... At long last, comes The Vietnam War, more than 10 years in the making. The series premieres on PBS on September 17, its 10 episodes totaling a whopping 18 hours. Burns first rose to national prominence in 1990, with his documentary The Civil War, an exhaustive examination of what remains—at press time, at least—our nation’s darkest hour. But The Vietnam War, in scope and sensitivity, is the most ambitious and fraught project Burns has ever taken on. “Nothing compares to this film in terms of that daily sense of obligation, of responsibility, coupled with the possibility for art and expression,” he told me when I sat down with him and Novick recently in the Midtown Manhattan offices of WNET, New York City’s flagship public-TV station.
Novick added, “There’s no agreement among scholars, or Americans or Vietnamese, about what happened: the facts, let alone whose fault, let alone what we’re supposed to make of it.”
... At long last, comes The Vietnam War, more than 10 years in the making. The series premieres on PBS on September 17, its 10 episodes totaling a whopping 18 hours. Burns first rose to national prominence in 1990, with his documentary The Civil War, an exhaustive examination of what remains—at press time, at least—our nation’s darkest hour. But The Vietnam War, in scope and sensitivity, is the most ambitious and fraught project Burns has ever taken on. “Nothing compares to this film in terms of that daily sense of obligation, of responsibility, coupled with the possibility for art and expression,” he told me when I sat down with him and Novick recently in the Midtown Manhattan offices of WNET, New York City’s flagship public-TV station.
Novick added, “There’s no agreement among scholars, or Americans or Vietnamese, about what happened: the facts, let alone whose fault, let alone what we’re supposed to make of it.”
Might actually force me to watch TV again.
TV is not a total loss. A lot of times the View will have really interesting guests on to talk about fashion issues or things of that nature. This Ken Burns thing looks like it might be good too.
got turned off to burns when i went back to his civil war series, and in the first minutes he dropped falsehoods I'd learned since the last time I'd watched it.
He opened his series with a faceoff between army officers at the Sumter barrage. left out the fact that the confederate element was back in Montgomery, hundreds of miles from the battle when it took place. His presentation implied that they were both there, because that made it dramatic. Let's not get caught up on technicalities.
lost pretty much all regard for him once I realized he was willing to stretch the details to make a better story. yeah, there was a personal story there. two army officers from a once same army, fighting against one another, but when the fight came, they weren't anywhere near one another, but burns didn't let that stop him from implying they were both on the same battlefield, because, you know, that makes a better story, even if it isn't true.
GrumpyCatFace wrote:Dumb slut partied too hard and woke up in a weird house. Ran out the door, weeping for her failed life choices, concerned townsfolk notes her appearance and alerted the fuzz.
Okeefenokee wrote:got turned off to burns when i went back to his civil war series, and in the first minutes he dropped falsehoods I'd learned since the last time I'd watched it.
The Hardhats and the Hippies will continue the battle for the narrative of the Vietnam War, forevermore, but both sides are blinded by their biases, compromised by their emotions, and riven with fallacious hyperpartisanship, so they're the last ones who should be consulted about it.
I'll get around to checking that doc out at some point no doubt, Ken Burns knows how to make it entertaining at least, but as of right now; it's hockey season, baby, oh yeah.
The thing that makes Vietnam cool, other than the pure aesthetic of it, is that it's the two greatest army's in the history of the world, going head to head, with two diametrically opposed conops, in the most exotic and mysterious battlefield you could ever devise. A Rumble in the Jungle, for the ages.
It's like an ultimate fantasy matchup, Julius Ceasar v. Genghis Khan, Frederick the Great v. Geronimo, on an alien world straight from outer space to level the playing field, with the best soundtrack of any war ever.
Lots of bias with the Civil War. One of the most interesting things I've heard recently about the Vietnam Era is that the protests were comprised of primarily college going Boomers, only 7% of the Boomers went to college.
I some similarities today, with this tiny group of Antifa and a tiny group of white lives matter folks clashing with each other
Seen up to episode 8 now. Easy to watch and informative. Ken Burns seems to lean towards liberal but covers all the issues.
8th episode covered My Lai. I hadn't realised the numbers were so high. I think that once the truth came out 18 months later the anti-war protesters had the high ground. When your army massacres over 500 civilians in your name, and then covers it up, it is much harder to support them especially when all the politicians have is '' domino theory ''.
Makes me laugh how the series is described as 18 hrs long. It is on the BBC here so no adverts, each episode is 55 mins so it comes out as 9 hrs 10 mins. Are you really getting 9 hrs of commercials?
For legal reasons, we are not threatening to destroy U.S. government property with our glorious medieval siege engine. But if we wanted to, we could. But we won’t. But we could.
