Ken Burns, the Moment, and the true meaning of history to us

[KG Erwin]

I started watching the Civil War Series by Ken Burns on DVD tonight. The sound and pictures have been cleaned up and enhanced from the originial 1990 release. I also am listening to Ken Burns' own ideas on how history should be presented. He said, the idea of the quick-cut MTV-type presentation is simply wrong. We, as living participants of an event, can maybe appreciate these quick cuts, BUT, if this event is NOT within the living memory of a viewer, say, the children of those of us of the baby boom generation who viewed or fought in the events of the Vietnam War, then maybe to understand our parents' viewpoint of Korea and WWII , we need to study these images and films a little closer. That struck me, because I have a video transfer of old super 8mm film of family members who are long gone, BUT are still in my living memory. To my daughter, who is only 6, THIS is history--family history. To take it a step further, what Ken Burns has attempted to do with the Civil War series, and with Baseball, has been to give us the feeling of what is was like to be alive AT that time. He is also trying to establish the connectivity of social attitudes & behaviors from that the events he is portraying and the America of today. MY view is--too much of American history teaching is a failure simply because these events are treated as dates and events, NOT as human experiences. The American Civil War passed from living human memory decades ago, so we' re only left with letters and photographs. Within a few years the same will be true of both World Wars. My point is, let's get the vets to tell their stories before they're gone. If you know a WWI or II or Korean War vet, get their memories down in print or audio or video before it's too late. We need to preserve those living memories before they are lost to us.

[Raverdave]

Originally posted by KG Erwin
My point is, let's get the vets to tell their stories before they're gone. If you know a WWI or II or Korean War vet, get their memories down in print or audio or video before it's too late. We need to preserve those living memories before they are lost to us.

And that is excatly what the Australian War Memorial has been doing............making audio and video of vets as far back as WW1.
Listening to someone who was there has a greater impact on me than just reading about it.