The War
I just watched the second of a 7-episode series, The War, giving a detailed history of World War II as experienced by people in four different American towns: Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticutt; Mobile, Alabama; and Luverne, Minnesota. Following the experiences of ordinary Americans caught up in the war, some as soldiers or combat nurses or others directly involved in the war effort, others as prisoners of the Japanese or Germans, this magnificent 15-hour film uses both black-&-white and color photographs and films along with narration and music of the period to present an in-depth treatment of what World War 2 meant to Americans and the rest of the world, and some of the consequences of that war.
I was born about four and a half months before the end of World War 2, on March 20, 1945, and grew up amidst continuing discussion of what the war had been like and what its impact on the lives of Americans had been among the adults around me as well as on television and radio and in the movies. The cartoons I watched on television when I was a child included numerous Warner Brothers cartoons that had been made during the war and shown to motion picture audiences along with feature-length films at that time. I learned a great deal about the war, how it had affected the daily lives of Americans, and how Americans had felt about it from those cartoons, which often featured characters such as Bugs Bunny facing off against Axis enemies, rationing and other home-front privations, and numerous other things for which the period was known. In laughter I learned what it had been like for many Americans during that war; comedy became a serious pedagogical tool for me, and I was fascinated by the things I learned from those cartoons.
Since then I've read a great deal about World War 2. My interests have tended to focus on the military, sociopolitical, and other broad-scale aspects of the times. What The War does is bring home for me how those times were for individual Americans going about their lives and trying to do the best they could in scary, scary times. From American infantrymen in Italy, France, and the Pacific Theater to sailors aboard warships and Coast Guard vessels, US Army and Marine Corps pilots, and the auxiliary WAV and WAC forces as well as civilians in all walks of life, this series brings the reality of that war home as nothing else I've ever seen.
I'll have more thoughts on The War to post when I've seen more of it, I'm sure. In the meantime, if you've got a chance to watch it and have not done so yet, make the opportunity to do so. It's one of the best historical series I have ever seen, and is well worth the effort and time.
I was born about four and a half months before the end of World War 2, on March 20, 1945, and grew up amidst continuing discussion of what the war had been like and what its impact on the lives of Americans had been among the adults around me as well as on television and radio and in the movies. The cartoons I watched on television when I was a child included numerous Warner Brothers cartoons that had been made during the war and shown to motion picture audiences along with feature-length films at that time. I learned a great deal about the war, how it had affected the daily lives of Americans, and how Americans had felt about it from those cartoons, which often featured characters such as Bugs Bunny facing off against Axis enemies, rationing and other home-front privations, and numerous other things for which the period was known. In laughter I learned what it had been like for many Americans during that war; comedy became a serious pedagogical tool for me, and I was fascinated by the things I learned from those cartoons.
Since then I've read a great deal about World War 2. My interests have tended to focus on the military, sociopolitical, and other broad-scale aspects of the times. What The War does is bring home for me how those times were for individual Americans going about their lives and trying to do the best they could in scary, scary times. From American infantrymen in Italy, France, and the Pacific Theater to sailors aboard warships and Coast Guard vessels, US Army and Marine Corps pilots, and the auxiliary WAV and WAC forces as well as civilians in all walks of life, this series brings the reality of that war home as nothing else I've ever seen.
I'll have more thoughts on The War to post when I've seen more of it, I'm sure. In the meantime, if you've got a chance to watch it and have not done so yet, make the opportunity to do so. It's one of the best historical series I have ever seen, and is well worth the effort and time.