The Pacific

[Mark Nornes]

Welcome James!  I know that you're interested in postwar reps, but it made me think of The Pacific. This is the new HBO mini-series on the Pacific War. Has anyone been watching this? I've only seen the first episode so far. It basically sets up the various characters (fairly typical types from WWII combat films), then moves to combat on Guadalcanal. It's aspiring to be the Pacific version of Band of Brothers, only less rah-rah jingoistic WWII fare, and more brutal in-your-face combat chaos and perhaps even questioning the premise of the war. Too early to tell from this episode, but it will be interesting to see how the two compare vis a vis representations of enemy, geopolitics, representations of violence, race, etc. etc. 

That said, one powerful aspect of watching Episode 1 was recognizing how impoverished an experience it was compared to Thin Red Line. Same boat launch and uneventful arrival. Same trudge through jungle. Same evidence of Japanese atrocity. Same battles. But hardly comparable where it counts. It may be HBO and not tv, but it doesn't shine a light to Malick's mastery. 

Markus

On Mar 25, 2010, at 7:59 PM, James King wrote:

> 
> Hello,
> 
> I am writing a book on American/European (also Indian and Taiwanese)
> treatments of post World War II Japan. This narrative would do a wide
> variety of films: e.g. Sayonara, A Bridge to the Sun, The Sun,
> Hiroshima, Mon Amour, The Teahouse of the August Moon, Mishima, Lost in
> Translation, Café Lumière, The Pillow Book, the documentaries of
> Wenders, Marker, Richie.
> 
> In recent years, my scholarship/writing has been related to Japan.
> Five years ago I published a novel Pure Inventions that is (in part)
> set in Edo. In 2007, Japanese Warrior Prints,1727-1960 was published by
> Hotei (the book was co-written with Yuriko Iwakiri). This spring my
> history of the Japanese landscape print will come out: Beyond The Great
> Wave: The Japanese Landscape Print, 1727-1960 (Bern: Peter Lang).  
> 
> Although my project may not fit directly into the interests of most
> members of KineJapan, I would be interested to hear from anyone
> interested in the theoretical issues raised by this project. 
> 
> 
> James King, F.R.S.C.
> Distinguished University Professor
> Department of English and Cultural Studies
> McMaster University