‟It‟s Rock and Roll, Man‟ Competing Visions of History in Reviews of HBO‟s Vinyl

Abstract

In this article, the author analyses the ways in which competing views of history shape cultural interpretations of television‘s representations of past events and people. Drawing on Memory Studies to critique and highlight the limits of more conservative, traditional definitions of what history is, the article argues that history is not a ―fixed‖ truth but is, instead, constructed through the retellings of the past. If history is positioned as a singular ―truth,‖ we miss opportunities to understand the ways in which particular historical representations index cultural issues that relate both to the time period being represented as well as the current cultural moment. Through an analysis of the critics‘ reviews of HBO‘s historical drama Vinyl, the article highlights the benefits of a new view of history and the impact of this view on our understandings of histories‘ significances.

Keywords

• memory studies
• historical representation
• critical media
• television series