Film and Literary Sources: 12 Years a Slave (2013) Professor David Lambert The Historian’s Toolkit (HI175) 3-4pm, 21st January 2019

Film and Literary Sources: Question How should historians approach the presentation of the past on the screen?

Lecture structure Introduction 12 Years a Slave (2013) A long history of slavery on the screen An even longer history of slavery on the page Present-day context Conclusions

Film and Literary Sources: Question How should historians approach the presentation of the past on the screen?

Film and Literary Sources: Answer #1 Historians can use it to show what the past was really like (i.e. as a secondary source).

Film and Literary Sources: Answer #2 Historians should criticise such portrayals, pointing out historical inaccuracies and mistakes.

Film and Literary Sources: Answer #3 Historians can act as advisors, trying to prevent historical inaccuracies and mistakes.

‘Based on a true story…’

‘Based on a true story…’

‘Based on a true story…’

‘Based on a true story…’!?

Steve McQueen, interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 26/12/13. What happened was that, from the beginning, I wanted to tell a story about slavery. I just felt there was a hole in the canon of cinema. Also, I sometimes feel that slavery has disappeared from the discussion, that it’s not looked at in a way that it is deemed important. I wanted to take a look again, and I had an idea of a free man—a free African American who gets kidnapped into slavery, and that’s where I got stuck… Steve McQueen, interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 26/12/13.

Steve McQueen, interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 26/12/13. That’s when my wife said to me, “Why don’t you look into first hand accounts of slavery?” … With ‘Twelve Years a Slave’, every page was a revelation. When I first read it, I felt so angry and upset with myself. Why didn’t I know this book? Then I realized no one I knew knew this book. I had to make this into a film. So it became my passion. Steve McQueen, interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr., 26/12/13.

Historical consultant: Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Historically accurate sets and costumes

Violence as the truth about slavery

Historical accuracy matters to others too

Long history of slavery on the screen

Long history of slavery on the screen

Long history of slavery on the screen

Contested history of slavery on the screen

Slave narratives

Slave narratives

Slave narratives

Film and Literary Sources: Question How should historians approach the presentation of the past on the screen?

Film and Literary Sources: Answer #4 Historians can analyse a particular depiction of the past in relation to a longer history.

Present-day context

Present-day context

Film and Literary Sources: Answer #5 Historians can analyse a particular depiction of the past in relation to the present-day context.

Film and Literary Sources: Question How should historians approach the presentation of the past on the screen?

Take-home messages Historians can approach the portrayal of the past on screen in different ways: Use it as a secondary source Criticise how that past is depicted Offer advice ??? The question of historical accuracy – whether a film is a credible secondary source – is legitimate… …but it is not the only one historians should ask Films themselves should also be understood as primary sources to be contextualised and analysed Their content and reception reflects contemporary ideas, events, conditions etc. in the past and in the present

Take-home messages Historians can approach the portrayal of the past on screen in different ways: Use it as a secondary source Criticise how that past is depicted Offer advice Analyse it as an historical artefact The question of historical accuracy – whether a film is a credible secondary source – is legitimate… …but it is not the only one historians should ask Films themselves should also be understood as primary sources to be contextualised and analysed Their content and reception reflects contemporary ideas, events, conditions etc. in the past and in the present

Film and Literary Sources: 12 Years a Slave (2013) Professor David Lambert The Historian’s Toolkit (HI175) 3-4pm, 21st January 2019