Serious Question - What is the purpose of Reenactment?

[JDR]

thats is what reenactors do, they honor the men and the sacrifices and the trials they endured during the tragic time of war. They are preservers of history and let's not forget that those who do not learn from history might well be doomed to repeat it. Reenactors let the public touch history in a way far different from books or sensationalized movies. You see it, smell it, taste and hear it. They do a great service and yet go unappreciated for their efforts.

Yes let mops to touch history but reenactors honor the men Mmmmm not really ni wouldnt say that we honor the men of Anicent Rome, Vikings, Saxons, ECW, etc maybe WW2 and i know i dont reenact to honor no one i reenact to enjoy myself.

[grenmartens]

thats is what reenactors do, they honor the men and the sacrifices and the trials they endured during the tragic time of war. They are preservers of history and let's not forget that those who do not learn from history might well be doomed to repeat it. Reenactors let the public touch history in a way far different from books or sensationalized movies. You see it, smell it, taste and hear it. They do a great service and yet go unappreciated for their efforts.

Yes let mops to touch history but reenactors honor the men Mmmmm not really ni wouldnt say that we honor the men of Anicent Rome, Vikings, Saxons, ECW, etc maybe WW2 and i know i dont reenact to honor no one i reenact to enjoy myself.

I couldn't agree more John. I have to admit at getting a tad uncomfortable when folks start to harp on about rememberance of the fallen and respect to veterans etc. Fine if that's a personal motivation for individuals - but not in my name thank you. For me,personally, reenactment and rememberance are separate.

The purpose of Reenactment, why it exisits, was the original question not what motivates individuals to reenact. Reenactment exists because, for as long as history has been recorded, human beings have sought to entertain themselves, entertain others and be entertained by others. Those that choose to entertain others at public events, are themselves stimulated by that participation. Some fortunate folks, actors, circus clowns etc can make a career from such behaviour.

So there you have it - it's entertainment - and those of us that take part are just a bunch of frustrated old thespians

[Gott Mit Uns]

Re-enactment is a product of existentialism - and is linked with the modern interest for a sense of place, heritage and geniality. Re-enactor's temporarily dis-associate from the modern world and try to connect with the past through enacting it, providing them a sense of place and belonging and fulfillment within a social group. Serious Re-enactor's are existential insiders who as a part of developing within the hobby - develop their subject matter knowledge. Some will go further than others in this, but its funny how authenticity plays a key role in the social structure of re-enactment. For instance, we see various types of day-trippers, fantasists and FARBS who have no deep and meaningful knowledge or interest in what they are doing, other than creaming off the social benefits. Now authenticity is also a sub-process of existentialism; which is basically an awareness of ones-self and a sincere attitude towards what you do. An inauthentic attitude however, simply thrives off the social convenience and historical stereotype - a facade that requires no real mental involvement and a situation that the person is easily detachable from.
So assuming we are all authentic re-enactors (don't confuse with historical authenticity bitch fights) our desire for 'place' fuels our interest which develops our hobby. But that's going off on a tangent a tad. Basically re-enactments purpose is to give a group of geeks, nerds and misfits a social setting to come together and disassociate from the modern world through enacting an historical setting or fantasy. Whilst across the world, real people are fighting and dying in scenarios that will probably be enacted in years to come by a new set of geeks, nerds and misfits.....

BUT re-enactment does just happen to have external benefits (which have been highlighted to death)!!! - i.e. educating, entertaining, making money..getting our ugly mugs on tv....and so on.

[BaggyPants]

Geek!

[Gott Mit Uns]

What are you doing up at this hour? Did you get up for a piss mate?

