Edutainment vs Education: History, Hollywood, the Greatest Showman, and Walt Disney

My family went to see The Greatest Showman this afternoon.  It is an absolutely wonderful film, great songs, acting, and visuals.  The team that put it together (both on and off camera, on set and back in the studio) did an amazing job.  And Hugh Jackman is just awesome!

What the film is not, however, is history.  Yes, it is about a real historical person (P.T. Barnum) who put on performances, had a museum of "oddities," created a circus, was indeed, "the greatest showman."  But the film is not historically accurate on any number of levels, much to the dismay of critics--whom I won't link to because this post really isn't about the criticisms of this particular film (but I will say, to paraphrase Jackman's Barnum, that some of them seem to be film critics that hate film). 

No, you see, the real Barnum, the Barnum of history was and did much more than the movie version we watched showed.  He was a politician in Connecticut (serving as mayor and in the state legislature).  He was a Democrat who became a Republican in the years before the Civil War.  He was a temperance speaker.  He was, in fact, the father of four daughters (only two are shown in the film)---one of whom died as a 2 year old.  He was an author, "debunker," a marketer.....it is almost impossible to list all he did.  Oh, and he looked nothing like Hugh Jackman!

What I did not expect the film to be, was historically accurate. As I wrote on Twitter:

"As an historian, I consider any “history” based movie I see as primarily entertainment, not educational. If I end up looking things up after I get home, and maybe learning something from that, so much the better. Just some insight for non-historians (and film critics) as well."

What I was getting at in this Twitter post was the concept of edutainment, an idea pioneered by Walt Disney (and something I talk about in Dis-History quite a bit).  The idea was that film (or theme parks) could be both entertaining and educational.  It does not promise to be 100 percent historically accurate, or engage every aspect of a particular story, only to use history to tell a story.  The idea as Walt conceived of it was that it would spark further discussion, research, and engagement with the past.  It was not a substitute for history, but a tool to further historical (or literary, or folk lore) inquiry.

I think many critics (including historians, who should know better) sometimes forget that Hollywood is about making money, not "doing history."  Even the best history based films take artistic license.  The goal for studios is to tell a story that gets audiences into theaters (or purchased at some point via some medium).  It is not to do the job of historians.  It is incumbent upon historians to make sure there is material to inform the public after they have seen a film.  As a profession, we should not be dependent to do our job for us--nor should we want them to be!  Rather than complain that a film doesn't capture every possible facet, we should be ready to use the film to engage and educate.  It's what Walt would have wanted, and what Barnum would have endorsed!

South Bend TV time

My thanks to the morning team of ABC57 in South Bend, who had me on air this morning to talk about Rebel Bulldog!

I hope to come back to Northern Indiana -- for more book talks and signings in 2018!

THE Indiana Historical Society

When I was in high school, thinking about colleges, the contest came down to three: Indiana University, Purdue University, or the University of Notre Dame.  While Notre Dame would eventually get a Lantzer (my younger brother) as a student--and would publish my first book, the real contest was between IU and PU.  I can still remember the day I got my IU letter of acceptance, and how I knew that my decision was made (even though I did also get into Purdue as well).  I was already a Hoosier by birth, now I was going to be a Hoosier by education.  At my high school graduation, a family friend (and an IU grad) signed my graduation card "Congratulations on attending THE Indiana University." 

That pride in IU saw me through three degrees (two down in Bloomington, one in Indianapolis).  And it eventually brought me into contact with THE Indiana Historical Society.  My home state has robust and county level historical societies and museums, an exceptional state governmental Historical Bureau, a state-of-the-art State Museum, a terrific State Library, one of the leading Historic Landmarks/historic preservation organizations in the nation, and a truly awesome Historical Society.  I could hardly dream as I started work on my first degree, even when I knew I'd always keep a foot firmly planted in Hoosier History, that one day I'd have a book published by the Indiana Historical Society Press (even if I was eventually destined to spend hours upon hours in its library).

All that brings me to the fact that today, not only can I look back on a good month of work talking about Rebel Bulldog, but that my interview with the Press's editor appears on the IHS Press blog.  You can read it here:

https://indianahistory.org/blog/hot-off-the-press-rebel-bulldog/

The Year in Writing:2017

As 2017 comes to a close, I offer up some thoughts on my journey as an author this year:

This time last year, I was working on the bibliography for Rebel Bulldog.  So, I knew that it was going to be published.  It was a good deal more work than I thought it would be, but it was great to be back in those sources and thinking about this manuscript on the verge of being a book.  By the summer, I was looking at page proofs---and wonderfully surprised to discover that (thanks to my editor and the the Indiana Historical Society Press) this book was going to be lavishly illustrated with pictures from the Civil War era.  By the fall, I was looking over concept designs for the cover, giving my approval, and waiting....not just for publication (which came at the dawn of December) but also for the chance to talk about the book:  First, at the IHS's annual author's fair (also in early December), but increasingly (thanks to the awesome public relations director at the press) with media outlets ranging from newspapers to television to radio---some done, some published, and some more planned for 2018.  For a book that started life as a "how-to" demonstration for my students in the Honors Civil War course back in 2012, this has been an incredible journey!

