Lesson 2 of the Beyond Dusty Books course: foreign films and documentaries as research


Lesson 2: foreign and historical films and documentaries

So here is a really easy entry point when you want to start to get familiar with a period of history or another culture: historical and foreign films. And, for that matter, foreign historical films! Many of these resources can be had for free on YouTube, particularly from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), who has dozens of wonderful series. There’s no way I could list all of their historical and archaeological offerings, but here are a few of my favourites.
- Victorian Farm
- Victorian Pharmacy
- Edwardian Farm
- Wartime Farm
— these series have re-enactors living in the historical building and conditions of the people from each time. They’re very accurate about their details, and they discuss the joys and difficulties of living each lifestyle for a period of months. They plant crops using tools accurate to the time, make cheese, weave cloth, go to market, make food — everything you would do in daily life back then. Re-enactor Ruth Goodman says that the worst hardship really is how cold it always is in historical houses, even in all those layers of historical clothes! 

Even Escape to the Country, a real estate show, is fun because it shows couples (usually) with real life relationships often touring quite old houses, and there are handicraft/agriculture/culture breaks between the house tours around Britain.

I loved watching Dangerous Beauty, about the inimitable Veronica Franco, while I was writing the Renaissance Venice part of Caterina’s Renaissance. Veronica Franco was a cortigiana honesta in her city — an honourable courtesan. That means that she was allowed to love men and not looked down upon for her profession. Can you imagine! She was a single mother to two or three children, and she was also influential in Venetian politics, even brokering some important peace deals with other countries (in the Renaissance, Venice was a country, not a part of Italy). 

My hero and heroine met with Veronica in their travels, but having the movie to play in the background also helped to get me “in the mood” while I was writing. It was a gorgeous film to play over and over again, with romantic scenes in the canal boats, her intellectual salons, and the streets of Venice. I was able to buy the movie from YouTube for about $10, and can watch it any time I have wifi. 

As you may have noticed, I also suggested the series Rome earlier in this class. This brings me to the point that, sometimes  movies aren’t completely accurate in their historical detail! Of course, often, neither are print resources. Whether you’re writing a dissertation for a PhD or a novel, I think it’s always great practice to check in with more than one source for your facts, and at least movies get your imagination going! Just double-check details like whether your 17th century Scottish heroine really did have potatoes in that skillet over the fire. Hands up if you think she did?

Christa 

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