Discuss Spielberg's treatment of history in Schindler's List and Essay

Discuss Spielberg's treatment of history in Schindler's List and Amistad - Essay Example oth films, Schindler’s List and Amistad, Spielberg takes liberties with history in two ways; changing documented events to fit within the film’s agenda and the omission of crucial parts of the story to create a different impression of history than what documented facts show. Steven Spielberg is one of only a handful of directors that could change history through his movies without losing profits. This allows Spielberg to fulfil both objectives of making money and promoting his view of history. This essay will examine Spielberg’s treatment of history in his two films, Schindler’s List and Amistad in an attempt to show that movies can be inspired by history, but in reality are a work of fiction. Spielberg did not portray the violence that the book Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally describes. Characters were portrayed differently. Many factors made the book and movie different. Even though Schindler’s List, the movie was based on Schindler’s List, the book, Spielberg made the movie his own. Amistad was also Spielberg’s creation. Spielberg took Amistad and tried to teach a moral lesson. The only problem is Spielberg made Amistad from the point of a white man, not an African American. Thus, the moral lesson became the white men involved in the case came to the realisation that the Africans were human also. This point of view made white Americans and Spielberg feel better about the enslavement of African Americans by showing that not every American at the time was pro-slavery. An African American director, like Spike Lee, would have shown more of the African American experience. One look at Amistad and Roots shows the difference of the black and white point of view concerning slavery Schindler’s List begins in the present day, the picture is full of colors and shows some Jewish people performing religious rituals in Hebrew. Then, Spielberg goes back in time to 1939 when Germany conquered Poland. The Jews in Poland were asked to