HISTORY EDUCATION RESEARCH JOURNAL

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Using films in the development of historical

consciousness: Research, theory and teacher
practice
Debra Donnelly

How to cite this article

Donnelly, D. (2020) ‘Using films in the development of historical consciousness:
Research, theory and teacher practice’. History Education Research Journal, 17 (1),
114–31. DOI https://doi.org/10.18546/HERJ.17.1.09

Submission date: 16 September 2019

Acceptance date: 10 December 2019
Publication date: 1 April 2020

Peer review
This article has been peer reviewed through the journal’s standard double-blind peer review,
where both the reviewers and authors are anonymized during review.

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©Copyright 2020 Donnelly. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the
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the original author and source are credited.

Open access
The History Education Research Journal is a peer-reviewed open-access journal.
 Donnelly, D. (2020) ‘Using films in the development of historical
consciousness: Research, theory and teacher practice’. History Education
Research Journal, 17(1): 114–31. DOI https://doi.org/10.18546/HERJ.17.1.09

Using films in the development of historical

consciousness: Research, theory and teacher
practice
Debra Donnelly* – University of Newcastle, Australia

Abstract
In the digitally reliant twenty-first century, the exclusivity of printed sources for
investigating and interpreting the past has been eroded, and other modes
of historical interpretations, such as film, virtual reality simulations and online
museums, have found a growing audience and influence. History education has
followed suit in Australia, with a range of multimodal sources commonly featured
in history teaching programmes (Donnelly, 2018). Film has become an increasingly
popular choice as teachers strive to engage a student population accustomed to
multimodality, and with technological upgrades facilitating viewings in learning
spaces (Donnelly, 2014a). Using data from history teacher practice studies, this
paper argues that films have the potential to impact historical consciousness, and
proposes a model of the pedagogical mechanisms at work in these instances.
Implementation strategies and practices are further illustrated by reference to two
teaching protocol exemplars, the weekly plans of which are included in the paper.

Keywords: films; historical consciousness; qualitative research; empathy; values;

history pedagogy

Introduction
In the digitally reliant twenty-first century, the exclusivity of printed sources for
investigating and interpreting the past has been eroded, and other modes of
historical interpretations, such as film, virtual reality simulations and online museums,
have found a growing audience and influence. History education has followed suit in
Australia, with a range of multimodal sources commonly featured in history teaching
programmes. Film has become an increasingly popular choice as teachers strive to
engage a student population accustomed to multimodality, and with technological
upgrades facilitating viewings in learning spaces (Donnelly, 2014a). As Sam Wineburg
et al. (2007: 15) proclaimed over a decade ago:

If school history is to play a major role in shaping the consciousness of

today’s iPoded, YouTubed, Instant Messengerized, MySpace American [or
Australian] youth, it must find new ways to engage the cultural curriculum
that engulfs them. Failing to do so only guarantees school history’s
irrelevance into the next century.

A recent study was undertaken in Australia to explore how secondary school history
teachers used multimodal historical representations, such as film, museums, virtual
reality experiences and models, in their practice (Donnelly, 2018). This paper reports
on the findings in relation to film (in the form of feature, documentary, docudrama

*Email: [email protected]
 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 115

and short clips) and argues that it has the potential to contribute to the historical
consciousness of the watcher/learner. The paper proposes a model to illustrate the
pedagogical mechanisms at work in these instances, and implementation strategies
and practices are further examined by reference to two teaching protocol case studies
(see Tables 1 and 2).

Historical consciousness as an objective of

history teaching
Historical consciousness has been a focus of history education literature for decades,
both in Europe and North America, and the discourse features varied attempts
to define, model and elucidate the individual and collective impact of historical
knowledge and understandings on decision-making in the present (Thorp, 2014).
Indeed, historical consciousness is viewed by many as the primary purpose of studying
history. Brian Hoepper (2006), an Australian academic, proposed six interconnected
elements that represent historical understanding: focus, concepts, heuristics, evidence,
epistemology, and values and their application. He argued that in concert these work
to create a historical consciousness, a lens through which the individual can understand
and navigate the present. Epstein (2000) saw the lens of historical consciousness
enabling an individual to critically interpret their own bias, temporal, cultural, national
and societal positionality, to understand issues of contemporary and historical concern
such as racism, inequality, political instability and power. More recently, Kölbl and
Konrad (2015) identify how global historical consciousness is needed to recognize
diversity and increase an awareness of others.
The work of Jörn Rüsen (1989, 2004) and Peter Seixas (1996, 2005) among others
has been influential in establishing the historical consciousness scholarly discourse.
Rüsen proposed a typology composed of four levels of historical consciousness:
traditional, exemplary, critical and genetic. At the traditional stage, historical
knowledge is fixed and unquestioned, and values are seen as valid and consistent
over time. The next proposed type, exemplary historical consciousness, sees time
as changing, while human conduct remains constant. As such, exemplary historical
consciousness views history as containing lessons to guide the future. At the critical
stage of historical consciousness, the previous types are challenged and produce
critical histories to question traditional moral values. The highest level is genetic
historical consciousness, which conceives of time and value systems as dynamic. This
form of historical consciousness is more sophisticated as it also acknowledges that the
historical interpretation of the individual is a function of their temporal perspective
(Lee, 2004; Rüsen, 1989, 2004). In the United Kingdom, Lee (2005) emphasized the
role of historical literacy in historical understanding and its link to the development
of historical consciousness, which he defines as an instrument with which individuals
can create their own frameworks for understanding the past. Peter Seixas (2005)
drew on Rüsen’s typology of the four types of historical consciousness to develop a
model linking historical consciousness to school contexts. In the development of this
framework, Seixas (2005) linked this approach to his elaboration of the elements of
history understanding that have been very influential in the evolution of the Australian
history curriculum.
More recently, the handbooks edited by Metzger and McArthur Harris (2018)
and Clark and Peck (2019) attest to the continuing interest in the topic among scholars
from various backgrounds. This interest has been further demonstrated by the recent
special issue of Journal of Curriculum Studies (Volume 51, Issue 6) devoted to historical

