Memory, remembrance and nostalgia in Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War
Issued Date
2022-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
17496020
eISSN
17496039
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85136524691
Journal Title
Critical Studies in Television
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Critical Studies in Television (2022)
Suggested Citation
Cornelius P., Rhein D. Memory, remembrance and nostalgia in Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War. Critical Studies in Television (2022). doi:10.1177/17496020221122178 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/87453
Title
Memory, remembrance and nostalgia in Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War
Author(s)
Author's Affiliation
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
This essay examines how society and culture constructs differing responses to memory and remembrance in producing documentary series that look back at the American War in Indochina. Drawing upon studies of memory, nostalgia, and remembrance, the primary focus is on the recent documentary series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, The Vietnam War. That series can be seen as a remembrance rather than an example of historical memory. The essay provides a close analysis, therefore, of The Vietnam War and compares it, in particular, to an earlier series, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. Also under discussion are documentaries contemporary with the war, In the Year of the Pig and Hearts and Minds. What ultimately can be seen is a shift from active memory and advocacy in human behavior and perspective within the contemporaneous documentaries to an institutionalized construct focusing on remembrance and nostalgia in The Vietnam War.