The classicist Professor Mary Beard found herself the focus of a flurry of headlines this week when she spoke of her refusal to appear in television history documentaries featuring reconstructions. Or, as she put it, “B-list actors dressed up in sheets, saying, ‘Do pass the grapes, Marcus,’ and the like”. Actors, or at least some actors, were not especially thrilled.
Her substantive point, however, was nothing to do with actors – A-list, B-list or otherwise. Her remarks, part of a lecture for members of Voice of the Listener and Viewer, an organisation that campaigns for better public-service broadcasting, were part of a broader argument about the purpose of history on television. What Prof Beard was suggesting – in the lecture and in response to questions from the audience – was that TV history ought to put forward arguments. It can do more than just dazzle the viewer with enthusiasm or gorgeous visuals (though enthusiasm and beautiful filming are clearly a valuable part of what TV history has to offer).
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ORZKp7
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