which not only most …show more content…
It is undeniable that by watching films, students can be more interested and engaged in the lectures. In fact, there are some statistics indicate that students learn more through films than through the books. Personally, I agree with that statement because some students who do not find interested in reading the History books will prefer watching the films. However, some people tend to learn better through visualizing with pictures and sounds. In addition to the question “How effective can films teach American history?” it is undeniable that documentaries are very important to present history in the classroom. Firstly, documentaries can enhance comprehension for the students. This is because sometimes, students find it hard to retain all the knowledge and information they learn in the class, documentaries can help student not only understand better the context but also comprehend few lessons through those images. Moreover, as I mentioned above, documentaries can attract many unmotivated readers. Since documentaries are short versions of books and the authors mainly build the documentaries based on the important elements from the books, so by watching documentaries, students can take notes from what they see and learn from their …show more content…
I think because of the time and length limitation, it could not fully show the whole story with specific details but it is worth to watch. Because the director of the movie, Steve McQueen did very good job at choosing the casts for his movie. Chiwetel Ejiofor who played as Solomon Northup showed his excellent acting in the movie. Ejiofor had a round face and dark complexity like what was described in the book. Furthermore, his acting was very good that he could show different facial expressions at different moments. For example, when Northup was beaten up when he first came or when he teared up for the happiness of reunion in the end of the movie. Michael Fassbender was a perfect cast for the white trader. His violence and inhumanity with Northup made the audience including myself startled and felt angry but also felt sorry for