[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-43130-en":3,"doc-seo-43130-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},43130,8796095461564,"Liam","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",2,"Literature","Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies","A recorded conversation between Mark C. Carnes, a historian, and filmmaker Oliver Stone examines how historical films reshape the past. The dialogue challenges the idea of an objective viewpoint, arguing that even scholars interpret events through perspectives shaped by belief, reputation, and fear of darker historical subjects. It addresses charges of “brainwashing,” the use of pseudo-documentary techniques, and how cinematic inventions can provoke questions that encourage students to seek deeper understanding of history.","# CINEASTE\n\nPast Imperfect:History According to the Movies:A Conversation between Mark C.Carnesand Oliver Stone  \nAuthor(s):Mark C.Carnes and Oliver Stone  \nSource:Cinéaste,Vol.22,No.4(1997),pp.33-37  \nPublished by:Cineaste Publishers,Inc.  \nStable URL:https://www.jstor.org/stable/41688955  \nAccessed:23-10-201908:07 UTC  \nJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars,researchers,and students discover,use,and build upon a widerange of content in a trusted digital archive.We use information technology and tools to increase productivity andfacilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR,please contact support@jstor.org.  \nYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms &Conditions of Use,available athttps://about.jstor.org/terms  \nCineaste Publishers,Inc.is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend accessto Cineaste  \nThe following is an expanded version of an interview betweenMark C.Carnes,Professor of History at Barnard College,Columbia University,and writer/director Oliver Stone,whichappears in the paperback edition of Past Imperfect:History Accordingto the Movies,a Society of American Historians Book recently pub-lished by Henry Holt and Company  \nCarnes:The brainwashing charge comes from those who say you'reintentionally tricking viewers.Certainly your use of pseudo-documentary footage is sneaky.But your films nonetheless make clearthe presence of an active,intervening director.You don't simply use anaturalistic style and pretend that your motionless camera is lookingdirectly into the past.  \nStone:My point is,what is the past?As we know from Mr.Kissinger's memoirs and those of other people,if you had five menin a room when an important decision was made,no two of themwill agree later on what happened.They might agree on what time ofday it was,or whether the blinds were drawn,but I don't think youcan eve put together an objective viewpoint.  \nWe allsaw those“You Are There”films when we were young andthey were very boring.They generally showed history from an  \nOliver Stone:I think manyhistorians come at filmmakerswith an attitude and withhostility.It's as though historyis their territory,and we don'tbelong.We just pervert theparadigm with emotion,sentimentality,and so on.  \nawestruck viewpoint.TheWinston Churchills and the“I think many historians come atAlexanders and other greats offilmmakers with an attitude and withhistory would stand there andspeak in long sentences.Theyhostility.It's as though history is theirwere simply not believable.Ithink that our leaders—theterritory and we don't belong.We justRichard Nixons,the Johnpervert the paradigm with emotion,Kennedys—are just like us,and I've tried to humanizesentimentality,and so on.I think there'sthem in my films.We read most everythinga sort of pomposity,a solemnity,thatthere was on Nixon:bookshistorians carry about with them.Theyfrom the left,from the right,from the center—the so-calledfeel they are in possession of thecenter.And at the end of theday,not one of the historiansfacts and the truth.”who wrote those books—except possibly Fawn Brodie,  \nwhom I would call a psy-  \nchohistorian—none of them tried to gain a deeper understanding ofwhat the man was thinking and feeling,what kind of human beinghe was.Perhaps Brodie overstepped the bounds of contemporaryhistorians when she theorized about Nixon's relationship with hismother,his father,and the two young brothers who died.  \nBut then you have Stephen Ambrose,who brings to his biogra-phy of Nixon a different point of view.Ambrose has criticized Nixonfrom his perspective.And his books show an historian who is—Iwould say—proper,but afraid to dwell in the darker shadows of his-tory,the assassinations and conspiracies that loomed over his life.Ambrose gives us a very clean Nixon,and I think he misses thepoint.Historians today—American historians,anyway—wantrespectability,and they covet prizes.There is a fear that if you take achance you will be assassinated i","cbCaiiK2Xna31JFK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiK2Xna31JFK","pdf",1685812,3,1,6,"English","en",105,"# Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies\n## Interview: films, history, and interpretation\n## Historians’ critiques and cinematic license\n## Objectivity, perspective, and memory","[{\"question\":\"What does Mark C. Carnes say about historical films and their relationship to historical records?\",\"answer\":\"Carnes describes how many films include enhancements of the historical record, ranging from dramatization to outright fabrications, with examples of how certain portrayals differ from established facts.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Oliver Stone respond to charges of brainwashing and filmmaking that “tricks” viewers?\",\"answer\":\"Stone argues that film is not a final truth but a first draft that raises questions and motivates students to learn more rather than simply indoctrinating them.\"},{\"question\":\"According to the conversation, why do historians and filmmakers disagree about representing the past?\",\"answer\":\"The discussion suggests historians often approach filmmakers with hostility and a sense of territorial ownership over “facts and truth,” while filmmakers emphasize emotion, perspective, and humanizing leaders and events.\"}]",1783377763,9,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":28},"past-imperfect-history-according-to-the-movies","",{"@graph":36,"@context":84},[37,52,67],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,49],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/past-imperfect-history-according-to-the-movies/43130/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":41,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-16","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What does Mark C. 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