Week 5: Take Two

Hello all! I have been a bit rubbish at updating you all recently and I'm sorry. But, to be honest, there isn't much that's new. I have been working on my research for my placement, reading for class, and working on an essay.

The most exciting (maybe) bit has been the research. I really like trying to figure out what things were and why they were needed and how they were used. That being said, most of my research can be depressing. Considering I'm researching World War I, it's not too surprising. My research, as I'm sure I've mentioned, concerns supply lines and the logistics of supplying an army. One of the other student's working on, generally, the same project, is researching the York ties to the Gommecourt Wood area of the front. Not-so-fun fact about Gommecourt: during the battle of the Somme, Gommecourt was the diversion. Yes, the diversion. In a war that was, for the most part, stagnant, on the first day of a battle that was questionable in its efficacy, the place where a large-ish concentration of York/Yorkshire men was the diversion. As I said, not-so-fun.

The essay I have due this week is about historical films and how they are criticized. I'm enjoying the topic, so hopefully it goes well. For the case study, I'm using is Oliver Stone's "JFK" (I had to watch it for my cinema class in D.C.). It is not my favorite movie, which is the diplomatic way of saying I kinda sorta hate it. However, when I first saw it, I disliked it in a generally sense. Now I actually have reasons for disliking it. Stone's questionable use of facts is top of the list. In my research, I've discovered that, in terms of "doing" history in a similar fashion to academic written history, "JFK" is worse than "A Knight's Tale," a film that includes a significant number of anachronisms.

Sadly I have no new pictures this week. But, the weather is, in general, very nice, so I will hopefully have a nice day with some time soon when I can take a wander and have some new pictures!