Collaborative Post
In life, our curiosities and interests can often bring us untold amounts of joy. We may wonder just how well we could play the guitar, for example, and this could lead us to thousands of hours of enjoyment as we become well versed in how it plays. This could lead to forming an amateur band and maybe even playing a few local gigs with your friends. A craft, interest, discipline, whatever you’d like to call it, can provide us sustenance outside of the normal duties and responsibilities we have in our everyday lives.
Of course, those of us with children may find that our free time is limited to this degree, but there’s no reason as to why you can’t share this passion with them. For example, one thing that can often bring families together is an appreciation for history. Why? Because history is all around us, accessible, and also easy to appreciate. It’s also boundless, meaning that if you’re getting tired of learning about one time in history, you can happily learn about another. This also gives us a sense of understanding about our own time, no matter how unique our time is, because after all – we are still products of history, creating it all the while.
But how can you get more of an appreciation for history, bonding with your family via this pursuit or not? We have some pointers to help you gain an interest in learning of famous historical dates, or even help you imagine yourself at that time. We only hope they bring you further fascination and joy throughout the next decade:
Watch Documentaries
There are many phenomenal documentaries out there, all aimed at enhancing historical awareness and doing so through a stellar visual format. This might help you visualize what the time may have been like, with actors recreating certain scenes from world history or prop designers recreating the period in stunning detail. A documentary focused around a particular subject can give you a play-by-play of some of the most nail-biting situations and events known to man, or they could simply be a slice-of-life imagining of how a certain period developed.
There are many historical documentaries available through state-sponsored educational channels, too, such as the BBC or NPR, and this in itself can offer a vast starting point. For paid services, Netflix, Hulu and HBO have excellent historical documentaries worth watching. If you find one you particularly like, consider researching the director and finding their past work, often still available on said streaming services. Before long you may have real insight into a few historical periods.
Watch Fictionalized Entertainment
Sometimes, fictionalized entertainment or at least entertainment taken with heavy inspiration from historical settings can be a great way to develop a blossoming interest in the genre. For example, HBO’s and BBC’s Rome series offer an incredible attention to detail in recreating the time period and show you the storied histories of certain well-known characters from that time, and are largely realistic, even if some events have been exaggerated or moved around for entertainment’s and convenience’s sake.
A great example of this is how HBO’s massively successful ‘Chernobyl’, a mini-series dedicated to realizing that event from day zero, handles the truth. One character in aid of the once-real ‘protagonist’ was created in order to represent a team of many scientists and advisors, and this helped them get across their message through a confident mouthpiece. As a result, they are fully transparent about this change and use the final moments of the series to show you exactly how events were altered for narrative benefit or ease of viewing.
Sometimes there’s nothing like being absorbed into a world, and this is the benefit a tightly-written narrative can have, even if it’s not as truthful as other sources. Provided you understand that and then take the time to research the real history of periods that grab your attention, this can still be a phenomenal resource to keep careful hold of.
As perhaps one of those well-supplied and funded fields that will never be ignored, because of how relevant it is to our identities and lives. There are many amazing places in which you can see this to be true, such as in areas or events where historical re-enactors congregate. Spending much time (and even their own money) on excellent, realistic outfits, you may see a fantastic re-enactors troop performing jousting at a local British castle, or civil war reenactors give a storied example of the chaos felt at that time.
Simply visiting these events or making time out of your day to explore and expand your learned lessons through experiences like this can help you have a great deal of fun with history. That’s always a positive.
With this advice, we hope you can gain more of an actionable appreciation for history in all its forms.