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History
makes nations.
History is our civic glue. Without a history we are not a We. Our nation's Remembrancers, then, have enormous power. Our custodians of memory have us in custody. It matters who tells our stories, what they tell, and why. For history is never innocent. For the national narrative can be a hymn or a curse. For a nation's memory is always susceptible to political amnesia. Moreover, in the modern world, film has augmented the enormous power of history. Film reaches everybody. And film writes history with lightning. In short, cinema has always been writing the history that makes our nation. So: If we are to understand how we have been shaped, we must study reel American history. If we are to guard ourselves against the guardians of memory, we must challenge reel American history. If we are to shape the kind of future we know we need, we must influence reel American history. |
