Heroes, Victims and Villains
: How film and television affect our view of history. Focussing on the Tudor period

  • Lydia Hargreaves

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

‘You think you know a story…’ this is the opening line of The Tudors and seems like an appropriate place to start when looking at the Tudors in film and television. The Tudor period is an era of history that has captured the imagination of people for centuries and in turn is a period of history that people tend to think they know about. Therefore, it is no surprise that film and television producers have capitalised on this popularity and produced many films and television series about them. This dissertation will focus on three film and television series in particular, The Tudors, Wolf Hall and A Man for All Seasons. Each of the television series and films are explained in more detail later in the dissertation. It will use these film and television series to see how Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell and King Henry VIII are portrayed in film and television and how this affects our view of history. It is important to note that in this instance the word ‘our’ means the general public with little or no advanced knowledge of the Tudors. Some viewers may have some knowledge of the Tudors but their previous knowledge could be from general stereotypes. For example, from what they learned at school or even other film and television series. The reason this dissertation is focussing on what the general viewer can learn from film and television is because it is becoming a very popular way for people to learn about the past. Moreover, this dissertation will simplify the analysis of three popular films and television series in order for the general public to understand how film and television affects our view of the past.
Date of Award13 Dec 2021
Original languageEnglish
SupervisorSarah Bastow (Main Supervisor)

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