In the next decade, physical warfare, such as the Gulf War, relied on the gift of CNN and other electronic media and satellite technology. When the battlefield was bombarded, we, who were thousands of miles away, had nothing to do with a decisive victory. Accepted the bombardment from the media 7-11 and pointed at the screen.
The memory of war on this island is therefore often shrouded in the framework of virtual reality, unable to refer to the immediate historical situation and social relations; the wars seem to be unfolding in a foreign country, and the killings have nothing to do with themselves. In contrast, Hollywood in the United States, which produces the most memory of war, has described this theme like a fountain, and each generation has different interpretations.
For example, the author watched "Rescue Private Wren" for the third time a few days ago, and still felt shocked; contrary to the way of shooting war films in the past, director Steven Spielberg used a lot of lens language close to documentaries, starting from the POV (Point Of View, subjective lens), to bring out the emotions and scenes that are closest to the actual situation of the Omaha beachhead battlefield, so that the viewer has a sense of being there. Searching the island for comments on this film on the Internet, most of the young viewers were obviously deeply impacted by the audio-visual effects, feeling the terrible war and praying for peace one after another. The author is unwilling to make a sudden assertion that this view is vague. However, the author can't help but think of the veterans who survived the Omaha beaches, such as Rennes in the film, or some old man from Germany on the other side of the Atlantic. Fifty years later, when they enter a movie theater with excellent sound and light effects, how many turbulent memories will they have in their hearts when watching this film?
In the last street battle of the film, the director described in detail a German army and an American army bayonet in the attic, and finally the blade was slowly inserted into a certain youth's chest, ending his life in a few seconds; the author thought, In many corners of the island, do some old people have similar plots in their memories? And these old people may actually be beside you and me, or are they uncle building administrators? They have personally experienced the tragic Sino-Japanese War, the Great East Asia War, the Kuomintang and the Communist Civil War, or the battle against the Japanese colonial regime; did they have a similar moment when a young man who was manipulated by history had to Pulling the trigger, or raising the bayonet, ended the life of another young man after a life-and-death struggle? Decades later, when we are old, how will they view this indelible process in their lives? Will it be a kind of glory, or pain, or a blurry light and shadow on the far side of the horizon?
It seems that on this island, there is no mechanism for reviewing and chewing on such a process; what we have is constantly importing war memories, and we don't have our own writing and reflection. This year's blockbuster "Pearl Harbor" has attracted many young audiences, but for those on the island who have really experienced that era and that event, have their feelings been noticed? The author once asked a veteran. He still clearly remembered what he was doing in a cloth shop in Tianjin when this shocking news came on December 7, 1941. Memories like this may be innumerable on this island, but what kind of social and cultural space do we have that can be recorded, interpreted and extended before they disappear one by one?
At the moment when the so-called "first war of the 21st century" started, the media crowded on the islands, all kinds of talks and angles about the war were heated, but the above-mentioned problems came out in the author's mind. It seems that before we can sort out our memory of war in the 20th century, we have been dragged into the 21st century abruptly. Therefore, the author cannot help asking: in the face of this war and the reorganization of the global situation in the process, are we really ready to make an effective response?
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