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116 Donnelly

consciousness and its workings in education. In particular, the work of Paul Zanazanian
resonates with this paper. Zanazanian (2019) highlights the work of the sociocultural
anthropologist James Wertsch on the role of narrative in understanding of the past,
and points to memory and affect as having important roles in the development of
historical consciousness. Memorability and affective impact are reported as the main
reasons for the inclusion of historical film into teaching programmes (Donnelly, 2014a).

The connection between history and the visual

Studies of historical memory have found that individual recall and understanding of
history is linked to collective memories gained through public history representations
and social interactions (Clark, 2014; Létourneau, 2006; Landsberg, 2015) and that these
interactions increasingly require visual, media, digital and internet literacy, and the
ability to move with fluidity between the real, communication platforms and devices. It
is these capabilities that allow individuals to interpret, act and participate in their own
culture and society (Landsberg, 2015; Virta, 2007).
New technologies are changing how the world communicates. Now information
and knowledge are being shared in an image-rich environment influenced by a broad
range of media and social networking (Grushka and Donnelly, 2010). Decades ago,
the famous American writer and philosopher Susan Sontag (1979: 3) prophesized that
contemporary society’s understanding of itself would move to be based on the image:
‘The most grandiose result of the photographic enterprise is to give us the sense
that we can hold the whole world in our heads – as an anthology of images.’ Henri
Lefebvre (1991), the French philosopher and sociologist, went further, maintaining that
individuals possess a sort of imaginary museum, partially comprised of images from
historical movies that have left an impression on us. He calls for historians to examine
this image bank/imaginary museum and its influence on society’s collective memory.
Historian John O’Connor (1990, 2007) has long argued for the educational role of films,
and stresses their value as representations of history and evidence of social and cultural
change. He recommends that these ‘moving image documents’ are examined for their
content, production context and their reception by society when released.
In Australia, research has clearly demonstrated the important role of the visual
in connecting a society to its past. The three-year Australians and the Past project
revealed that by far the most frequently nominated historical activities were watching
historical movies or documentaries on television and looking at photographs (Hamilton
and Ashton, 2003; Ashton and Hamilton, 2010). The Australian project was modelled on
the US-based Presence of the Past project, which reported the finding that film gave a
stronger connection with the past than school studies (Rosenzweig and Thelen, 1998).

Film’s impact on historical imagination and

consciousness
Films have the potential to support students in thinking historically by offering multiple
perspectives and promoting historical empathy and the development of historical
imagination (Rosenstone, 1995, 2001; Taylor and Young, 2003; Stoddard, 2007;
Stoddard et al., 2017). At the core of the discipline of history is the interpretation of
‘traces’ and ‘accounts of the past’ (Seixas, 1996: 765). However, as R.G. Collingwood
(1993) asserted in the 1940s, historians study what has already happened and they
need a mechanism to reconstruct the past in the present. He called it the historical
imagination. The role of imagination in the learning and understanding of history is

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 117

one that needs careful consideration and management, particularly when using film
(Donnelly, 2013; Stoddard et al., 2017).
It has been noted by several well-known researchers that there is tendency for
history and filmic representations to become muddled in the memory and historical
consciousness. This confusion was observed by Wineburg (2001) when he noted that
some of his participants when asked about historical events, referenced popular films,
such as Forrest Gump and Schindler’s List, as supporting evidence for their attitudes
and evaluations. Also, there appears to be a contradiction in student utilization of films
as historical documents (Marcus, 2003; Paxton and Meyerson, 2002), as students were
aware of the unreliability of films as historical sources and demonstrated a healthy
scepticism of them, citing issues of motive and profit. But when the films were used in
class, the students tended to accept the filmic presentation as accurate, and integrated
them into their narratives of events and individuals. Marcus (2003) proposed that
this contradiction between beliefs and practice was brought about by the teachers’
pedagogical approach. This claim is supported by the earlier work of Seixas (1994),
who found that students believed that the film Dances with Wolves (1990) provided a
window to the past in its narrative of White–Native American relations until they viewed
other films with different perspectives. After being exposed to alternative narratives,
the students began to re-evaluate their uncritical view of Dances with Wolves and
incorporate it into a more complex, nuanced understanding.

