In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Limited Knowledge
  • Robert Fyne
Repicturing the Second World War: Representations in Film and Television. Michael Paris, Editor. Palgrave, 2007. 235 pages; $85.00

In the festive, nocturnal hours of January 12, 2005, a bright-eyed, twenty-yearold, third in line to the British crown partygoer, showed up at a Wiltshire costume ball dressed in a spiffy Nazi uniform much to the glee of some paparazzi lurking in the nearby shadows. Moving stealthily, these photographers soon spotted the gregarious prince soul-kissing another reveler, a smiling female, also dressed in Third Reich regalia. When these pictures appeared the next morning, on the front page of The Sun, under the headline, Harry the Nazi, the Royal family, who lived through the 1940 [End Page 93] Blitz, gasped. Why did Prince Harry behave so irresponsibly? Was he trying to impress the girls? Did he feel robust and daring wearing an Afrika Korps swastika? Or, was he simply another silly undergraduate playing the role of the big cheese? Within hours, Buckingham Palace proffered an apology. Young people—the monarchy lamented—have a limited knowledge of World War II.

Why wouldn’t they? For many young people World War II resembles a distant blur, a shapeless, one-paragraph entry in some textbook, about forgotten places. And what about the heroes and villains? The opposing forces? Altering world history events? Did the conflict really matter or were they faded memories, resurrected like the Punic Wars, for end-of-the-semester examinations? But what about Prince Harry? Isn’t he hooked up to a cable television network? Doesn’t he watch World War II reruns? Did he enjoy Raid on Rommel? Probably. After all, he wore the North Afrika Korps outfit to the soirée.

For Harry’s generation, popular movies probably explain everything. Want to learn about Pearl Harbor? Watch Tora! Tora! Tora! The Arnhem debacle? Check out A Bridge too Far. Need information about the Normandy invasion? Look at The Longest Day. But World War II motion pictures, like slow-moving lava, often change direction, creating revisionist storylines or facile interpretations. As Professor Michael Paris explains, “the Second World War has been shaped more by the moving image than by any other form of cultural transmission.” To expand his point, Professor Paris brings together fifteen wonderful essays in a 2008 anthology examining cinema and the global conflict.

As an innovative study, Repicturing the Second World War offers contemporary interpretations about events that are now three decades old. Film titles such as Land Girls and Foyle’s War take a hard look at British home front life while Tea With Mussolini and Mediterraneo concentrate on Il Duce’s expansionism. Similarly, a French photoplay Safe Conduct and two German productions Aimée and Jaguar and Sophie Scholl detail life under the iron boot, while an American made-for-television drama, The Tuskegee Airmen, glorifies the exploits of an all-volunteer Black fighter squadron even though another U.S. production, Come See the Paradise takes some nasty swipes at Executive Order 9066, the federal law authorizing the Japanese internment camps.

Finally, an HBO screenplay Conspiracy documents the infamous 1942 Wannsee Conference where top-ranking Nazis plotted the final solution while an Italian drama, Life is Beautiful and a French title, Train of Life approach the Shoah experience in a frivolous manner. On the Eastern Front, Enemy at the Gates contains many examples of post-Cold War politics and BBC’s Bomber Harris disputes the famed British general’s tactical air war against Germany while two other motion pictures, Saving Private Ryan and Downfall, examine the Normandy invasion and the Führer’s final days.

In all, these essays reiterate the oft proclaimed notion that both motion pictures and television productions provide twenty-first century viewers their World War II history even though a great deal of superficial and inaccurate information emanates from these media. And with each passing generation—as the events of this global conflict edge toward oblivion—it comes as no surprise that a young man, who someday might wear the crown of England, would masquerade as a Nazi. Maybe the rubescent youth should take a look at Repicturing the Second World War. Why not...

pdf

Share