Washington, Adams, Hollywood, and Free DVDs!
Members of Mount Vernon’s Education Department have fielded repeated questions about our opinion of the portrayal of Washington in HBO’s popular John Adams miniseries. We’d like to use this opportunity to raise what we think is a more compelling question: How can and should historic sites and classroom teachers capitalize on the interest Hollywood increasingly generates in historical events, places, and people?
As it happens, this very question was the topic of one of our recent distance learning programs, History Meets Hollywood, available for FREE to educators in DVD format while supplies last!
This high-energy broadcast featured a live audience of high school students and was moderated by Chris Matthews, television news anchor, MSNBC Hardball host, and author of American. Other panelists included Jerry Bruckheimer, Producer, and Jon Turteltaub, Director, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (parts of which were shot on location at Mount Vernon); James C. Rees, Executive Director of Mount Vernon; Dr. Libby O’Connell, Chief Historian for The History Channel; and actor Sebastian Roche, star of General Hospital and “George Washington” in We Fight to Be Free, the “Hollywood-style” action film shown in Mount Vernon’s Ford Orientation Center.
To request a free DVD or purchase additional copies, please visit our website or our partner organization, Fairfax Network.
As for the portrayal of Washington in John Adams… we encourage you to share your own comments by replying to this blog posting! Also feel free to share your ideas for using film to teach history!
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StumbleUponTags: Distance Learning, DVD, Film, Hollywood, John Adams, National Treasure
June 10th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
I just saw the National Treasure 2 movie last night and it was so neat to see the places at Mount Vernon that I have been to. I got to go in the basement on a recent trip to Mount Vernon when I took the National Treasure behind the scenes tour, and saw the wall that Nicholas Cage climbs over in the movie. Are there really tunnels at Mount Vernon or were those just in the movie?
June 11th, 2008 at 11:29 am
We’re glad to hear that you enjoyed the National Treasure walking tour here at Mount Vernon! This one-hour “behind the scenes” tour of usually-restricted areas of the Estate has proven so popular that we’re continuing to offer them four times daily through October 31, 2008! Tickets are available here at Mount Vernon; tours cost $5.00 in addition to regular admission. Reservations are not necessary unless you have a group of twenty or more. To make a group reservation, please call 703-799-8688 or 1-800-429-1520. As for your tunnel question…the tunnel in the movie is based on the tunnel-like entrance of George Washington’s Ice House, which you can now see on the tour! However, the tunnel in the film is much longer!
Sincerely, Mount Vernon’s Education Department