In my class that I am currently taking called, American/Japanese Memories of WW2, the class is going over the process of remembering and how social memory is constructed. Pearl Harbor is a good example. Right after Pearl Harbor, everyone was up in arms wonder how the heck something as destructive as this could have happened on our shores. Some felt that it was the Roosevelt administration's fault because they were trying to get a "backdoor" into WW2. Since the general public would have never joined such a war of this magnitude just for valor, it made sense that the government let Pearl Harbor take place in order to justify entering "The Great War."
Others, felt that we were just a nation that wasn't ready. We were a "sleeping" nation and need to step up our security. Hence why the Central Intelligence Agency and other things of this nature were born.
Overall, there were many different theories of why this happened. All of these are important because we still to this day do not know how this happened. We need to keep asking questions, not seek after an official apology from Japan like we did in later decades. I mean come on, we are looking for them to apologize for bombing one of our military zones, while we went on to drop the atomic bombs on two places in Japan that were entirely civilian. It doesn't seem fair.
HOWEVER! THIS IS NOT WHAT BOTHERS ME!
As time went on, Pearl Harbor began to get pushed in the back row of our brains. Life went on, other wars happened, so it goes. Yet, Pearl Harbor has not remained something to be studied, it has been made into a part of "Spectacular History."
On Memorial day of 2001, Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor opened up to enormous crowds all over the world, even in Japan where some of the dialog was altered to prevent controversy. Now, most people of this generation have seen Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor and it has shaped their memory of this event. Since the general public are not avid historians, mass media spectacles are all they have to look to for important events such as Pearl Harbor.
What really bothers me is that it appears that Michael Bay has become the common man's historian.
Is that scary to anyone else? Does anyone else feel differently? I know these are just my thoughts, but I wanted to know how you guys feel about this. Let me know!
Michael Bay AKA The Devil
2 comments:
I firmly stand by Michael Bay's films. He has worked diligently to bring historical events such as the introduction of Autobots to earth and the end of the world to us.
Post a Comment