Media literacy has been posited as a cross-curricular necessity for twenty-first century students, but one of the challenges of infusing media literacy into any discipline is the lack of a consistent definition. This article argues that media literacy is best conceptualized as a thinking disposition that evaluates the construction of media form, content, and impact over time as both an art form and an industry, as well as a cultural, social, and political force. Utilizing film as an exemplary case study of a medium that fosters historical thinking, this article illustrates a mutually beneficial alignment between the construct of historical understanding and an articulation of media literacy as a dispositional inclination to think critically about media messages and representations. This alignment has the potential to foster critical consumerism and active citizenship, both inside and outside formal educational settings. (Contains 35 notes.)