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| early man ventures out for some D.I.Y sushi (source: History Channel) |
Yesterday the History Channel aired the first two episodes of their six part, twelve hour long series called, Mankind: The Story of All of Us. The goal of the show is to weave a history yarn, bridging the time between the creation of the universe, humanity's evolution and development, and finally end in modern times after the foundation of America. Along the way the viewer will be treated to historically accurate scenes of ancient men and women working, fighting, and eking out an existence, while celebrated historians like Dr. Oz and Brian Williams add their wisdom. I'm kidding about them being historians. For those who don't know, Dr. Oz is a celebrity surgeon/medical good guy and Brian Williams is the newsanchor for NBC - one of the last few honest newsmen.
Look, truthfully I'm a big history dork who loves stuff like this. I love good CG battles and Egyptian chariots and Spartan warriors and all that stuff. I love video clips of world sites and I love it when history shows depict Greek temples fully painted - which they most certainly were. I love the big emotional swell of music and narration that makes you feel so damn proud to be a human being! YEAH. But, the show is not without criticism. And no it's not because they're essentially doing The Cable TV History of Our World...lousy, idea stealing, well funded....
For starters the idea of condensing at least 10,000 years of human achievement into twelve hours is a bit extreme. To put things in perspective, I've recorded about five and a half hours and I've only reached the end of the Middle Kingdom. Mike Duncan's venerable The History of Rome podcast took about 75 hours to cover about 1000 years of JUST Roman history. So how can the History Channel manage to accurately tell our shared history in such a short amount of time? Why not do seasons of the show? Like Season 1 is Prehistory to the end of Antiquity, Season 2 is Rome and China to the Dark Ages and so on. It's not like they don't have the money or the viewers. By doing it this way, they could effectively weave a story by including more of the famous characters through history and really bring out the interesting details. Instead they present a whirlwind tour that moves too fast to actually learn anything of any substance. I'm a big fan of the expression "whatever gets people interested in history" , and this show has the potential to do that, but right now it's still really fluffy history...and it doesn't help that The History Channel has lost much of its educational credibility over the last couple of years by promoting shows like Ancient Aliens (which is silly but I love it) and Pawn Stars (which I totally love). These shows are pure entertainment and any learning that occurs is a side effect.
Also as a purely cosmetic criticism, I hated that the Neolithic actors were essentially beautiful people with sparkling perfect white teeth, smeared with strategically placed mud to make them look dirty. Is it too much to hire some average looking actors? I've never heard of the "farming mother" theory before but I can tell you this: she most certainly did not look like that. Just a little annoying detail.
Mankind is definitely worth watching - I know I'll be. But keep in your head that it should be treated as an amuse-bouche for our history feast. Light and tasty, it's not meant to fill you up, but rather to interest you in staying for the main course: Filet du Podcast History.
Also if anybody works for the History Channel and is reading this you should totally hire me and I'll never criticize you again. Ok thanks.
I was wondering about that whole "farming mother" thing. I find it hard to believe the discovery and then execution of agriculture was an "oh crap" moment and took about a week to fully understand and employ.
ReplyDeleteThe previous series they made, "America: The Story of US" was good but it always felt like they were pulling from an 8th grade US history text book. I remember being annoyed with how they explained Pearl Harbor. They called it a "traitorous attack". But they failed to explain that the United States had put an embargo on Oil to prevent their continued expansion and the attack on Pearl Harbor(and other American targets) was a very risky but necessary move on there part to keep their empire together.
They do a good job of making history real, and explaining why people should care about these things. But I wish they would raise the bar, and stop assuming their audience is made up of morons who need to be spoon fed each fact.
Exactly. Those "oh crap" moments are just too suspicious to generalize. Or to present as fact. Which is how they explain the material.
DeleteAnd I totally agree with your opinion of the America show. I actually liked it, and actually used it in the classroom while I was student teaching. As a treat. To introduce or close out a topic. And always, ALWAYS with commentary.
History channel wasn't always like this. The glory days from the late 90's and early 00's where when they focused on the educational - even if it was a little stale. But then that sweet sweet allure of advertising dollars came in, no doubt encouraged from Discovery Channel's recent rebranding.
If you want to see a stark example of what happens when education gets privatized check out this article about the death and resurrection of TLC
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/286613_How_the_Privatization_of_NASAs
Verrrry interesting.
I have to agree with the two who have commented and with your wonderful assessment of the History Channel. Will I purchase this dvd to show my students, yep, just like I purchased America. The reason being it really is a great way to start a discussion. As to the "farming mother," I am really getting tired of watching all the great achievements of men, The Men Who Built America is an excellent example, and hearing zero about women. Farming mother my ass, it was a total accident. Just like beer, which I feel they short-shrifted as well. Why can't there be shows talking about women's achievements or other nonwhite old guy achievements? The lack of women historians in Men Who Built, was also startling to me. Not my male colleague who thought I was a nuts for even mentioning it. Which is the point really. The vignette view of history is great, but why create terms like "farming mother" where there hadn't been one before? History Channel are listening? Ice Road Truckers, Pawn Stars, Swamp whatever, etc. are all great entertainment, and I love Chumly, but really?
ReplyDeleteAnd now HBO or Showtime, I forget which, is giving us the real story with Oliver Stone's "The Untold History of the World." Watching the first episode, I'm confused since this is part of what I teach and is not news to me. I guess maybe I'm missing something by not using textbooks in my classroom, but there was very little there that I haven't talked about in class or showed video on, from History Channel by the way. Anyone have a comment on that series, which just started I know but we all have comments on it if we've seen it I would guess.
Hi Lisa, thanks for joining the conversation!
DeleteI completely agree with your observation about women in history programs like this. Why make up token achievements if not to simply give lip service to your audience? If they really wanted to highlight the role of women in the agricultural revolution they could have brought up how brewers were only women, and we have them to thank for that (AHEM. EPISODE 5 COUGH COUGH).
There was one female commentator on the program, and I think she talked about food or nutrition. But point noted about the lack of women historians. Doris Kearns Goodwin is doing all she can, but she's only one woman! I know that history is typically seen as a male thing, but really, if you're going to tell a story you must include ALL the characters from multiple perspectives. Somewhere in there is the truth. And isn't that why we study history? To find out what actually happened and not some sensationalized fabrication of events?
Oh also, Showtime is airing Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States but I don't get that channel. Might be interesting? But again, there's so many amazing books out there that do just that, and you'll learn so much more.