Challenges of film in history pedagogy

The effective utilization of film to teach history is not a simple matter, and it requires clear
learning objectives and explicit teaching (Stoddard, 2007). Wineburg and Martin (2004)
claim that effective use of film requires careful time allocation and explicit teaching;
without these, film can become another ‘distraction’ to the examination and analysis of
historical sources. They conclude that students should investigate and respond to film
as a historical artefact to ensure the development of historical literacy skills.
The very nature of film production is an issue in the utilization of film for
educational objectives. Films are often commercial enterprises and as such need to
attract an audience. It can be the case that adherence to the historical evidence and
narrative is set aside in favour of entertainment, with distortions, compressions and
fictional additions commonplace. Perhaps the most insidious and difficult problem is
that of presentism, that is, having characters in the past act and speak in the manner
of contemporary society. This is a problem in the presentation of values, attitudes and
societal roles of the past, which may jar with modern sensibilities (Weinstein, 2001).
For example, many contemporary audiences may not be comfortable with the rigid
codes of behaviour and limited expectation of independence that existed for women
in some past, and indeed contemporary, societies. These narratives are therefore often
‘updated’ for the comfort of the contemporary audiences and the historical record
falsified or misrepresented. These ‘creative liberties’ need to be explicitly exposed,
assessed and amended in the minds of the learners, if films are going to be useful in
the teaching and learning of history.
The use of film also has challenges of practical implementation. Modern films,
especially feature films, are often too long to conform to the lesson structure of a
typical high-school timetable. Viewing, discussing and analysing a film in its entirety
can take up several weeks of lesson time. In many teaching environments, time is short
because of the demands of content-heavy syllabuses and high-stake examination
structures (Donnelly, 2014a). To counter this problem, many teachers show sections of

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118 Donnelly

films to illustrate particular teaching points, but using film clips can frustrate students
who want to see the whole story and deny students the opportunity to fully engage
with the film’s narrative and production techniques (Metzger, 2010). Further, teachers
have to contend with negative attitudes to film from within the school community and
beyond. Many school administrators, parents and sometimes even colleagues fail to
understand the educational value in using films in a history, or any other, class. Here,
the confusion is between film as popular entertainment and as a historical artefact, and
the teacher is commonly perceived as opting for an ‘easy’ lesson and derelict in their
duty (Donnelly, 2014b).

Research context, design and analysis

Currently, the educational context for teaching history and utilizing films to teach
history is complex and demanding. The Australian history syllabus prescriptions
require learner attainment of historical understandings and the importance of their
link to historical consciousness have been recognized in scholarly discourse. There has
been an increase in technological accessibility of multimodal sources, but little in the
way of teacher training in implementation (Donnelly, 2014b). Also, the integration of
multimodal sources has been discouraged in some schools, with the result that teacher
practice with film has been restricted (Donnelly, 2018). Further, few of the history teacher
participants in this study were able to clearly define the term ‘historical consciousness’,
and still fewer could recall the names of prominent scholars in the field. Despite this lack
of clarity, many teachers were able to elucidate the importance of historical knowledge
and understandings in the present and (unknowingly) agreed with Laville (2004) about
the ways in which studying history gives learners an understanding of themselves as
historical beings in a world built by past people and events. It was in this context that
this study was enacted. This paper reports on the findings with regard to the research
question:

When teaching history, how can film be used in the development of

historical consciousness? Can stages be identified in this process?

The project used a three-phase design. The majority of participants were from the most
populous Australian state of New South Wales, with smaller contributions from the
other states and territories. Initial data were gathered from two surveys: one focused
on teacher practices, attitudes and experiences of using film and other multimodal
historical representations in history (n=205); and the other on student experience with
film and other multimodal historical representations in history (n=230). The second
phase of data gathering took the form of 25 semi-structured teacher interviews. The
selected group volunteered from among the survey respondents. They were from
a variety of teaching contexts, and had a diverse range of experiences with, and
attitudes to, film in their teaching of history. In the third phase, case studies were
undertaken by gathering further data from four of the interviewees by way of lesson
observation and analysis of teaching plans and records. Two of these teaching plans
are provided as Tables 1 and 2. Eventually, the project adopted an iterative design
based on the grounded theory precepts, which saw the phases of coding, open, axial
and selective, and the development of a logic paradigm or visual representation of the
theory (Creswell, 2012). The data from all phases were coded using NVivo software,
and analysis was undertaken by the development of ‘trees’ of interrelated ideas and
themes. This paper reports on the findings concerning the use of historically based films,
in the forms of feature films, documentaries, docudramas and short film clips, such as

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 119

those sourced from YouTube. The model below is a synopsis of the findings in relation
to the use of films in the history classroom and its link to historical consciousness.

Findings: The synoptic model of historical film in history

education
The synoptic model (Figure 1) uses the data from the three phases of this project to
trace the utility of historical films from viewing, to its pedagogical applications and to
the world beyond school. It proposes pathways by which the filmic product can be
embedded and utilized in the development of historical understanding, world view
and consciousness. The model is divided into three domains: the viewing juncture,
school life pedagogies, and world life. Discussion of these domains will be supported
by reference to data from the project.

