EDITORIAL: The "History" Channel (06/01/03)

EDITORIAL

The "History" Channel

Frankly, we expected better from The History Channel, regardless of its pop approach to relating history - an approach that, we must admit, attracts viewers and works well to tell a story.

However, when presenting its much-advertised two-part program titled "Russia: Land of the Tsars," The History Channel just went too far in "simplifying" things and in dressing up the presentation to make it more interesting. It was a show that The New York Times reviewer Alessandra Stanley aptly described as "fixed on the peaks of death, disaster and repression," "bristl[ing] obligingly with pinnacles of bad behavior," "a pop-up textbook of grisly moments brought to lurid life in heavily costumed and scored re-enactments."

As noted on The History Channel's website, the series covers "the leaders of Russia from the Vikings in 862 to the Revolution in 1918." (OK, now, take a deep breath...) Yes, The History Channel's program claims Kyivan Rus' was Russia. Yes, the program said our Volodymyr the Great was the Russian ruler Vladimir. And, oh yes, here's a bit of real news: according to The History Channel, Vladimir chose among several faiths - including Catholicism and Orthodoxy - when he was seeking a religion for his realm. Oh well, fact-checking's obviously not needed for a pop-history show. Does it really matter to the viewer that neither Catholicism nor Orthodoxy even existed as the schism within Christianity had not yet occurred? Apparently, The History Channel thinks it doesn't.

But, wait, The History Channel takes itself seriously! The classroom study guide that appears on the channel's website (www.historychannel.com) suggests many topics for discussion or research, including this gem: "Why did Prince Vladimir make his subjects convert to one religion? Research the different faiths he considered, and make a chart comparing their central beliefs. Why do you think Prince Vladimir chose the Eastern Orthodox Church to be the church of Russia?"

A summary of the program, also online, tells us that, after choosing "Orthodox Christianity," in 988 Vladimir "forced all Russians to convert to Christianity as well." It also tells us that "one direct result of the Mongol invasion [in the mid-13th century] was the downfall of Kiev as the pre-eminent Russian city."

Need we go on? This History Channel presentation is a wake-up call and demonstrates to us yet again that our nation's struggle to preserve what is rightfully its own history continues.

(Turning from the lamentable to the laughable, we should note the device of using Russian-looking mirror-image English letters and typefaces that render certain letters to look Russian is quite silly. Thus, Peter became PTü, Ivan became ßVAà, Catherine became CATHüßà. Ouch! Design, too, says something about the seriousness of a presentation.)

To conclude, let's just state that entertainment and history, in this case, seem to be mutually exclusive. Though some might have found "üussia: Land of the Tsars" to be interesting viewing, it certainly did not pass as history, never mind that it aired on something called The History Channel.

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