I was doing some SAT prep, and I came across this passage about two different views of Colonial Williamsburg. For those of you who aren't familiar with Colonial Williamsburg, it is essentially a historical district that contains buildings are from about 1700. There are also many actors there that pretend to be normal people from that time period, who provided information about the time period to tourists.
One of the views in the passage looked very favorably on this concept. He said that it is an important part of our culture and provides a new and creative way of teaching others about that time period. Also, because the actors are not forced to read from scripts, they are able to convey history in a way that there audience will understand and remember.
The other person viewed Colonial Williamsburg as a sort of scam. He argued that because these actors are not forced to read from a script, they are not reliable in terms of the information that they provide. He also pointed out that in the process of making this site, many buildings that were actually from that time period were destroyed. He also brought up the point that Colonial Williamsburg provides a limited view because it seemed to freeze around that single point in time.
Which view do you agree with?
Mary Quien
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4 comments:
The value of Colonial Williamsburg is that it preserves the past and carries the message to future generations. Although it has a good intention, there are some flaws in it. First, some of the tour guides amd the actors are unreliable and often give wrong explanations to the visitors. Also, some of them are not responsible. For example, you can often see them talking on cell phones in their costumes.
However, although there are problems in Colonial Williamsburg, there is no other better way that can teach us visually about the history. It is true that Colonial Williamsburg isn't exactly the same as the real colony of 1700, but nothing stays the same and we should do what we can do to preserve it.
Although Colonial Williamsburg may be able to provide us with historical information, its true purpose is to entertain and bring back visitors. More visitors equals more money. When something is so geared toward monetary gain, it begins to lose its appeal. Quality gets replaced by quantity.
(Sam Maliha)
The actors that work at Williamsburg probably know their history pretty well. That is most likely a requirement. In this case, I would go with the first view. Even though they don't memorize scripts, they are familiar with what they are discussing, and it's just like us holding a converstaion about something we know well and enjoy. We don't need a script to hold an intelligent conversation, do we?
Emily T.
I'd have to agree with the first viewpoint. The second person is missing the point of Colonial Williamsburg: the point is not to be factually correct, but to recreate an experience, one that our forefathers may have once undergone. Of course it's impossible to exactly recreate the past, but through visiting Colonial Williamsburg, we can draw a sense of what the past once felt like.
It's not a deceptive scam either. Those who visit Colonial Williamsburg are aware that the recreation is not intended to be an exactly copy, and thus approach everything with a more forgiving, open mentality.
-Eric W.
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