History via Hollywood
Placing Oppenheimer (and Daniel Day-Lewis) on the timeline.
Two reflections this week: Exhibiting rare data graphics and then an exploration of my relationship with history via Hollywood. Let’s go!
Last week’s presentation of Glorious Data Graphics was a smash. In addition to my presentation, the great folks at the renowned Letterform Archive helped me mount a tie-in exhibit of rare information graphics.
Experiencing these design masterpieces firsthand, particularly among fellow enthusiasts, is magical. There's an electrifying quality to sharing this appreciation, a synergy that amplifies the joy and insight gained.
I'm now exploring ways to share these masterpieces with wider audiences, which includes stabilizing and restoring the more delicate pieces to preserve their educational value.
Among my fragile and recent acquisitions is Edmond Halley’s seminal 1705 collection of Philosophical Transactions papers, featuring milestone charts and what may be the first analytic map (with California as an island!).
The event spurred a bustling week at Visionary Press, with a surge in orders spanning books, information graphics, and even tee-shirts to various countries.
Yes, tees. We are building a pie-chart posse and you are invited. Our new PIE CHART FAN CLUB shirt is a playful stand against the undue criticism of the circular diagram. It’s a fun addition to our mission, available only through this special link:
History via Hollywood
Have you ever found yourself not quite ready to leave the story after the movie ends?
The end credits of a true-story drama start to roll. But you aren’t ready to get off the couch. So what do you do? You wake your phone, open Wikipedia, and find the article that chronicles the real history behind the movie.
Last night I read the wiki entry about CIA counterintelligence originator James Jesus Angleton after watching the Matt Damon spy thriller The Good Shepherd. It seems impossible that I would have ever found that article otherwise.
Is this behavior familiar to you?: I watch two-hour films to give meaning to Wikipedia articles I would otherwise never read.
There is a certain thrill in learning that what you saw on screen is exactly how it happened. And of course, there’s a smug hmph! upon discovering what the film got wrong—a guilty pleasure in uncovering Hollywood’s liberties with the truth.
Even more, I like learning all the extra details that didn’t make the final cut. It’s fun to imagine the storytelling decisions that went into presenting a true-story as a particular narrative.
Recognizing this behavior got me to wondering how much history one could catch via films. For example, I’ve watched these four films about NASA’s glory days.
But I’ve never seen them like this, ordered according to the periods of history they spotlight—from Chuck Yeager through Apollo’s most dramatic moments.
Oppenheimer, expected to win big at this weekends’ Academy Awards, can help us test this idea out a little. One of the film’s narratives is the construction of the atomic punctuation to the war in the Pacific. So let’s place it as the end point of many films that tell part of that story. From my American perspective: the staircase begins with Pearl Harbor, rises through raids and battles and bombings, and ends with the ramifications of the bomb.
Another way to place Oppenheimer is within a larger story about the rise of America. Let’s return to an idea from Seeing Centuries, an essay about bucketing time.
What if we chose a notable film to represent each decade of American history? Here’s Oppenheimer, again at the top of a staircase (with includes three Daniel Day-Lewises, which is not unwelcome, but is surprising).
I wanted to keep the stairs going. But there isn’t much for the next forty years. And even then, revolutionary and further colonial times are rather sparse cinematically.
The exercise makes me want to see more. What would a map of history via Hollywood look like? Where are the big holes? Are certain stories are overtold? Should we try to qualify a film’s truthiness? Or is it enough that it sparks you to search Wikipedia?
Next time you watch a historical drama, will you see it as just a story, or as a portal to the past?
Onward!—RJ
About
Data storyteller RJ Andrews helps organizations solve high-stakes problems by using visual metaphors and information graphics: charts, diagrams, and maps. His passion is studying the history of information graphics to discover design insights. See more at infoWeTrust.com.
RJ’s recently published series, Information Graphic Visionaries, a new book series celebrating three spectacular data visualization creators. With new writing, complete visual catalogs, and discoveries never seen by the public. His first book is Info We Trust, How to Inspire the World with Data., is currently being remastered for a new edition.
RJ, you and I watch movies exactly the same way. Please do complete your map of American history via movies, but one for each decade. Do it!