New Burns series under fire

[ghost of miles]

Article in new issue of Current about Burns' new series dealing with WWII and the American homefront:

Burns series under fire

[J Larsen]

Ken Burns has gained such a reputation for delivering exhaustive TV summations of vast events...

I've never been convinced that the man knew anything other than how to promote himself. I don't think he's ever made a film on a subject that he actually knew anything about before deciding to make the film. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem if not for that fact that his production values suck and his research sucks.

[ghost of miles]

PBS to add Latino voices to WWII series

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

3 minutes ago

NEW YORK - PBS promised Wednesday to amend Ken Burns' upcoming documentary series on World War II to include stories about Latino veterans after activists complained he ignored their contributions to the American effort.

Burns has also agreed to hire a Latino producer to help create the additional content, PBS said.

The 14-hour documentary, "The War," is scheduled to premiere in September. PBS is hoping that it becomes as popular as Burns' "The Civil War" was a decade ago.

The change represents "a big victory for the Latino community," said Marta Garcia, head of the New York chapter of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

[ejp626]

I guess he does want to focus on the US homefront, but I didn't really think we needed any more WWII documentaries after the World at War (just starting to get into this set).

[ghost of miles]

I didn't really think we needed any more WWII documentaries after the World at War (just starting to get into this set).

Great series... I have the DVD edition & still haven't made it through all of the extra material that they added.

[Stefan Wood]

What a terrible title for the series. "The War." Like that was the only one in the 20th century that had worldwide effects.

I've never viewed Burns' work as anything more than educational entertainment, which is to say it is watchable with a little bit of informative content.

[Jim R]

Where's the bashing from the WWII vets who prefer free jazz? But seriously, without seeing this film, I'm not sure I understand the real need for each and every ethnic group to feel the need for specific representation. I can empathize with the latino community to a degree, but having expectations about something like this is tricky business, imo. Consider Burns' viewpoint on the subject (a snippet from the linked article):

The filmmakers weren’t looking for representatives of specific ethnic groups. “That is not what the film is about,” Burns said. “It’s about the experience of combat from the perspectives of a handful of people—most of whom are from these four towns.” They searched especially for veterans who could give first-hand accounts of specific battles and events.

Burns and Novick did feature stories of two groups of soldiers who fought despite discrimination at home — Japanese Americans, whose families were held in internment camps, and African Americans.

“At some point, one has to understand artistic choice,” Burns said. “Those choices are symbolic and we hope that you see the whole.”

“People, when they see the film, they will see the universality,” Burns said. “The comments that people make are not based on their ethnicity but on their humanity.”

“We knew by the nature of the way we configured this story that many stories would not be told,” Burns said. To acknowledge the ground that the film does not cover, Burns decided three years ago that each episode of the documentary will open with a title card acknowledging its limited scope. He also asked PBS and CPB to back a related project of local outreach and production.

“The film is done yet there are all these opportunities to tell all these other stories,” Burns said. “It’s not just me that can tell all these stories,” Burns said. “This is public broadcasting.”

Seems reasonable enough to me.

I don't have major problems with most of Burns' films. "Jazz" was the most problematic for me, but I still enjoyed much of it. I've enjoyed much of his other films as well.

[B. Clugston]

Where's the bashing from the WWII vets who prefer free jazz? But seriously, without seeing this film, I'm not sure I understand the real need for each and every ethnic group to feel the need for specific representation. I can empathize with the latino community to a degree, but having expectations about something like this is tricky business, imo. Consider Burns' viewpoint on the subject (a snippet from the linked article):

The filmmakers weren’t looking for representatives of specific ethnic groups. “That is not what the film is about,” Burns said. “It’s about the experience of combat from the perspectives of a handful of people—most of whom are from these four towns.” They searched especially for veterans who could give first-hand accounts of specific battles and events.

Burns and Novick did feature stories of two groups of soldiers who fought despite discrimination at home — Japanese Americans, whose families were held in internment camps, and African Americans.

“At some point, one has to understand artistic choice,” Burns said. “Those choices are symbolic and we hope that you see the whole.”

“People, when they see the film, they will see the universality,” Burns said. “The comments that people make are not based on their ethnicity but on their humanity.”

“We knew by the nature of the way we configured this story that many stories would not be told,” Burns said. To acknowledge the ground that the film does not cover, Burns decided three years ago that each episode of the documentary will open with a title card acknowledging its limited scope. He also asked PBS and CPB to back a related project of local outreach and production.

“The film is done yet there are all these opportunities to tell all these other stories,” Burns said. “It’s not just me that can tell all these stories,” Burns said. “This is public broadcasting.”

Seems reasonable enough to me.

I don't have major problems with most of Burns' films. "Jazz" was the most problematic for me, but I still enjoyed much of it. I've enjoyed much of his other films as well.

I agree. I have more issue with the marketing of Burns, where his work is branded as Gospel by media. If you view Jazz as one man's take on the history of "popular" jazz, it's OK (though the final episode had quite a few errors and omissions); but when it becomes the Marsalis-approved "history of jazz," it's misleading.

[connoisseur series500]

I don't mind Ken Burns' stuff that much, though I find his "history" too often narrowly focused. I don't know...there's worse junk on the tube.

Burns is pretty much always focused on African-American history, so you live and die by that standard. Latinos want to be represented as well. American history is more than just African-American history. Perhaps he feels that African-American history has been underrepresented. Hard to argue against that point.

I'll give an example: The Battle of Lake Erie where Perry managed to defeat Barclay's squadron even after being forced to leave his own flagship after it suffered close to 80% casualties stands as one of the more celebrated historical events in NW Ohio. Yet how many people know that roughly 25% of Perry's men were blacks?

It's not arcane history either. You can read about it in Samuel Elliot Morison's book, "Old Bruin," which was published in 1967.

[Jim R]

Burns is pretty much always focused on African-American history

Huh? That's WAY off the mark. Look here: http://www.florentinefilms.com/ffpages/films.html

Even his best-known films, while they certainly include African-Americans as prominent subjects, the films themselves are not all focused on African-Americans as a basic underlying theme. In other words, baseball and The Civil War are broader than just African-American history... anyway, look at the list of films he's made.

Latinos want to be represented as well. American history is more than just African-American history.

Again, I don't think it's up to Burns to choose to represent every ethnic group. He had a specific plan for this film.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Jim R

[tatifan]

What a terrible title for the series. "The War." Like that was the only one in the 20th century that had worldwide effects.

The title makes me think of the Fawlty Towers episode called "The Germans" Basil Fawlty quote: Remember, don't mention THE WAR", which he does constantly to hilarious effect.

[BERIGAN]

Boy, he'd better have stories about the 44,000 Native Americans who fought in WW2 . And what about the toll on German American's living in America during the war? What about Lithuanians? As a German-Lithuanian-American, I DEMAND he tell our story as well! Who does he think he is? A documentary filmmaker who can make his documentaries the way he wanted to? Just cut out the section on Audie Murphy and hire an expert on the Lithuanian-American war effort....

Edited April 12, 2007 by BERIGAN