1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Running "The War" Thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Fenian_Bastard, Sep 23, 2007.

  1. Ken Burns's latest debuts tonight on PBS.
    Just wanted to be the one that started this.
     
  2. Beaker

    Beaker Active Member

    I've been impressed with the reviews/interviews I've read so far. I'm hoping his bottom-up approach to telling the story works as well as it should. Although I wouldn't mind if he featured a few historians on there. Paul Fussel is interviewed, but just as a former soldier, not as a scholar.

    Plus, one of the four towns used is Waterbury, which isn't too far from me.
     
  3. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    I've got it set for season pass on my TiVo.
     
  4. You sure it isn't WWII Prime Ticket?
     
  5. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    I think that's only available in L.A. ;)

    Oh, and I've got this thing set for the season on DVR, too. Can. Not. Wait.
     
  6. JackyJackBN

    JackyJackBN Guest

    Heard parts of a long Bob Costas interview of Burns last night. He added in Hispanics to those telling their stories when he was criticized for that omission; he said the original participation was completely voluntary, and that no Hispanics stepped forward. After the critics spoke up his team went looking for people to round out the mix. (If I remember correctly, they show up in parts One and Six.) Burns also commented that Hispanics are a much greater percentage of the U.S. population today than they were during WWII.

    Burns also had a response to those who said it was too USA-centric: 'that was by design, everyone at Cannes understood that direction on his part'.

    Let's see how this series is. I had thought I might like to see the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in KC; Burns convinced me I had to go. He has set a strong standard for himself.
     
  7. ...people complaining about too USA-centric are morons.

    What do they expect the story to be about if its about American soldiers?
     
  8. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Don't forget the Jazz and Jack Johnson series. Both of those were underrated classics.
     
  9. JackyJackBN

    JackyJackBN Guest

    Alessandra Stanley, NYT's TV critic:

    "The tone and look of Mr. Burns's series, which begins Sunday on PBS, is as elegiac and compelling as any of his previous works, but particularly now, as the conflict in Iraq unravels, this degree of insularity--at such length and detail--is disconcerting. Many a "Frontline" documentary has made a convincing case that the Bush administration's mistakes were compounded by the blinkered thinking of leaders who rushed to war without sufficient support around the world or understanding of the religious and sectarian strains on the ground. Examining a global war from the perspective of only one belligerent is rarely a good idea."

    Insularity is the argument.
     
  10. JackyJackBN

    JackyJackBN Guest

    I don't think Ken Burns is a Bush fan. (In fact, he told Costas that his politics are liberal. Costas began slobbering on him and I kind of lost track of the rest of that part of the discussion. Something to do with 'liberal in the original sense, blah, blah, blah'; Burns was making his point just fine without Costas qualifying his statement.) Her argument is a reach to make a point, I think. Stanley's too intelligent to have missed the thrust of the series.
     
  11. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    It's not as if WWII hasn't been covered before.

    The World at War series is the best
     
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Well, sure.

    Doesn't mean that we're in some dire need to "examine a global war," the last world war, from the perspective "of [more than] one belligerent."

    There are many ways to cover it -- Burns' way, I would argue, has been pretty effective on other subjects. He's earned the benefit of the doubt for this one, I would think.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page