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History and Memory General Question (1 Viewer)

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In history and memory questions such as "All representations are acts of manipulation" , can you mention about the criticism of the related text, is that possible.
For example in the essay question above I dedicated an 2 paragraphs on the critical response out of a 1600 word response. It is shown below.

There has been much criticism on the Marzynski’s presentation of the Polish-Jewish relations in ‘Shtetl’; he has also garnered criticism from Romaniuk, the local Polish historian in the film. Romaniuk in a letter to Marzynski available on the PBS Shtetl website writes that the film is “your vision of events, which I cannot fully agree”. He also writes that “at least one statement by a person who rescued Jews is missing”, therefore reinforcing that the filmmaker can deliberately choose footage to omit in order to present his perspective which is in this case, that Poles should confront their Anti-Semitic past. The main argument against the Shtetl was that it appeared to implicate the Poles; this was even brought up by a phone caller in a radio phone call answering Marzynski and Romaniuk had conducted in Poland who said “Those things were done by Germans, but it sounds like the Poles did it. There is nothing like fabricating history 50 years later”. This is highlighted by the fact that there was very little mention of the Germans in causing the Polish-Jewish relations to deteriorate despite the inclusion of Holocaust survivor interviews.
Another key point in the documentary film, Shtetl was that in order for the Polish people in Bransk to confront their Anti-Semitic past, the view of Marzynski attempted to send across to the viewer, Romaniuk who was to deliver a proclamation speech in celebration of the shtetl’s 500th anniversary where Marzynski insisted that Romaniuk should “speak publicly to enlighten those who are ignorant.” Marzynski and Romaniuk are shown to fight about whether or not to “make people listen to what they don’t want to hear”. While the viewers don’t hear the proclamation speech, Marzynski clearly states that “in his proclamation speech Zbyszek does not mention the Jews.” However, in a panel discussion on Shtetl at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Romaniuk commented that Marzynski’s crew recorded my public speeches and presentations about the Jews in Bransk…..he then says “I have the outtakes with him in this video cassette”. Therefore, it is evident that Marzynski deliberately manipulated information and refused to disclose footage in order to convey his perspective on the matter to the viewers.

If you could reply, that would be great.
 

Mdyeow

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Not a history essay. None of this actually analyses the text or presents a clear personal argument. As a result, you will not get any marking credit if you submit something like this in your essays or examinations.

Focus instead on analysing how the use of techniques (particularly those specific to the composer's medium) represent certain subjects and ideas in particular ways; and how these techniques relate to the acts of remembering and recording history (e.g. can we ever "truthfully" represent historical events, since language always distorts things according to the teller's perspective?)

May sound harsh but if you do a History essay for an English exam you are not going to score above single-digit unless very, very lucky.
 
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Did you read it all? I'm just saying. While, I can see that it doesn't present a personal argument, I can't see how it is similar to a history essay. I'm just asking.
 
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In it I attempted to discuss how the filmmaker can choose to not present information to the viewers, and that the documentary reflects the composer's perspectives.
 

Mdyeow

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In it I attempted to discuss how the filmmaker can choose to not present information to the viewers, and that the documentary reflects the composer's perspectives.
Yes I did. You're recounting an exchange of letters between two individuals which has no actual bearing on the film itself. Therefore, unless you're actually using Romanuik's letters as a related text unto themselves, your material is not in fact relevant to the analysis the unit requires. Even if you are using the letters/correspondence as a related text, you're simply recounting the exchanges without looking at issues of representation WITHIN the texts.

I say history essay because you are comparing real-world events and correspondence against one another without analysis/evaluation of the language and composition of the materials themselves.
 

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