Figure 1: The role of historical film in history education and historical consciousness

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120 Donnelly

The viewing juncture domain

The viewing juncture domain makes the argument that the viewing of a historical feature
is ideally an immersive experience during which the viewer is briefly transported to the
past as recreated in the world of the film. This encounter has a dual and simultaneous
impact on the viewer: cognitive and affective. Recent developments in cognitive
neuroscience have clearly demonstrated that rational thought and decision-making
processes are dependent on the affective response and that these neurological
systems work in concert to create a functioning entity capable of critical thinking and
judgement (Donnelly, 2013). Overwhelmingly, the participants in this research project
have lauded historical films as engaging and memorable, and the data strongly support
the contention that this trait of film emanates from the uniting of the cognitive and the
affective in the filmic encounter.
The affective dimension of using historical films in history teaching functions
in a close partnership with the intellectual challenge. It was strongly attested in the
data that historical films were powerful vehicles for eliciting emotional responses from
their audiences, and it has been argued that the structural and character familiarity
of film for contemporary audiences encourages identification with characters and
situations. This empathetic response was seen by the vast majority of teachers and
students in this project as a major contributor to historical film’s utility in the history
classroom. In the teacher survey, the encouragement of empathy and the stimulating
of historical imagination were cited as the strongest reasons (72 per cent). As one
teacher explained, ‘film is especially powerful for history as we cannot travel back in
time so therefore going back through film is very useful’. On a similar theme, another
teacher said: ‘Film is how most gen [generation] x, y, z access texts so it’s a familiar
genre, more emotive and with a multisensory impact to appeal to their imaginations.
So many rich texts available it is difficult to choose.’ However, many teachers saw the
affective response as limited to the engagement, interest and memorability aspects of
film viewing and reported little or no further exploitation.
Many teachers commented on the role of film in helping students construct a
narrative of the past. One respondent commented: ‘It is important for students to see
how the story unfolds. History is story first and foremost and that is how students relate
to it.’ A number explained that the narrative becomes a springboard for investigation:
‘I use the film narrative as a starter for research or to give a visual for already researched
work. This provides opportunity for checking historical accuracy against other sources
and identifying key figures.’ One issue that was mentioned by several teachers was
the power of film to impact on the memory of students and the problems that this can
cause: ‘Most [students] need to know the historical context first and will need to be
able to separate the “poetic licence” from fact. Sensationalism is remembered above
issues of historical importance.’
Linked to this theme was the notion that film helped learning in history because
the narrative could be examined as a construction of the past and then embedded in
a broader study of the evidence. As one teacher explained:

They [films] help in the understanding of the process of historical

construction. Films put forward a particular historical interpretation in a
way they [students] do not necessarily pick up in a written text. Things such
as what is left out, selection of actors for particular parts and introduction
of romance can be detected and motives for inclusion looked at.

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 121

Another teacher supports this idea: ‘When I’m evaluating a film as a source, I have
focused viewing followed by discussion and comparison with other sources. It is vital
to line up the film with other historical evidence.’ A few teachers commented on
the importance of critically examining the films to detect how the audience is being
manipulated: ‘I think it is important that the students understand that the visuals,
music, characterizations and narrative of the film are designed to get them in. I have
them note down the techniques used by the film-makers for later discussion.’
Film’s ability to engage and to create interest was the most cited reason
for using film in teaching history. This response was typical of a large number of
respondents:

Kids enjoy the experience and become more involved in their learning.
Students recall what they have seen and discussed rather than what they
have just read. Film allows the teacher to refer back to particular scenes
or incidents in their explanations and gives the students an initial frame of
reference.

Film selection was seen as an important element of success and engagement. As one
teacher put it:

Careful selection of the film is crucial – what was ‘hip and happening’ in
1976 may no longer be so today. It is important to find a film that the
students can relate to, otherwise no matter how good it is they will not
want to connect with it.

Another respondent had a similar opinion: ‘Students do not always engage with a film.
They complain and lose interest if they find the film corny, old, poorly made or acted
or if it has old-fashioned visual effects.’
Many respondents have found that film helped their students identify with
the past and develop emotional as well as intellectual connections. As one teacher
related, ‘I’ve watched a whole generation of students empathize with Aboriginal
people because of watching Rabbit-Proof Fence and I’ve yet to get a single student
volunteer to fight the way soldiers did in World War I thanks to Gallipoli.’ Another
teacher used the same films as examples of the power of film to take students back
to a past world:

Most students don’t understand the society of 1914, so showing Gallipoli

explains in one film what could take a month of words and pictures. Same
with Rabbit-Proof Fence. When they see the anguish of the parents and
kids, they really know what the Stolen Generations is all about. It makes
it more real to them and brings the topic to life and they will not forget.

It is proposed that the viewing juncture (see Figure 1) is the beginning of an intellectual
trail. The viewer is given access to multisensory avenues from which to explore existence
in another time and place. The naive will readily accept historical films as a window
onto the past, but the more astute understand that these past worlds are creations
and may be historically flawed fictions. This is the intellectual challenge for students,
and the pedagogical quest for their teacher, when using historical films in the history
classroom. Historical films can be valuable stimuli for enquiry and critical thinking, and
they have been observed in this project to inspire high-order historical literacy skills
and enthusiasm for exploring and understanding the past and its resonance in the

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122 Donnelly

contemporary. In these contemporary history classes, the cognition of the historian is

modelled for the students, and they are given opportunities to experiment with the
epistemological mechanisms of the discipline through enquiry and the construction of
historical analysis and argument. Evaluating the filmic narrative against other sources
of historical knowledge enriches and enlivens the exploration as original, more
nuanced narratives and understandings are conceived and collaboratively scrutinized.
This is a well-trodden pathway for scholarly discourse, and this project found several
practitioners with highly developed understandings and methodologies who were
achieving high-order learning outcomes with their students. However, these exemplars
were exceptions, as the vast majority of practitioner practice narratives revealed little
or no integration of historical films into the evidentiary debate and a lack of deep
investigation of film as a historical representation.

