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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Ken Burns and the Warped Mirror |
| 2017-10-21 |
| [City Journal] Twenty-seven years ago, Ken Burns mesmerized American audiences with The Civil War, an 11-hour documentary that took five years to produce. Forty million Americans watched the initial airing, and many more watched reruns or read the companion book. The series rekindled popular interest in the Civil War, stimulating a flood of books and battle reenactments that continues to this day. Burns and co-director Lynn Novick spent ten years and $30 million producing The Vietnam War, an 18-hour, ten-episode production. Anyone tuning in to media coverage or attending one of the public panels featuring Burns and Novick is likely to conclude that the new documentary has equaled The Civil War in historical and artistic virtuosity. But if one listens to American or South Vietnamese veterans of the conflict‐more easily heard today, thanks to the Internet‐the verdicts are less complimentary. During the months-long publicity blitz preceding the documentary’s release, Burns and Novick vowed that The Vietnam War would not malign American veterans of Vietnam or blame them for the war, as had happened so often in the past. Instead, the film would portray veterans as patriotic Americans who answered their nation’s call to duty. The documentary would support the troops, without necessarily supporting the war. As for the war itself, the production would not promote a particular viewpoint. "We don’t have an agenda," Burns told the media. "We’re just umpires calling balls and strikes." So why aren’t veterans as enthused about The Vietnam War as they should be? The foremost reason is that Burns and Novick are not actually impartial referees, but instead use the documentary to promote an agenda, in ways glaringly obvious to veterans though not readily apparent to those too young to have lived through the war. Burns and Novick wish to show that America fought a war that was unnecessary and unwinnable, and that it did so out of national hubris. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #9 "The Unknown War" Wasn't that the series about what the Russians call "The Great Patriotic War"? Let's face it. The USSR carried the ball to a large amount in Europe as far as WWII goes. The great tragedy of the 20thcentury is the Russian people along with the Poles, Ukrainians, Balts, etc got suffer not only at the hands of Hitler and his vision but Stalin's too.The majority of German losses in terms of men and material happened in der Ost. But one also needs to remember that Burt had a soft spot for some rather unsavory individuals . The Birdman was certainly no saint. But then he did get to roll around in the surf with Deborah Kerr. Nice beach. |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2017-10-21 18:03 |
| #8 Cut off all public tax dollars to PBS. |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2017-10-21 15:36 |
| #7 Everything the left touches turns to shit. |
| Posted by: newc 2017-10-21 15:22 |
| #6 Anybody remember "The Unknown War" hosted by Burt Lancaster? |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2017-10-21 15:11 |
| #5 Just another shot in rehabilitating Communism. A particular sport at the NYT. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-10-21 14:08 |
| #4 Haven't and won't watch the thing. While I wasn't there, I was here and paying attention from the early '60s on. It was very informative to see WWII in shows like Victory at Sea and the nightly news on VN. The commie loving media was fairly easy to identify even then. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2017-10-21 12:27 |
| #3 During the months-long publicity blitz preceding the documentary’s release, Burns and Novick vowed that The Vietnam War would not malign American veterans of Vietnam or blame them for the war, What a crock of shit - Ken Burns is as reliably leftist as they come. I refuse to watch anything this jackoff puts on film. |
| Posted by: Raj 2017-10-21 12:26 |
| #2 I watched an episode and a half before the projectile vomiting became uncontrollable. It turns out that kindly Uncle Ho was just like the Founding Fathers, except much nicer. Really more like Mother Theresa, if truth be told. |
| Posted by: Matt 2017-10-21 10:59 |
| #1 I dislike seeing the term "unwinnable" and "unnecessary." WW2 was unnecessary to us here, what the hell would we care in the US what happens to Britian, or Russia, or France? We got the Atlantic to protect us. And it was only "winnable" because we gave Stalin a fifty year window to remake large chunks of Eurasia in his image. Which may kill us yet. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2017-10-21 09:24 |