The Role of History in Bestseller and Blockbuster Culture

History provides an infinite supply of dramatic events, stories, characters and conflicts. The article provides a brief overview of prevalent conceptions and ideas of history that can be applied to the wide-spread historical fictions of the bestseller and blockbuster culture. On the background of the current alliance between history and media, I propose a methodological distinction between three levels: 1) a historiographical level, concerned with overall considerations and reflections, 2) a user-orientated level focussing on the uses and functions of history, and 3) a genre-orientated level considering historical films and TV drama productions within a frame of genre traditions, including hybrids. The insights are applied analytically using the case of the Danish bestseller biography and blockbuster film Marie Krøyer.

历史蕴含着无穷无尽的戏剧性事件、叙事文本、人物形象与矛盾冲突。本文首先对主流历史观与核心史学理念进行简要梳理，这些理念可被应用于畅销书与大片文化中广泛传播的历史虚构创作。立足于当前历史与传媒领域的融合趋势，本文提出一套三层方法论区分框架：1) 史学研究层面，聚焦于宏观层面的历史思考与学术反思；2) 用户导向层面，围绕历史的应用场景与社会功能展开研究；3) 类型导向层面，在包含跨界融合作品在内的类型创作传统框架下，探讨历史题材电影与电视剧的制作实践。本文以丹麦畅销书传记《玛丽·克勒耶》（Marie Krøyer）及其同名改编大片为案例，对上述分析视角进行实证应用。