School life pedagogies

The survey and interview data revealed that most history teachers in this project
considered that the history classroom was not the domain for values considerations
or that this agenda represented risk-taking beyond their mandate. Unquestionably,
probing societal values from the past and considering their implementation in the
present has the potential to cause controversy, and even parental and institutional
sanctions, for teachers who work in a transparent and accountable learning
environment (Donnelly, 2014b). However, the case studies phase of this project
demonstrated the effectiveness of using film to drive a values and ethics agenda
in history teaching. The work of Mrs Warner and Mrs Patterson is described below,
and will be used to illustrate how the affective response to the filmic product can
lead learners to values identification and discernment insights and a reflective self-
evaluation of their own values, attitudes and actions (see unit plans in Tables 1 and
2). Although different in approach, both exemplars integrate film and other sources
into the enquiry and have the students enact their knowledge and understandings in
the making of a product – Snowy’s diary and the Anzac Day speeches for Mrs Warner,
and the discussion and essay response to question with stimulus material for
Mrs Patterson.

Mrs Warner’s use of the film Gallipoli (1981)

The work of Mrs Warner, as outlined in Table 1, is an example of the use of historical
film to bring students to a greater understanding of how their lives are connected to
past events. Mrs Warner utilized the power of film to create an environment in which
past and contemporary issues were discussed, contrasted and analysed in the context
of value identification and evaluation. According to Mrs Warner, this unit ‘often strikes a
chord with students. They have grown up with Anzac Day.’ Peter Weir’s Gallipoli (1981)
was woven through the observed unit and used extensively to engage the students
and as stimulus material to frame activities. To develop empathy and perspective-
taking skills, Mrs Warner had students produce diaries and opinion pieces from the
standpoint of various characters in the films. As she said, ‘Seeing how the other bloke
thinks is an important skill for the students in their lives now and in the future.’ For
Mrs Warner, history education was about applying lessons learnt from exploring the
past to encourage the development of sophisticated responses, attitudes and actions
in the present.

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 123

Table 1: Mrs Warner’s Stage 5 Year 9 (14–15 year olds) Core Study – Depth
Study 3: Australians at war: World Wars I and II (NSW History K-10 Syllabus, 76–7),
integrating the film Gallipoli (1981)

Week Activity Goal

1 Viewing of the landing scene from Gallipoli. Foundational knowledge
Focus question: How did Australians get to be of the topic: the location
invading Turkey? Students take observational notes, and the reasons for
teacher-led whiteboard summary. Australian involvement.
Where is Gallipoli? Why did the British want to attack
it? Research from map, internet and textbooks.
2 Life at Gallipoli – class research under various Research Australian
headings from film and textbooks. Observe identity soldiers in the First World
of soldiers from Gallipoli – Do they see themselves as War: reasons for joining up
Australian or British? Source analysis and note-taking and living conditions.
from class discussion.
Focus question: What were the various reasons that
caused young Australian men to volunteer for this
war?
3 Assessment task: Research essay – Living and fighting Understanding of multiple
conditions. perspectives.
Viewing of 25 minutes of Gallipoli – Archie and Frank To investigate the
in Australia before they join up. Motives for joining? propaganda through
T chart after watching film and worksheet with the posters.
headings – ‘Reasons to join’ and ‘Evidence from the
film’.
Source analysis – recruitment and other posters.
Students create poster in small groups. Present and
explain to class. Class display.
4 How were the men trained for war? Watch Gallipoli To examine the
training in Egypt section. preparation for the
Website investigation into relations between British campaign and the
and Australians in this campaign. How accurate was relationship between the
the portrayal in Gallipoli? British officers and the
Class exercise: Postcard home from Egypt. Australian officers and
Newspaper from the home front. Class display. soldiers.
5 Visit to local war memorial site. Why do we have Site study and explore
so many of these memorials? Class examination of impact of the First World
memorials at Lake Macquarie. War on home front, then
Website research: What memorials and cemeteries and now.
are there today at Gallipoli?
6 Watch last 15 minutes of Gallipoli. Verification of Gallipoli
Official documentation – source analysis: death using primary sources.
report, discharge papers. Encourage perspective-
Assessment task: Snowy’s diary (Snowy is a character taking and empathy.
in Gallipoli). Students have to write ten entries and
select four for grading.
7 Class test. To test knowledge and
Assessment task – Anzac Day speech assignment. source analysis skills. To
link topic to the students’
Organization of class Anzac Day ceremony.
lives and national
Presentation of top five Anzac Day speeches and five
traditions.
selected entries from Snowy’s diary.

