Interesting column by Libby Purves in Radio Times for 2-8 April 2011, regarding biopics. She points out that once we see something in a drama about figures from history we believe what we’ve seen, even if we ‘know’ it’s not historically accurate. This is not a new observation, but it’s one that’s worth reminding ourselves of. We can look at Shakespeare – writing in the time of the Tudors – whose presentation of Richard the third – the predecessor defeated by the first Tudor king – was an effective and lasting piece of propaganda.
I found myself wondering whether this is equally true for all of us – are those who are predominantly visual processors (rather than auditory or kinaesthetic) more prone to this? And how much is our view of reality shaped by our constant exposure to visual images – TV, film, advertising billboards? There is research showing that anorexics who look at lots of fashion magazines find it harder to alter their eating patterns than peers who are exposed to fewer images of airbrushed size zero ‘perfection’.