Response to the Film Gangs of New York

The way most people are exposed to history is through film, thus it is important to think about how movies shape our understanding of history. For ten extra credit points, watch a film (non-documentary) that depicts historical events and people any time period between the pre-contact (pre-1500s) and the Civil War (1865) periods. After you watch the film, post a response (reply of at least 250 words) to ONE of the following questions:

1) Describe how the film's need to entertain its audience shaped the way the historical events/people were presented. Did this cause the film to be so radically altered as to be of little value in terms of informing us about the history? Was there some aspects of the film that did have some educational value?

2) If you were to remake this film so that a new perspective could be presented, which characters and events would you focus on? How would you re-shoot some of the scenes? How would the overall story and message of the film change?

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