12 June 2021, IELTS Exam, Writing Task 2, Evening Slot, INDIA

12 June 2021, IELTS Exam, Writing Task 2, Evening Slot, INDIA

Q. It is better to learn how people lived in the past through films and videos than from written documents. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the given statements?

Some believe that learning about the past is best done through written documents, while others believe that video is more accurate. In my opinion, recent films can be especially useful, but most of the information about the past is contained in documents.

Those who advocate videos can point out their accuracy. Images turn every observation into a first-hand account. For example, since the 1960s, there are documentaries and home videos showing how people lived. After watching these films, the social anthropologist can discover more than superficial content. They can see how people are talking to each other in real life, what products they use, and they can catch fashion and how people talk. To better understand their subject, historians are ready to do anything for the opportunity to make a similar film about the ancient Greeks or Romans.

However, video is limited, especially in terms of access to important people and events from the past. This may show how ordinary people behaved, but the facts of what happened behind the scenes are contained in notes, service memos, letters and official documents at first hand. Robert Caro's comprehensive four-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson is a good example of this. As you know, a meticulous writer, he transfused thousands of documents, ranging from personal diaries and correspondence to laws and regulations issued at that time. Gradually, a good observer of the past is able to piece together disparate pieces of information into a narrative that approaches the truth. There simply does not exist the same repository of video evidence from any period to allow such a complete understanding of individuals or historical periods.

To conclude, it should be noted that the value of film may increase in the future, but documents still provide a better understanding of the past. It's important to remember that the entire story is speculation, but the best stories are closely related to the facts.

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