The most radical critiques of the conventional view of the interpretation of "facts" to construct models of the past, and of the present, argue that it is all just a "story," a subjective narrative that tells you more about the storyteller than "reality." Many of these people are not too familiar with the methodology in the natural sciences, where a stumbling self-correcting methodology often reaches a consensus based reproducible empirical data in concordance with theoretical models. When it comes to the social sciences, and history, this doesn't work out so well, but I would contend that the methods to tease out facts and faslify or support theoretical assertions are getting better, making the past generation's criticisms somewhat dated.

I believe one of the key reasons that appeals to the "storyteller" model of history resonates with the public is that it is a rather close fit with the heavily digested and filtered end-product they receive from the mainstream media and the more rare hardcover "popularizations" of the past that stock bookstore shelves. In concert with various political and social forces at any given time, the view of the past held by the common man might resemble a fad more than genuine knowledge.

As an example, I might present the current fad for "multiculturalism." Since all races and cultures are of "equal worth," the past is presented as the idealized melange that modern movers-and-shakers feel it to be. Notice the difference between the sword & socery films The Scorpion King (2002) and Conan the Barbarian (1982). The latter, set 20 years back, does represent the a world of multiple races, but they are clearly separate peoples, with their own traditions and ways. On the other land, The Scorpion King seems to revel in the fact that it acts as if it isn't a big deal that ancient tribal hordes would be composed of people of very different races as if they fit together as a seamless whole (exemplified by the multiracial lead) [1]. The flip side to this is that those who are, justifiably, skeptical of these recreations of the "mythical past," will also interpret reality through a simplified lens. As an example, one month ago, I posted an entry on the new Arthur flick, and one reader noted "Multiculturalism strikes again! I wonder which ethnic group will Merlin belong to?" Yet ironically, in many ways 5-6th century Britain was very "multicultural". Though the story presented in the film is very fantastical, there might have been many permutations of culture that would seem "exotic" to modern viewers [2]. The moral of the story is that renderings of the past tend to be depicted like 2-dimensional black & white with contemporary "hairstyles," while the reality was multicolore and, filled with depth.

Sometimes, these trends can manifest themselves in a more salient fashion than on celluloid. In today's intellectual climate there is much discussion of Islam, or, more properly, Islams. Indonesia is held up as an exemplar, "Another Way." In truth the reality is more complex than that, especially in light of the fact that the 20th century has been one of national myth-creation for the "Indonesian" elites. The story of how Indonesia came to its nervous pluralism can help elucidate some the theoretical issues which have overall policy ramifications, and I will post on that in the near future....

[1] While Conan is a "Cimmerian," a real barbarian people beyond the borders of the classical world, Mathayus is an "Akkadian," a people whose language in the ancient Near East was the equivalent of French in 17th and 18th century Europe. None of this is relevant to the films, as the names are simply plucked out of the basket, but I do find it kind of funny.

[2] After the Roman Empire withdrew its legions early the 5th century, raiders from Ireland, Picts from the north and Germans from Frisia and Jutland, descended on the "British." The British at that time were a mix of the Brythonic Celtic substrate, overlain with a partially Latinized elite which had dollops of influence from all over the Empire (remember, there were Mithraeums in England, a religion that has its origins in an Persian god).