It is better to learn the way people lived in the past through films and video records than written documents. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Some believe that learning about the past is best done through written documents, while others feel

video

is a more accurate medium. In my opinion, recent films

in particular

can be

useful but

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useful, but

most information about the past is contained in documents. Those who argue in favour of

video

recordings can point to their accuracy.

Images

Suggestion

The images

transform every observation into a firsthand account.

For example

, there are documentaries and home videos starting in the 1960s that show how people lived. By watching these films, a social anthropologist can spot more than the surface content. They can see how people talked to each other in real life, what products they used, get a sense for the fashion and the way people spoke. In order to better understand their subject, historians would give anything for an opportunity to have similar film of the Ancient Greeks or Romans.

However

,

video

is limited, especially in terms of its access to important persons and events of the past. It might reveal how everyday people

behaved but

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behaved, but

the facts of what was going on behind the scenes is contained in firsthand notes, memos, letters, and official documents. A good example of

this

would be the exhaustive four volume biography of Lyndon Johnson written by Robert Caro. A

famously

Suggestion

famous

meticulous writer, he has poured over thousands of documents ranging from private diaries and correspondences to the laws and orders issued at the time. Slowly, a good

observor

a person who becomes aware (of things or events) through the senses

observer

observers

of the past is able to piece together disparate pieces of information into a narrative that approaches truth. There simply does not exist the same repository of

video

evidence from any period to yet allow for

such

a complete understanding of individuals or

historic

Suggestion

historical

periods. In conclusion, the value of film may increase in the

future but

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future, but

documents still offer the greatest insights into the past. It is important to be mindful that all history is

speculation but

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speculation, but

the best history sticks closely to the facts.