In school, we always learned that a good story has a beginning, a middle, a climax and an end. Since families’ histories technically go back to the birth of mankind, it will be difficult to start at the beginning. And since you are alive to gather and tell your family’s stories, there really isn’t an end. Some families have a bit of drama or a defining moment that affected and changed the lives of many of those that followed, but many will have a difficult time pinpointing a person or event. That leaves most of us with a middle. Hmmm. What are we supposed to do to make our story compelling?
Has anyone seen Boyhood? It tells the “story” of a boy from the age of six to young adulthood. The filmmaker shot a few weeks per year over a period of 12 years using the same cast. This way he could capture the reality of these people and their relationships growing over that period. Um. Isn’t that what we do when we capture our family’s history? The difference is that we work and research really hard to find our history and the proper names of our ancestors, where they settled and possibly why they left one place and went to another.
The reality of Richard Linklater’s work is groundbreaking for the film industry but it is par for the course in the genealogy and family history world. No beginning, no real end, no huge climax that needed a hero to step in and win over the bad guys; just a collection of day-to-day activities that make up our lives.
There is buzz about Boyhood winning an Oscar. While I don’t think any of us will win Oscars for our family history videos, I find true reality much more compelling.
Has anyone seen Boyhood? It tells the “story” of a boy from the age of six to young adulthood. The filmmaker shot a few weeks per year over a period of 12 years using the same cast. This way he could capture the reality of these people and their relationships growing over that period. Um. Isn’t that what we do when we capture our family’s history? The difference is that we work and research really hard to find our history and the proper names of our ancestors, where they settled and possibly why they left one place and went to another.
The reality of Richard Linklater’s work is groundbreaking for the film industry but it is par for the course in the genealogy and family history world. No beginning, no real end, no huge climax that needed a hero to step in and win over the bad guys; just a collection of day-to-day activities that make up our lives.
There is buzz about Boyhood winning an Oscar. While I don’t think any of us will win Oscars for our family history videos, I find true reality much more compelling.
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