There were two Hispanic veterans features, as well as two African Americans and two Japanese Americans.During the previous year, Hispanic groups complained that “The War” ignored Hispanic contributions to the U.S. war effort. Were their concerns addressed in the series? If so, was it adequate? (I have been away from home and unable to view the series.)
I guess then, that Gary North can make his own WWII film. (I find him a bit of a nut, to say the least…still waiting for his dire, apocalyptic Y2k warnings to come to fruition.)Another view:
A Letter to Ken Burns
NB: Saying “that’s stupid” does not constitute constructive commentary.
Cornball? (“unsophisticted, old fashioned”) I don’t think so.Ken Burns is a cornball. He always makes racism the underlying
issue in his documentaries. He likes to play upon guilt.
The closest thing to a philosophical summary of your documentary that you allow on camera comes in the introduction to Episode 7, the final episode. You begin with a photo of a German soldier about to shoot a man, who sits at the edge of a pit filled with corpses. We hear a voice. Then, mid-sentence, we see who is speaking: a Marine pilot who has appeared in several episodes as an eyewitness.
I am not familiar with the author of this letter but I fully agree with him on the above point.You used him in Episode 1 to present your thesis that World War II was a necessary war. There, you bring him into view immediately after “A Florentine Films Production.” He tells us that he never questioned the necessity of the war. It was something that had to be done. In Episode 7, his statement is deeply religious – more religious than anything you present in the other film clips. The world contains evil, and if it didn’t contain evil, we probably wouldn’t need to try to construct religions. “No evil – no God,” I think.It would be extremely difficult to construct a confession of faith that is more diametrically at odds with the American view of religion than this. This declaration is not mere atheism. This is Sigmund Freud’s theory of religion, stated more baldly than anything I have ever seen in a media product aimed at the broad American public. This is not a documentary on the wide varieties of fringe religious opinions in America. This is your carefully crafted introduction to the final episode. He continued: No, of course, “No evil – no war.” But this is not a human possibility that we need to entertain. There will always be plenty of evil. And there will always be wars . . . because human beings are aggressive animals.
Here is the Darwinian worldview in a nutshell. Man is not a creature made by God in God’s image. He is therefore not in moral rebellion against God. Man is autonomous – an aggressive animal. Ours is a universe in which war stems from an innate evil in man, and so does the idea of God itself. This is a worldview that places man at the apex, with evil as his defining characteristic.
I think the Marine pilot’s remarks are a recognition of man’s fallen nature from a non-religious viewpoint.I am not familiar with the author of this letter but I fully agree with him on the above point.
I too was struck by the marine’s commentary about religion, evil, and man’s inherently aggressive nature. I must admit I was not surprised because after following the comments this particular vet made throughout the series, it was clear to me his “philosophical” positon.
Upon reflection, I do find it interesting that so little was mentioned about faith in God. While I appreciated the footage of the soldiers receiving Communion, Last Rites, and the ever present rosary beads, I did find it a suspicious omission that those interviewed had so little to say about how, or if, their faith had sustained them.
Well, I can’t speak authoratatively on the subject since I’ve never been in a foxhole but your suggestion strikes me as paradoxical given the amount of footage depicting the men receiving Communion, praying the rosary, and making the sign of the Cross over the dead bodies of their friends.The other choice, more likely, is that their faith didn’t sustain them. They say there are no atheists in foxholes but I suspect the opposite is true – being stuck in a foxhole with your comrades being killed at random around you is probably enough to strip away most people’s faith.
I thought it was a masterpiece.
Thank you everyone for posting your thoughts on this wonderful program. Many of you said it better then I can. I thought it was brilliant. I’ve read the The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw and Flags of Our Fathers. Both books are good. Flags of Our Fathers not only gave me an education on the training the Marines went through to prepare for battles like Iwo Jima but the horrific brutality they were part of. After reading that it didn’t surprise me at all that many of these men do not like talking about what happen. I’m glad I read that book before I saw this program as it helped me understand the men even more. What these young men went through profoundly humbles me. I had a cousin who died in the battle of the Bulge and apparently I did have other uncles who fought which I never knew about until recently when I started asking my mom about it. She was only 10 yrs at the time but she remembers very well. She watched the whole program and it brought back many memories for her.
Interesting to note, When Ken Burns was recently interviewed he said that he loved it when these older veterans would open up and tell their stories and their kids would be in the same room and say “you never told us that before.” They had kept it all inside them for so long. And then the most satisfying was when after a preview at a VFW hall (Veterans of Foreign Wars) an older veteran came up to him and and thanked him for telling his story, the whole story that he never could tell before.
I want to see it all over again as I missed one night. I think I will purchase it at some point.
You should read Flags of Our Fathers, the author talks mainly about his father as a medic on Iwo Jima. It is gut wrenching what they went through. I had no idea they were paid less either.Likewise, I never knew medics got paid less than other soldiers. My father was a medic in the Army Air Corps.
He’s a cornball in that he is queasily mawkish and guilt-obsessed about the social injustices of American history.Cornball? (“unsophisticted, old fashioned”) I don’t think so.
Perhaps he is right in pointing this out where WW11 is concerned. Is the bravery and sacrifice of the black, Hispanic or Native American any less than that of Caucasian American in WW11?He’s a cornball in that he is queasily mawkish and guilt-obsessed about the social injustices of American history.
I’ve met the man and my husband interviewed him at length here in Mobile; he is anything but “queasily mawkish”. He is plain-spoken and doesn’t shy away from unpleasant truths. Perhaps social injustices require a little guiltHe’s a cornball in that he is queasily mawkish and guilt-obsessed about the social injustices of American history.
He admitted in an interview a couple of years ago that racism was the underlying theme common to his documentaries. Now why would he stress racism to that extent unless he wanted to provoke the usual sense of queasy guilt about American history that we are familiar with in modern history books?Ken Burns was right to point out the racism. I grew up in the segregated South. I well remember “colored” water fountains, the bus drivers stating to black people “step to the back of the bus” and on and on. It is a very valid point. He’s not using racism to play upon guilt. It is simply hard to remember that today’s world is not the world of the 40s where such things were a matter of fact.
Perhaps racism was the underlying theme because it was so pervasive in the aspects of American life (Civil War, baseball, WWII) that his documentaries detail. And, perhaps a little guilt, or at least acknowledgment, is required.He admitted in an interview a couple of years ago that racism was the underlying theme common to his documentaries. Now why would he stress racism to that extent unless he wanted to provoke the usual sense of queasy guilt about American history that we are familiar with in modern history books?
We have our own everyday,matter-of-fact injustices,such as the exploitation of Mexican illegal aliens and outsource laborers,and poor people who live in ghettos being pushed around by urban developers,unfairly incarcerated,and brutalized by the police.
It would be more practical and honest to awaken people’s consciences about current injustices than to stress the injustices of the past.