The Pacific: Reviewing Part 6 **SPOILERS**

[csnow]

I'm not too crazy about this show. I don't know why and the fighting is absolutely brutal. Maybe it's just me being biased because I love, love, love my Band of Brothers LOL!! It does, however, make me realize how horrific war really is. These were some very brave men!

I think the trick is; and it's a bit easier for me to do it, is to try to emotionally and mentally put yourself in their shoes. Try to realize that these events really did happen to these individuals and as you are watching; re-live these moments the best you can with these individuals. That's why I get so emotional watching Band of Brothers and The Pacific. I totally connect with the characters the best way that I can. I research them; learn of their past and post war lives. I probably get too involved, but that's just who I am, I'm a fanatic WWII person and veteran appreciator. I can sometimes drive my wife nuts. I have this 65" HDTV that sits aproximately 3 feet off our living room floor (so it's like having a movie screen). I have a surround sound system that has speakers in every all four corners of the room. When I watch the Pacific at 8pm central time, I make the kids go to their rooms and my wife goes to the bedroom (not because I make her) and shuts the door. Now I am sitting in my recliner with all the lights off and nothing but the show playing....yeah, now I'm engulfed in the show. I swear I was born in the wrong generation.

Anyways, I've heard a lot of people say they aren't connecting with this show like "Band of Brothers", so this is just my perspective on "getting connected". I hope you enjoy the last few epsiodes a bit more.

Chris~

P.S. I also love the Band of Brothers series and because of that series, I became a WWII fanatic.

[Linda]

Linda, my cousin is a movie critic who lives in Hollywood. I'll give him a call and see if he can't arrange a visit from James Dale to Aalst.

Yes please we could go explore foxholes in the Bois Jacques (see I have nothing but honorable intentions with Djeemmmzzz )

[GySgtMJones]

My son made a comment about the differences between the BoB and The Pacific which I think may help to explain some peoples’ reactions.

He said that as far as what he saw, the BoB was sanitized more than the Pacific was. He was amazed how dark they made the production of the Pacific. Not that he didn’t think it wasn’t realistic and honest, but he thought maybe they were being a bit too realistic and honest. That maybe they should have toned it down just a bit, like he thinks they did in BoB.

He doesn’t think the average person really wants to know how bad it really was. That the average person will find it extremely hard to “justify” what actually happened and what they see, unless they had experienced it.

He thinks that maybe there were more “upsetting” scenes from BoB which were left out, so as not to “distance” the audience. And because of the success of BoB, the producers felt they could show more of those type scenes in The Pacific now.

The PTO was a more barbaric theater than the ETO only because the enemy was more barbaric. The Germans were a formidable foe, yes, but the typical German soldier was not as fanatical or vicious as the Japanese soldier was. Typical European militaries have a somewhat more civilized approached to combat, normally, than the Asiatic militaries do. Both are tough enemies, just different styles of warfare to contend with and different experiences to overcome.

Tens of thousands of Germans surrendered when defeat was evident. They were not stupid. How many Japanese surrendered? Not many. The Japanese mind could not fathom surrendering. Most Americans had never faced an enemy of the sort as the Japanese were, the China Marines being one main exception, so the reactions to this style of warfare are to be expected.

I heard a comment made many years ago. I don’t know who said it, but its truth stays with me even today. The comment was: “There is nothing more naive than the young 19 year old American soldier going off to war for the first time. There is nothing more callous, or cruel than that 20 year old American Veteran returning from the war!”

Regardless of where you fight, or whom you fight, war is nothing but calculated murder in it’s greatest form, and no one who survives will ever be the same person they were before they left.

[Linda]

Well Gunny, as for me your boy hit the nail on the head there ...very good analyse!
Compared to The Pacific, BoB is almost for softies...

[GySgtMJones]

Compared to The Pacific, BoB is almost for softies...

Not sure about the softies part, but…..

Definitely different, that is for sure!

[ambulnick]

Well Gunny, as for me your boy hit the nail on the head there ...

I'll second that. However, I think that the world's mentality has changed in the last few years.

With terrorism, etc on the rise, and horrific stories coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan, people are realising that War is not such a pretty thing. That may have 'allowed' the producers to include a few extra horror stories - people are more willing to accept the actual truth.

[GySgtMJones]

Nick,

I think you have an excellent point there!

Since the early days of the War in Vietnam, the News agencies have “shown” the people all the “glories” of war right in their own homes during their dinners. The News didn’t want to miss anything.

That is even worse now a days. It seems one can not turn a TV on at all without the News plastering all the gory details all over the place.

The main problem I have with so MUCH coverage, is that the viewing public may become desensitized and apathetic. When they are flooded with so much, all the time, they may just “Tune Out” and quit caring at all. That would be a very BAD thing!