World War II in contemporary culture
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The influence of World War II has been profound and diverse, having an impact on many parts of life.
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[edit] Movies and television
It has provided material for many movies, television programmes and books, beginning in the war. The movie aspect had reached its peak by the 1960s, with movies such as The Longest Day (which had been adapted from a book), The Great Escape, Patton and Battle of Britain. Movies about WWII continued for the rest of the 20th century, though less in number and included The Thin Red Line (1998) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Movies and television programmes about the war continued to be made into the 21st century, including the television mini-series Band of Brothers and Dunkirk. The majority of WWII movies are portrayed from the Allied perspective (increasingly being limited to that of the Americans). Some exceptions include Das Boot, Der Untergang , Letters from Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, and Cross of Iron. World War II provides most of the material for the USA TV channel, the History Channel. There are also some comedy shows based on the war; some examples are British sitcom Allo Allo, Dad's Army, and Hogan's Heroes. Matt Warner uses the fictitious musical "Springtime for Hitler" in his 1968 film and 2001 musical, The Producers.
National productions on the subject inevitably underline the role of their country in the war. So in British war films, as a general rule, the Russians do little, the French resistance is ridiculous or non-existent, and Britain wins almost alone thanks to its wry and clever citizens.
Many non-war-related TV shows in the USA such as The Simpsons, Family Guy and Seinfeld South Korefrequently make reference to World War II-related persons and subjects, such as Adolf Hitler, Franklin Roosevelt, battles during the war, the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the war several of the Donald Duck shorts were also propaganda films. In the sixth episode of Fawlty Towers, Basil Fawlty (played by John Cleese) bases his comical routine on the paramount need that he and his staff be polite and "don't mention the War!" to their German guests, a task in which he signally and repeatedly fails himself.
[edit] Holocaust movies
Also some movies and TV series in an attempt to show and educate the future generation about the horror of racism and discrimination when taken into a national frenzy by making movies based on the Holocaust and other atrocities committed by the Nazi party. Movies like Schindler's List, Anne Frank, Life Is Beautiful and many other movies depict the hardship the Jews, Homosexuals and Communist had endured in Auschwitz.
[edit] Asia
Due to the still sensitive subject between China and Japan (and also South Korea), the War in the Pacific and the Second Sino-Japanese war is hardly made into any historical war movies intended for entertainment use (movies like Sands of Iwo Jima). However, reference about the ongoing war as a background setting is heavily used as a setpiece to drive the storyline on. For example, Hong Kong martial arts movies have used "cartoon villian" portrayal of Japanese soldiers or generals being defeated by the Chinese lead character in an attempt to stop the Japanese from using biological weapons or stealing Chinese treasures (movies like Fist of Fury, Millionaire's Express and Fist of Legend). Some movies that depict Japanese war crimes were also made, such the controversial exploitation movie Men Behind the Sun.
More serious documentary style movies have also been made such as the German made documentary "Nanking". Also recently, to celebrate the Chinese Red Army first victory (out of two major battles the Communist actually fought) over the Japanese, a heavy-handed propaganda film that depict the Battle of Pingxingguan was made in 2005 to commemorate the 60th anniversary. However it was heavily critised by Taiwan government, accusing the PRC government for hiding the truth by discrediting the Nationalist Revolutionary Army who took the blunt of the battles as it was them who did most of the fighting against the invaders in more than twenty battles. Actually, the PRC has made several movies focusing on battles fought by Nationalist soldiers, such as the Battle of Taierzhuang and Battle of Kunlun Pass. However, for political reasons, these movies were banned and did not receive wide release in mainland China until recently. The PRC censor banned these movies because it did not wish to portray the nationalists as heroes, but in the hope of reunification with Taiwan, the PRC government nowadays portray the war was fought by "The people of China".
Also in South Korea whom still have strong anti-Japanese sentiment recently made a TV series about the Japanese assassination of Empress Myeongseong and the unfair treatment of the Korean people, also several movies based on Kim Du-han as a freedom fighter was made.
[edit] Computer/Video and Other Games
One relatively new development of the "WWII media franchise" is that of video games. They are an extremely lucrative aspect of the gaming industry, and many titles are usually released every year. Some established games series about WWII include Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Day of Defeat, Day of Defeat: Source, and Commandos, as well as the grand strategy game Hearts of Iron 2. In 2001, a massively multiplayer online game MMORG World War II Online was introduced, and has thousands of players refighting the 1940 Western Europe campaign. There are however also much older games about the war, the arcade game 1942 being one of many examples.
Traditional board wargaming has replicated World War II from the tactical to the grand strategic levels. Axis and Allies and other "beer and pretzel" games continue to be popular. Avalon Hill and other wargame companies produced such complex games as Squad Leader and Panzerblitz in the 1970's. Other popular World War II games still in production include Australian Design Group's World In Flames and Decision Games reproductions of SPI World War II games.
World War II has also been replicated through miniatures tabletop wargaming. Games like Flames of War, Command Decision, Spearhead, BlitzkriegCommander and others have become popular among historical miniature wargamers. A novelty is the upcoming of free internet based wargames in high quality such as Final Round.
[edit] Literature
The Settling Accounts tetralogy in the Southern Victory alternate history series of novels by Harry Turtledove features an alternate World War II known as the Second Great War between the United States and its Central Powers allies and the Confederate States and its Entente allies that bears many similarities to the real-life World War II (the fascist Confederate States is similar to Nazi Germany for example, with Jake Featherston as an analog of Adolf Hitler).
[edit] Popculture reference
The war has also influenced footballing (soccer) rivalries. Most notably, the subject of WWII is used as chants by fans of the English football team. One such chant is "2 World Wars and 1 World Cup, do dah, do dah." Before the Euro '66 match between England and Germany, one British editorial stated:
- "If perchance, on the morrow, Germany should beat us at our national game, let us take comfort in the fact that we have twice beaten them at theirs."
Campaigns, battles and so on have been commemorated throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century, mostly by veterans of the war and people that lived through it. In 2004 the commemoration of the D-Day landings took place which included, for the first time, German veterans of the war. Later that year, the commemoration of the campaigns in Italy and the Netherlands also took place. The 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp was commemorated in January 2005, while many other campaigns will also be commemorated, as well as the end of the war in Europe and the Far East.
The war also figures prominently in many thousands of novels and other works of literature, including many published in the 1990s and 2000s.
[edit] Reasons
World War II is generally considered to be much more interesting than other wars for a variety of reasons.
The war includes attacks upon and the conquest of several major nations, large political shifts, and the development of a variety of technologies which had a major affect on events. These changes provide the twists and turns required by a dramatic narrative.
The war is seen by many as a people's war, affecting the lives of everybody in the nations involved. The social and moral shifts that resulted from involvement in the armed forces, changes in patterns of work, displacments, the effects of attacks directed at civilians, and atrocities also serve as a dramatic framework.
Another reason for the popularity of World War II is that it is seen by many people as much more than a war between the Axis and the Allies. The virulent ideology, unprecedented aggression and barbarism subscribed to by both the Nazi and Japanese regimes (in areas traditionally exempt) removes any moral equivalency between the Axis and the Allies that is present between the sides in most other conflicts. Many see the war, retrospectively, as a war for the human soul, or even as a war between good and evil. Some would say this is a simplistic rendering of the War, and any real account must re-assert moral ambiguity as a consequence of the Allies' behaviour, as well as the moral culpability of the Allies in the partition of post-war Europe, perceived initial British reluctance, or the initial aloofness of the United States.
