Stephen Greenblatt
Greenblatt says that old historicism views include thinking that history is a process that man cannot change. He says this is not true, that man can and does change the process. Greenblatt believes that history is contigent. What that means is that things could have happened differently. It is accidents that change history. Think about all of the accidents that has changed our history. First, Columbus finding America was an accident. The following site has five accidental inventions that has changed history. Some of them are surprising.
Greenblatt says that in "old" historicism, critics cannot judge a piece of work based on the time that it was created in. He argues that "new" historicism judges the work based on the time they were created in. Some things we would have to judge something based on the time it was created in. Now, whenever you see a movie or tv show about the past or the future it is really about what is going on right now. I believe that is true of some shows that are about the present. For example, Family Guy comes across as a comedy, but it really is making fun of and addressing the politcs that are going on in our time right now.
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