 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
24.143.15.23
In Reply to: Ken Burns documentary opinions please; the best and worst posted by grinagog on January 22, 2005 at 06:31:49:
Ken Burns is a pompous ass. Don't waste your time and money with his films. Virtually all of his material comes from secondary sources, but he trumpets it like undiscovered truths, and he has come to enlighten the ignorant masses. A Northeastern, elitist, left wing bias in essentially all his work further degrades the value of his films.
Follow Ups:
That would be right wing and conservative...
Maybe, maybe not, but I'm not making documentaries that are touted to be the absolute truth when if fact they are full of subjective intrepretations from a consistently one-sided view.
Care to be specific? I suspect that Burns is liberal, and while I would not agree with his politics, I fail to see how his politics have influenced his work, other than the screen time he gives to black people.Their plight was central to the Civil War, and so could not be avoided. What was inaccurate about that documentary? Did he come across too strong against slavery?
His documentary "Baseball" was very accurate. I thought his focus was too broad, but hardly slanted. Or inaccurate.
"Jazz" was good for what it was. And he did rely on Marsalis and company. While I do not agree with everything Marsalis says, he certainly knows his jazz history.
So please tell us where he went wrong, what facts were inaccurate, what the other side is, and what "subjective" interpretations you are referring to.
Can't say much bacause I'm at work, but this is my take.Baseball: too much Burns, not enough baseball. Commentary by experts, but much less from living exponents of the game. Example: Mickey Mantle was alive when it was made, but not included in the film. Does Burns know better than Mantle? I assure you that's not the only lapse, and of course any one lapse may have a legitimate explanation. Five minutes with any Burns film and you can tell he's an absolute control freak.
Jazz: why handle a jazz doc like a civil war doc like a baseball doc? And, if you presume to create the definitive treatment of a vast subject, which "Jazz" absolutely did, and reduce it to the points of view of a few, narrow commentators rather than trying to gather together the much less controllable and messy thoughts of many more creative people, then you have perhaps damaged your subject more than helped it. How much is something *reduced* before it largely disappers?
This is *especially* unforgivable when controversy has stormed for years about your commentator of choice and his unusually conservative notions about what jazz is and should be. It's an amateur level boo-boo.
How to cover the entire history of baseball, with all the personalities, all the issues, such that the viewer actually undertands what happened? I suspect that a narrow focus, and tight control would be required. Hawking may be able to explain physics to me, but I would probably not understand a thing. Why did he not include Mantle? Don't know. I think that his intent was to draw people's attention to the Negro leagues, the quality of the player who played, and the white players who refused to play with black players. Mantle probably did not fit in that discussion. Clearly a lot of time was spent paralelling the two leagues. Which is why Baseball after Robinson felt rushed. But why blame him for that? I learned more about the negro leagues in that film that I knew previously. I was more concerned about content than style.I think that Burns' focus is to educate. Too many people have a problem with that, as though they are working so hard on style, that to make style a backseat to the educational value is wrong. Many complain that Jazz is a bunch of noise, players throwing notes together. Musical diarreah, I believe they call it. His movies are made for the masses, not for the erudite. If they enjoy them, and learn from them, so be it.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