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124 Donnelly

An assessment item drawn from the film is Snowy’s diary. In the film, Snowy is killed
at Gallipoli; as he is dying, he asks his mates to give his mother his diary. Throughout
the unit, the students had been set the task of writing ten diary entries from Snowy’s
point of view. Mrs Warner emphasized to the students the importance of the history
in this exercise. As she told the class, ‘the idea of this is not to spend time saying
how Snowy feels but to explain what happened and what it was like for him and his
friends’. There were some high-quality entries read, and the majority of students
gained valuable insights from listening and having to judge their peers’ efforts.
Selected diary entries were presented to the whole school as part of the Anzac Day
ceremony.
The last lesson began with viewing the last 15 minutes of Gallipoli, in which
Frank failed in his attempt to save Archie and the others from having to go ‘over
the top’ to certain death. The effect was profound. The class sat in silence as the
credits rolled. One of the girls said: ‘So did he really get killed, Miss? That’s so sad.’
A boy agreed: ‘That’s so stupid. They shouldn’t have gone.’ Mrs Warner then led
the class in a discussion that ranged from military discipline and obeying orders, to
changes in military technology, the number of casualties in the First World War and
its impact on Australia, and the futility of war and its commemoration. Although
Mrs Warner had brought other work, it remained on the teacher’s desk, as all of the
class engaged in the discussion until the end of the period. Afterwards, Mrs Warner
commented:

That went well. It is always the same, you have some taking out tissues,
or trying to have an excuse to get out of the room because they’ve got
tears coming, and the boys get noticeably quieter. That last shot has a
very dramatic impact and leads so well into talking about the reality of war.
They were worked up, weren’t they?

Mrs Patterson’s use of the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

As can be seen in her unit plan in Table 2, Mrs Patterson’s teaching unit culminated in
a structured class discussion. Mrs Patterson’s class discussions were a well-established
learning routine. They were inclusive class events in which all the Year 12 (final year of
high school) girls were expected to contribute, and they were ‘built up’ as the climax
of the unit on Che Guevara. The students had pre-reading of short excerpts with
comprehension and evaluative questions. The excerpts were composed of: varying
opinions of Guevara; reactions to the film under study, The Motorcycle Diaries (2004);
and the mythologizing of individuals as heroes. The day before, Mrs Patterson gave
the students focus questions for the discussion: ‘Should we love Che?’ and ‘Was he
a hero?’ She set for homework that the students should ‘jot down your ideas, for and
against’. The actual discussion was passionately debated by the small class, with the
girls expressing a variety of opinions. Mrs Patterson allowed the girls to direct the
discussion, but occasionally she asked the speaker, ‘What makes you say that?’ or
addressed the class, asking, ‘Can someone expand on that idea?’

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 125

Table 2: Mrs Patterson Stage 6 Year 11 (16–17 year olds) Theme 11: The individual
in history: Concept of the great person in history (Queensland Modern History
Senior Syllabus, 38), integrating the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

Week Activity Goal

1 Close examination of article: ‘Hegel’s Lectures on the Introduce the concept of the
Philosophy of History’. ‘great man theory’.
Mind map – implications of the ‘great man theory’.
Research and develop timeline of Che Guevara.
2 Mapping: Where in the world is Che? Locate geographical setting.
Watch The Motorcycle Diaries. Watch and analyse the film.
Take notes and develop ideas on depiction of Che.
3 Class discussion: How is Che Guevara depicted in Draw conclusions about
the film? Spider diagram. depiction in film.
Examine collection of Che merchandise: How is Che Examine image of Che in
Guevara depicted in the artefacts? contemporary society.
What is mythology of Che? Class construct a list.
4 Close examination of article: Berman, P., ‘The cult of Introduce an alternative view
Che: Don’t applaud The Motorcycle Diaries’. of Che.
Class discussion: Should we love Che?
Students write paragraphs. How would you describe
Summarize arguments.
Berman’s attitude to Che? What objective evidence
does Berman offer to substantiate his position?
5 Close examination of article: Bertram, C., ‘Portraying Clarify ideas about Che –
Guevara’. Students annotate and develop summary both positive and negative.
of ideas from all material so far.
Apply ‘great man’ theory to
Answer question: Is Che Guevara a ‘great man’
Che and make judgements.
according to the theory?
6 Student research: What other sources can you find Independent research
about Che? What do they add to the argument? allowing for exploration of
the topic.
7 Teacher-led class summary developed. Class collaboration allows
Students modify their research findings to include for modification of individual
any useful sources. research positions.
Essay: How is Che Guevara depicted in the historical
record?
8 Close reading of article: Munslow, A., ‘What is Discussion and debate to
history?’ Students answer questions. develop understanding of
Class discussion of modernism and postmodernism history as a discipline.
in history.
Apply ideas of the nature of
Class discussion and summary: Can a feature film
history to film as a historical
be a history? Evaluate The Motorcycle Diaries as a
source.
historical source.
9 Examination of children’s educational website Students evaluate material
BrainPOP as a source for Che. Is it a good source for from a position of knowledge.
target audience?
Students reflect on problems
Reflection: What problems face the Che historian?
with Che Guevara’s
Class discussion.
historiography and the
contestable nature of history
10 Class summary in preparation for examination. Prepare students for
Should we love Che? Whiteboard summary. examination and summarize
Knowledge and response to stimulus examination. issues.
Learning is tested and
assessed.

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126 Donnelly

As the discussion was drawing to an end, Mrs Patterson brought the class back to the
focus questions and used a T chart to summarize the ideas and evidence raised. These
notes were then used as the basis for an essay response, ‘Is the presentation of Che
Guevara in the film The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) an accurate portrait or part of the
mythology of a revolutionary?’ At the end of the lesson, Mrs Patterson focused the
attention of the class on the historical understanding that they had ‘discovered’, that
is, that history is contestable and interpretative. As she put it:

So girls, you need to look beyond the good-looking hero in the film and
the reputation and merchandizing [points to stylized image of Che on the
wall], look at the evidence and decide what is a hero and was Che one?