[Chris Pittman]

Re-enactment is a product of existentialism - and is linked with the modern interest for a sense of place, heritage and geniality. Re-enactor's temporarily dis-associate from the modern world and try to connect with the past through enacting it, providing them a sense of place and belonging and fulfillment within a social group. Serious Re-enactor's are existential insiders who as a part of developing within the hobby - develop their subject matter knowledge. Some will go further than others in this, but its funny how authenticity plays a key role in the social structure of re-enactment. For instance, we see various types of day-trippers, fantasists and FARBS who have no deep and meaningful knowledge or interest in what they are doing, other than creaming off the social benefits. Now authenticity is also a sub-process of existentialism; which is basically an awareness of ones-self and a sincere attitude towards what you do. An inauthentic attitude however, simply thrives off the social convenience and historical stereotype - a facade that requires no real mental involvement and a situation that the person is easily detachable from.
So assuming we are all authentic re-enactors (don't confuse with historical authenticity bitch fights) our desire for 'place' fuels our interest which develops our hobby. But that's going off on a tangent a tad. Basically re-enactments purpose is to give a group of geeks, nerds and misfits a social setting to come together and disassociate from the modern world through enacting an historical setting or fantasy. Whilst across the world, real people are fighting and dying in scenarios that will probably be enacted in years to come by a new set of geeks, nerds and misfits.....

BUT re-enactment does just happen to have external benefits (which have been highlighted to death)!!! - i.e. educating, entertaining, making money..getting our ugly mugs on tv....and so on.

Great post! I agree with the bulk of what you are saying here.

[SS FG]

Re-enactment is a product of existentialism - and is linked with the modern interest for a sense of place, heritage and geniality. Re-enactor's temporarily dis-associate from the modern world and try to connect with the past through enacting it, providing them a sense of place and belonging and fulfillment within a social group. Serious Re-enactor's are existential insiders who as a part of developing within the hobby - develop their subject matter knowledge. Some will go further than others in this, but its funny how authenticity plays a key role in the social structure of re-enactment. For instance, we see various types of day-trippers, fantasists and FARBS who have no deep and meaningful knowledge or interest in what they are doing, other than creaming off the social benefits. Now authenticity is also a sub-process of existentialism; which is basically an awareness of ones-self and a sincere attitude towards what you do. An inauthentic attitude however, simply thrives off the social convenience and historical stereotype - a facade that requires no real mental involvement and a situation that the person is easily detachable from.
So assuming we are all authentic re-enactors (don't confuse with historical authenticity bitch fights) our desire for 'place' fuels our interest which develops our hobby. But that's going off on a tangent a tad. Basically re-enactments purpose is to give a group of geeks, nerds and misfits a social setting to come together and disassociate from the modern world through enacting an historical setting or fantasy. Whilst across the world, real people are fighting and dying in scenarios that will probably be enacted in years to come by a new set of geeks, nerds and misfits.....

BUT re-enactment does just happen to have external benefits (which have been highlighted to death)!!! - i.e. educating, entertaining, making money..getting our ugly mugs on tv....and so on.

I not thought about it that deeply. At reenactments I tend to disconnect from the current time and exist in the 1940's for a day or four. Then again Sigmund Freud might say I am only a large boy playing at Army.

[Schnitzel]

It's a bit of an odd question, and I don't believe you can attribute a purpose to a term so broad as 're-enactment'. For me, the term constitutes the total of all re-enactment events, each having its own purpose.

Museums calling out for re-enactors to portray a piece of history clearly has an educational and entertainment purpose, re-enactors organizing their own private event do it for their personal purposes, be it to have fun or to gain a small insight in the war itself.

Personally I do it for educational value, our country was occupied in the war and many people still have that 'angels vs demons' feeling towards the war, even just giving the german soldier a human face helps create a more accurate remembering of history, and we still occasionally get comments about how people were surprised at normal looking german soldiers, things like this give me the most satisfaction. This coupled with the almost total abandonment of normal life during such event makes this a great hobby

Anyway, to answer the original question, I think it's impossible to define a purpose for re-enactment as a whole, it should be looked at case-by-case.

[CDB Schmidt]

Amen to that....

[Franz repper]

Anyway, to answer the original question, I think it's impossible to define a purpose for re-enactment as a whole, it should be looked at case-by-case.

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