And all of that, really, would have been enough for me as a writer.  But there was more!  This time last year, I had another manuscript under review at a press.  I had spent the better part of three years researching, writing about, and yes, visiting Disney parks to craft a manuscript on how the House of Mouse uses history to craft culture.  And I thought I'd found my press.  I had an editor who was excited about the project and it had been sent out for peer review.  And then reality stepped in:  Just a few weeks into the new year, and right as I'd just launched a new honors course on Disney and American culture and was preparing to take a long weekend in Orlando, I received one of the most gut wrenching emails I've ever found in my inbox.  The editor, who just a few weeks before had been so excited, wrote that the peer reviewers had not shared her enthusiasm for the manuscript, arguing that it was "not critical" of Disney (both the man and company) enough to warrant publication.  She was bowing to her reviewers, wishing me well and acknowledging that the changes they would want would create a fundamentally different book--one she was sure I would not want to write.  To say that I was at a loss, would be an understatement!  I literally read that email before heading off to teach my Disney class.

But that class was also wonderfully cathartic.  My students were excited about the material.  I felt confident that I had something.  And so, I decided to contact Theme Park Press.  True, this wouldn't be an academic press (which is where I'd always published before), but it was a press that specialized in Disney.  I sent the press information and I waited.  Perhaps it was fate, Providence, or just plain old Disney magic, but while standing in line at Epcot my phone "dinged".  There in my inbox was an email from the editor asking for the full manuscript and sure that the project I called Dis-History was going to find a market!  A few edits here, a few suggestions there, and before I knew it I was looking at page proofs.  And one night, as summer started to give way to fall, just by chance I saw the book listed on Amazon!  To be able to share my insights with students has been great, to truly reach an audience that would likely have never picked up a book published by an academic press, even more so!

And somewhere in the midst of all this, I came back to this blog.  As I noted on my return to writing (after nearly 2 years of letting it lay dormant), there were selfish (or to put a better spin on it), public relation reasons for once again writing.  But there was more to it than just promoting (now) 2 books:  I'd experienced not writers block, but a degree of writers burn out.  I'd been working on 2 different projects while writing this blog, and then I'd launched another blog for work (that required me to come up with content as well), and on top of that, some of the things I'd written about on this blog had been, for lack of a better term, distressing.  I didn't want to write about those things anymore, and believed that if I didn't write at all, I wouldn't have to.  But now I had things to write about, and blogging has a purpose again.

Those things are all good things when it comes to the life of a writer. Seeing your work published is always great.  And along the way, finding new things to write about has been a process that has picked up as well.  For the first time in years (literally) I didn't have anything to write about!  But 2017 wasn't done with me yet.  This spring, while visiting Washington, D.C. I stumbled upon the idea of doing something about Dwight Eisenhower.  Likely that will be focused on Ike's reaction (both as Supreme Allied Commander and as president) to the Holocaust.  But it might also include Ike and Cuba.  I don't know, and that is just as exciting as being in the midst of a manuscript.  Plus, you never know, I may make a return to some other Hoosier topic or even (and my kids would endorse this) revisiting some aspect of Disney!  And so, as we prepare to meet 2018, I'm as excited as a writer can be.

As always, thanks for reading,
Jason S. Lantzer

Indy Style

This morning I had the pleasure of being a guest on Indy Style, a television program about what is going on in Indianapolis.  It was a wonderful experience and a great discussion about Rebel Bulldog!

You can read what they had to say and even view the interview here:

http://wishtv.com/2017/12/27/professor-turns-civil-war-research-into-nonfiction-book/

A very big thank you to the team at Indy Style, WISH TV, and to the public relations team at the Indiana Historical Society!

Getting the word out

It was a pleasure to be interviewed about Rebel Bulldog again this week.  You can read more here:

http://www.newsandtribune.com/indiana/news/a-house-divided-rebel-bulldog-tells-true-tale-of-indiana/article_b5722270-d1c9-560d-b710-e1fa5fc18720.html

Press Matters

Earlier today an official announcement was made that Disney was making a bid to purchase a large part of 20th Century Fox.  While this deal, or rumors of it, first started coming to light after Dis-History was well on its way to publication, the potential ramifications for Disney's uses of the past that are laid out in the book are surely at play--both in explaining why the deal makes sense, and why it endangers the system Walt put into place nearly at the founding of the company.

In other book news, the interview I did with the Elkhart Truth about Rebel Bulldog ran today!  To say I'm thrilled is beyond measure.