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Honolulu Lite
IT'S been said that the Vietnam war was the first one brought into America's living rooms, thanks to daily television coverage. And that's one reason we got out of that conflict. Hollywood brought
war close to homePeople didn't like what they were seeing. It wasn't like the John Wayne movie where, clad in his Green Beret outfit, he walked stoically into the sunset (which was a neat trick considering he was facing the South China Sea, which is EAST of Vietnam).
No. What Americans saw was a bunch of younger Americans getting their butts blown off in jungles (jungles hadn't been upgraded to rain forests back then). It was nasty business. But more importantly, it was real. It wasn't a pre-Vietnam prettied up Hollywood production heavy on heroics but light on blood. The film coverage and resulting protests put pressure on the president to get us out of that war.
After Vietnam, Hollywood got into the reality mode. War was no longer glorified. It was shown in shocking, bloody Technicolor. Combatants didn't get flesh wounds, they got their heads blown off. And thanks to computer technology, the gore and trauma could be made to look extremely real.
The opening minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" were the most graphic scenes of war carnage ever filmed. Until then, we'd only seen film footage of storming the beach at Normandy taken from afar. It was gritty, dark and in black and white. There was distance between us and the slaughter. In "Saving Private Ryan," we were right in the middle of the battle. It was Super Reality. We could feel the bullets going by. For the first time we really appreciated the bravery it took for those men to get out of the landing crafts and run up that beach. Those who fought in World War II have been called America's greatest generation, and I think we have to thank Hollywood for finally showing us what they went through.
Now Hollywood's come to town to film "Pearl Harbor," which sounds like it will be the "Saving Private Ryan" of the Pacific theater. There've been other movies made about the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. "Tora, Tora, Tora" was probably one of the best. I remember when they filmed it in the early '70s. Some older families in Aiea were chilled to see Japanese Zeros flying above Ford Island again, even if they weren't the real thing.
But "Tora, Tora, Tora" was more of a tactical movie. "Pearl Harbor," from what I've heard, sounds like it will be more personal. That means more real. And I have a feeling that after we see it, we'll have a better understanding of what it was really like on Dec. 7, 1941, and renewed appreciation for those who fought and died that day.
The ironic outcome of such movies and television's ability to bring war live into our homes is that Americans in general have become a lot more dovish. We lost a few guys in Bosnia and everyone began screaming for us to get the heck out of there. Generals used to figure a certain percentage of their forces would become casualties. Nowadays, Americans expect zero losses. We want to bomb from planes so high in the sky that the pilot will be hit by a passing satellite before he's hit with a bullet. We want clean technological warfare.
It makes you wonder what would have happened if CNN had been at Normandy. How would the mothers, daughters and sons of men on the beach have reacted to seeing their loved ones cut down in real time and living color? Maybe the Greatest Generation wouldn't have gotten the chance to prove its greatness.
Charles Memminger, winner of
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
awards in 1994 and 1992, writes "Honolulu Lite"
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Write to him at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802
or send E-mail to charley@nomayo.com or
71224.113@compuserve.com.
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