tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post7186752029596247845..comments2023-12-31T03:18:37.403-06:00Comments on "E pur si muove!": The War: Stories vs. MapsLester Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-10305631323039605992007-10-27T09:40:00.000-05:002007-10-27T09:40:00.000-05:00Amy, Didn't the series at least give you a view o...Amy, Didn't the series at least give you a view of the war, "from the inside," so to speak -- the sort of thing you normally only get from a movie or a novel (except that this account is all true)? I think that's what it was aiming at, not at military history in the usual sense.Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-53086451751751375312007-10-27T08:06:00.000-05:002007-10-27T08:06:00.000-05:00I thought the series was a complete failure, both ...I thought the series was a complete failure, both as filmmaking and as history. It struck me as an odd, even perverse, treatment of the war, compiled by an odd and very perverse person.<BR/><BR/>I have never been a Ken Burns fan--the British can do documentaries so much better than we can--and I thought that this project was more or less a mess.<BR/><BR/>I doubt that most viewers learned anything, or acquired a new or deeper understanding of this global conflict, during the entire gruesome hours and hours of film.<BR/><BR/>What did "The War" do for me? It gave me a renewed appreciation for "The World At War".<BR/><BR/>It also convinced me that PBS definitely needs new leadership! If Ken Burns documentaries are the best the network can trot out, it is better to pull the plug on the whole thing.<BR/><BR/>AmyTina Boyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06317033463103056116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-45375142548836897382007-10-05T09:06:00.000-05:002007-10-05T09:06:00.000-05:00Drake, Oddly enough, I think I agree with Rothstei...Drake, Oddly enough, I think I agree with Rothstein on the particular issue you seem to be indicating here. Hearing a story that makes a person a unique, vivid individual, it becomes more and more difficult to say "... and the horrible things that happened to him are justified by the fact that they lead to the overall collective good...." He regrets this effect because he is so secure in the view that that this particular war was, as they say, the good war. I am ... well, not so happy with saying that. --- Still, you do have a point: if someone wants to do the utilitarian calculation right, they ought to know plenty of true narratives about the people they are going to sacrifice on the altar of the higher good.<BR/><BR/>Craig, LOL! I think I might learn something from a Jello documentary. I've neglected Jello studies altogether. As to your first point: yes, exactly. The big-picture type story about WW II has been done to death. Esp. on the so-called History Channel, where they seem to do nothing else (that and retell stories from the Bible as if they were history).Lester Hunthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746157071827337723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-1059129159949634312007-10-04T15:27:00.000-05:002007-10-04T15:27:00.000-05:00There have been enough documentaries about WWII th...There have been <I>enough</I> documentaries about WWII that cover the "brilliant war strategies" of the involved parties, the causes of the war, the maps, the changes in world politics and policies, yadda yadda yadda, etc. <BR/><BR/>Why should Burns trod that path yet again? This is how I've approached this series. It absolutely does not bother me that this wasn't <I>thee</I> definitive WWII documentary to end all WWII documentaries.<BR/>========<BR/><BR/>Musing... Hasn't PBS pretty much given Burns carte blanche to produce documentaries on ANY subject that strikes his fancy? <BR/><BR/>If so, let us hope he never sustains some sort of cranial trauma and starts producing 15 hour shows on subjects like "Lime: The Mistunderstood Jello" or "Why Does It Smell Like Muenster Cheese Behind My Ear?"<BR/>==========<BR/><BR/>Whoops, sorry 'bout that <I>second</I> part, there...Craig Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09411024383213082193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22657443.post-19639366070470873932007-10-04T14:32:00.000-05:002007-10-04T14:32:00.000-05:00I think your resistance to Rothstein's argument st...I think your resistance to Rothstein's argument stems from the fact that Burns-style narrative attention to individual stories helps us gauge the aggregate cost in a richer way. That is, though you do a utility calculation by reference only to aggregate cost, you can't adequately measure the aggregate cost unless you have an accurate measure of the individual costs."Q" the Enchanterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01246928390589072951noreply@blogger.com