Schultz, Deanne 1962-

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Schultz, Deanne 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born 1962.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Canada.

CAREER:

Writer, educator. Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, professor of history.

WRITINGS:

Filmography of World History, Greenwood Press (Westport, CT), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Canadian writer and educator Deanne Schultz serves on the faculty of Malaspina University-College in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. A professor in the department of history, Schultz specializes in the representation of history and historical events through the medium of film, and its possible usage in the classroom as part of regular lectures. As she stresses in her text Filmography of World History, film can be a teaching tool and a method of engaging the attention and enthusiasm of students, enabling them to envision various historical periods and events.

Schultz teaches a wide range of standard history courses at the undergraduate level, including classes on early modern Europe, the twentieth-century world, and the imperial, Weimar, and Nazi periods in Germany. In all of these classes, Schultz makes use of films set during each era, showing them as the course progresses to reinforce readings, lectures, and the overall atmosphere of the course. She also teaches a class specifically about European history on the screen, addressing how different historical events have been handled in films, and the ways in which the common impressions of certain events have been colored by this medium over time.

In addition to her academic duties, Schultz is a researcher and a writer, and her first book, Filmography of World History, was released in 2007. In this work, Schultz addresses the relationship between actual historical events and the films derived from them for the purpose of entertainment. Addressing traditional entertainment films rather than documentaries, Schultz illustrates the diversion between the creative product and the reality on which it is based. It is common for filmmakers to take liberties with historical facts in order to create a more entertaining work or to suit the needs of their particular story. History is also frequently condensed to fit the time constraint of approximately two hours.

Despite these tendencies to veer from veracity, film, Schultz argues, can have an important place in the classroom as a means of engaging students and making them curious about the events depicted. This, of course, assumes that the instructor will take the time to point out the places where entertainment and actuality diverge. The book offers numerous examples of films Schultz feels can be incorporated into an academic curriculum. Aware that not all films come from Hollywood, she includes an assortment of works produced in other regions of the world as well, providing a diverse perspective. A contributor for Reference & Research Book News noted that Filmography of World History "offers instructors synopses and reviews of approximately 300 films," and each entry is presented in alphabetical order, indexed, and cross-referenced.