As can be seen in this example, in the hands of a skilful practitioner, a film can be
a useful tool to demonstrate the contestable nature of historical interpretation, and
class discussions can be lively shared-attention events in which historical arguments
are debated and evaluated.
Mrs Patterson was the only teacher who spoke about having students consider
the impact of film on historical consciousness and question the role of film in history
teaching. As she explains, ‘we’re looking at the idea that if students, if people, leave
a film thinking this is what the history was, is that problematic?’ The class undertook
an evaluation of the film, The Motorcycle Diaries, to determine if it was claiming to
be historically reliable and then compared the representation with other sources to
ascertain its veracity. The study centred on focus questions, ‘How is Che represented
in the film?’ and ‘Should we love Che?’ Mrs Patterson explained the outcomes:

The girls decided that the film was making the claim to be history but
favoured Che and contributed to his mythology. They concluded that it
was important for them to study film and that film should be used in history
teaching. I think it is important for them to see underlying ideologies and
attitudes and how that affects representations of history on film.

World life domain

The world life domain encompasses the world of the students beyond the school. It
is the most speculative of the domains, as the focus of this research has been on the
school learning environment. However, a number of survey respondents commented
on the importance of ‘outside influences’ on their students’ attitude to studying
history. Several of the interviewees reflected on their impact beyond the classroom
and presented their vision of how the skills gained from secondary school history
studies can underpin lifelong understandings and perspectives. Mr Murray, one of the
most eloquent of the interviewees, expressed the views of several history teachers in
the project:

I think that students can recall all the factual information they like, they
do well in exams, but if they haven’t got any empathy or appreciation for
the people and the events of the past, they won’t really gain a true history
experience. Movies are great for this. When they go out into the world
and they go to a museum or go overseas or travel around and actually
engage in the current world, they can understand where it’s actually come
from and know what it means for them today. I hope that’s what they get
out of my class.

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 127

In the Student Experience Survey of Film and History (n=230), the vast majority of
student respondents (80 per cent) found that some historical films helped their memory
and recall of history. In and outside the school context, these filmic narratives and
images lingered in their consciousness: ‘What happens in a movie can be related to
actual history and it will stick in your mind’; ‘Movies are a more relaxed way of learning
and it helps things soak in, and images with words and dialogue helps heaps.’
Most comments about strong recollections from film viewings pointed to
engagement or the visual impact of film. These laconic but compelling remarks stress
the importance of engagement to student learning: ‘Cause if it’s a good movie you
get into it’; ‘Cause it plays back in my mind’. And this significant concession from a
self-confessed uninterested student: ‘I actually pay attention to the movie, not much
else.’ Some others were a little more analytical, giving credit to the multimodal nature
of film to explain film’s resonance. The following express the sentiments of many: ‘I
think that movies help because of the visual and audio stimulus’; ‘They [films] help with
photography and sound to imprint in the mind.’ One student remarked that he found
historical presentation in film to be both time efficient and thorough: ‘Yes, because I
learn better off pictures. Like a picture can say a thousand words in a little time and still
show deepness.’
A smaller group pointed to the emotional journey that they vicariously
experienced while watching film (5 per cent). These responses either cited ‘seeing’ the
past or identifying with the characters as the reasons for memory retention. Several
students argued that relating to the plight of characters was a key factor: ‘Films create
an emotional connection with the topic, and I remember the characters and how they
react to things’; ‘It’s cool to watch movies. You feel sad and happy with the people
you are watching and remember what went on.’ These two remarks emphasize the
importance of seeing: ‘Yes, movies are good, like what it looked like back then and
they make me feel like I was there sometimes. Because you see and hear it and it gives
you emotions’; ‘It’s fun and I can see what things were like, like in Gallipoli, you can
read but it was better than just reading.’
When asked if watching a film motivated them to find out more about the topic
or historical period, a little under a third of students responded that the viewing of
some historical films prompted them to explore the topic independently outside the
classroom. Most sought extra information from the internet. These are three good
examples of this type of response: ‘Yes, after we watched Gallipoli, I wanted to know
how many died, so I Googled it’; ‘After Marie Antoinette, [I] went to the internet to
find out more about the French Revolution’; and ‘When we did Pocahontas, I looked
up the internet and found out that she died of smallpox, which they never showed in
the movie.’ One student recalled visiting a virtual museum: ‘Yes, I watched Phar Lap
at home and went to see Phar Lap in a museum on the internet.’ For another, it was a
topic of conversation at home: ‘After watching Gladiator, I Googled it and talked to
my mum about it.’
Sometimes viewing one film motivated students to seek out other films set in the
same time: ‘I watched A Knight’s Tale and I like that time in history, so I watched some
other Middle Ages movies and I checked on the net about tournaments to find out
more.’ Two students reported that this viewing of a number of films set in a particular
time or around a historical event was encouraged and facilitated by the history teacher:
‘Some movies we can’t watch at school but our teachers tell us what they are. Some
I’ve gone and watched or have already seen and you have a better understanding of
the subject from what you’ve learnt in class.’ And from another enthusiastic student:

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128 Donnelly

When we did our Vietnam topic, I watched Full Metal Jacket cos miss said
it in class. I like Vietnam War stuff and looking at weapons and miss and
I was talking about some movies and I watched them. She also told me
about The Killing Fields, and I watched it, and it was good.

