First, on that blog technical note, you will find that the archives are slightly reworked (that whole iframe presentation was seriously pissing me off), the comment window now behaves like it did in Days of Yore, and entries dating back to the beginning of 2005 are now categorized. Each step on the categorization front gets harder - 2005 had more entries than 2006, 2004 has more than 2005, and 2003 even more than that. But we're getting there.
That's not actually what I wanted to talk about, though. I actually want to talk about my 4th of July, which is a useful springboard for a number of topics.
Here's what I did. I checked out the Ken Burns PBS documentary The Civil War (most of you will have seen chunks in school), watched about 2 fireworks go off, and pretty much sat down and watched it for three days straight - literally, as the feature itself is something like 11.5 hours, nevermind the commentary, etc. And of course I did the commentary thing, too.
I'm not generally given to displays of patriotism, flag-waving and the like. Nor am I often prone to deep reflections on it. I'm an American, and for all its faults, it's my country and I love it. That having been said, I felt it appropriate to spend my 4th watching a film on our most apocalyptic struggle as a people. I'm like that sometimes.
It was also a great chance to reconnect with my childhood, as I hadn't seen the whole series since some time in the early 1990s. Oh, I saw bits and pieces in history classes in school, as all students of my generation did, but I hadn't seen the whole in something approaching 15 years.
It's been in the back of my mind, I suppose, and I may have hinted at it here and there, but on the list of Great Formative Media Experiences, The Civil War ranks pretty highly. It came out when I was 9, and one of those rituals of going to my grandparents' house in the summers for about five years was to sit and watch PBS, which (rightly), featured it promenantly. So it's in there pretty deep. I can effortlessly recall David McCullough's narration, and there are parts of the soundtrack (and this film is, bar none, the single best-scored film EVER) that have been burned into my mind forever. I can whistle for you When Johnny Comes Marching Home or Ashokan Farewell or Battle Cry Of Freedom effortlessly, sing for you Battle Hymn of the Republic (and have, actually, in a spontaneous rendition that moved my 5th grade teacher to tears).
There's a review somewhere on the net that essentially says that everyone, everywhere should watch the whole series, and they're right. It's pretty rare that you find something on the sort of scale The Civil War has, yet so deeply engaging and interesting. It says something that it enabled my 9 year old self to understand something so complex as the war, and can yet move my infinitely more jaded, stoic 26 year old self almost to tears in places (the assassination of Abraham Lincoln may be the most tragic single event in our history). And it's a documentary that did all that. Better than most fiction, 'tis.
Where am I going with all that? Probably nowhere, but to note that, while it didn't precisely kindle my interest in history (thanks Shogun, thanks Roots), or the period (thanks again, Roots), it certainly inspired it in me, and in others - I used to sit around in 6th, 7th, 8th grade talking about it and the period, I certainly wasn't the only one moved by it - and I owe it a huge debt for that. And for introducing to me, and giving me definitive versions of, so much good music.
And maybe, you know, sometimes it's just nice to come back to something you haven't seen in a long time, and find that it is, if anything, better than you remembered, and for a time recapture something you haven't had for that long time, and maybe get something new out of it.
Like this soundtrack CD. Hi soundtrack CD. I sure wish I'd had you 15 years ago. I got things like you. And they were good. But they weren't you. But that's a story for another day.
Posted by Dwip at July 8, 2007 9:11 PM