Education in Movies

The ease of video streaming exposes people to an endless number of movies. Exposure may be beneficial because some movies teach society through video entertainment. Movies can capture attention with imagery, appeal to emotions, help to educate through a story, and, occasionally, facilitate changes in society. Recent movies have sparked popular discussions of provenance and repatriation of objects held within museums and private collections. To explain, the origin of cultural artifacts is discovered through provenance research. When provenance research reveals that artifacts were stolen from their original creators or owners, repatriation mandates the return of those artifacts. For example, the movie Woman in Gold (2015) tells a story about a famous painting that was looted from a Jewish family by Nazis in the 1940s. This movie teaches viewers that a cultural artifact may be important, even sacred, to its respective owner. Another example is the forthcoming movie The Great Chinese Art Heist. This movie will tell a story about Chinese artifacts that were originally looted from China in the 1800s and have recently been stolen from famous museums across Europe (click here to learn more). With unlimited access to video content, more people have become aware of wrongfully possessed artifacts held within museums and private collections.

Through exposure to recent movies, people are recognizing the impact that stealing culture has on societies. Based on the content of these movies, public attitudes must shift to more deeply respect cultural artifacts. People must be shown that displaying a cultural artifact without the consent of its owner is likely controversial. Given the effortlessness of video streaming, more people will be exposed to movies that will continue to shed light on these troubling issues.


Stealing Culture supports the development of students’ writing and research skills. This blog post was written by our research assistant, Brianna Duvall, a student at the University of Wyoming College of Law.