The last domain of the diagram presents the idea of a historical lens that can be used
to navigate the present. Students armed with their school-learnt historical knowledge
and understandings apply these to the lived experience, their world life. Multiple
applications authenticate their historical understandings and deepen the affective and
cognitive connections. The findings support the use of a systematic staged approach to
integrating film into teaching programmes in which the affective and cognitive impacts
of the filmic form are used to examine the topic under study. The viewing experience
is extended in the classroom with explicit analysis of the ethical dimensions, coupled
with comparison with other primary and secondary sources.
The term ‘deep historical understanding’ has been adapted from the New South
Wales Quality Teaching Model. Here, deep understanding is defined as ‘profound and
meaningful understanding of central ideas and the relationships between and among
those central ideas’ (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003: 11). In the
context of the synoptic model used in this research, deep historical understanding
means that the various contributors to historical understanding have been integrated
into a sophisticated conceptual framework. This framework, however, does not
exist in a vacuum, but is impacted by innumerable sources of historical information
and disinformation. The cultural curriculum of the model refers to these societal
contributors to a sense of the past, such as film, television, family stories and heirlooms,
photographs, museums, art galleries, monuments, national commemorative practices,
travel experiences, fiction and non-fiction books, historical societies, websites and
social media exchanges (Landsberg, 2015). All these are part of the cacophony of voices
that speak to the individual of the past in the present, and it is the critical evaluation
of this multitude that leads to an informed historical consciousness and aligns with
Rüsen’s (2004) genetic historical consciousness. As Hoepper (2006) would have it, ‘a
lens for understanding the world and a vital part of the framework that empowers the
individual to think and act’.

Conclusion
This research project concluded that film can be effectively used as a stimulus
to examine past and present issues, and that school life pedagogies can be given
relevance beyond the classroom. This project found examples of effective practice
with film as elaborated in this paper, but examination of the entire data set reveals that
these teachers were the exceptions. In fact, the majority of the participating teachers
tended to under-utilize film, with many reporting little or no integration of the film into
the historical study and few attempts to connect the school studies beyond school.
The project found that films were mostly used as an ‘attention grabber’ or introduction
to the era or topic in history classrooms, and concluded that many practitioners failed
to capitalize on film’s higher-order potentials.
This failure is a significant one, as history in secondary school is called to be
more than just good stories, source analysis exercises or writing essays. History
teachers are tasked with helping students create a consciousness of the role of history
in the present and with working to provide society with an informed citizenry. The
New South Wales Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum: History Year K-10 (Board of
Studies NSW, 2012: 12) states its aim as to ‘develop a critical understanding of the

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 Using films in the development of historical consciousness 129

past and its impact on the present, to develop the critical skills of historical inquiry
and to enable students to participate as active, informed and responsible citizens’. At
a time when the populations of Western societies demonstrate mass disillusionment
with their governmental institutions (Donnelly, 2008), and technology and societal
trends emphasize the individual (Twenge, 2006), history teachers are commissioned
to arm their students with a consciousness of history that can be used to navigate the
present. History teachers, then, are called to balance the cognitive with the affective,
for without feeling there will be no active commitment to ‘the common good’ (Barton
and Levstik, 2004).
History teachers’ attraction to film in their practice testifies to the importance of
engagement for learning, to an appreciation of the powerful appeal of the multisensory
narrative to the historical imagination, and to the role of empathy in an enacted value
system. The combined intellectual and affective responses can be harnessed to
develop the epistemological skills and understandings of a historian and citizen. History
teachers are charged by their education systems with empowering and impassioning
the future citizenry to be knowledgeable and actively involved in their local, national
and international communities and to contribute to the development of their students’
historical consciousness. This consciousness creates a historical lens through which
the world can be critically interpreted, and it is vital for informed judgement and
participation. Again, Mr Murray’s comment encapsulates the undertaking:

I think gaining an appreciation and an empathy for the past is also of great
importance so that students can see that perhaps the issues they’re going
through right now, or the world issues that they see have been dealt with
in the past ... I think it helps them work out how they’re going to engage
with the world as well, then I think they have really learnt something.

Notes on the contributor

Debra Donnelly is a history educator and researcher in the School of Education
at the University of Newcastle, Australia, working with pre-service teachers in both
undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Dr Donnelly’s research interests
centre on the role of the visual and media in the development of historical and global
consciousness in an age of ever-increasing access through modern technology, and
seek to explore and clarify the relationship between teacher conceptual frameworks of
understanding, problematic knowledge and memory, and pedagogical practice.

Filmography
Dances with Wolves (US 1990, Kevin Costner)
Forrest Gump (US 1990, Robert Zemeckis)
Full Metal Jacket (GB/US 1987 Stanley Kubrick)
Gallipoli (AU 1981, Peter Weir)
Gladiator (GB/US 2000, Ridley Scott)
The Killing Fields (GB 1984, Roland Joffé)
A Knight’s Tale (US 2001, Brian Helgeland)
Marie Antoinette (FR/US/JP 2006, Sofia Coppola)
The Motorcycle Diaries (AR/BR/US/CL/PE/GB/DE/FR 2004, Walter Salles)
Phar Lap (AU 1983, Simon Wincer)
Pocahontas (US 1995, Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (AU 2002, Phillip Noyce)
Schindler’s List (US 1993, Steven Spielberg)

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130 Donnelly

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