I think I'm Glad I threw my TV away ctb
-----Original Message-----
From: Met History <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, December 02, 1999 1:25 PM
Subject: Cross-posted review of Ric Burns' "New York"
>Cross-posted (but not written) by Christopher Gray to BP List from NYHIST-L
>listserv. (John Tierney fans: save for your scrapbook.)
>
>Date: 12/02/1999 10:34:28 AM Eastern Standard Time
>From: [log in to unmask] (Peter Eisenstadt)
>Reply-to: [log in to unmask] (A LISTSERV list for discussions
>pertaining to New York State history.)
>
>Dear List:
>
>Ric Burn's epic PBS series, "New York: A Documentary Film" has come and
gone.
> While it was being shown, I heard many comments about the program.
>Professional historians of my acquaintance, with few exceptions, didn't
much
>care for it, while my non-historian friends generally were much more
>enthusiastic. For myself, I found this long-awaited series rather
>disappointing. The level of accuracy was often quite poor. The treatment
of
>the Dutch consisted for the most part of a skein of the half-truths and
>legends, and "New York" opened with the eminent colonial historian Brendan
>Gill saying something like the Dutch were only here for the money, and
that's
>the way its always been in this town, commencing on a glib and boosterish
>tone the series never lost. Among the many errors let me just mention two
>that for personal reasons annoyed me the most, from among a bounty of
>historical inaccuracies: the use of the notorious and thoroughly
discredited
>NYHS portrait of Lord Cornbury, and the perpetuation of the myth that the
>New York Stock Exchange was founded beneath a buttonwood tree in 1792.
>
>But leave us not to pick nits. A more important issue is how well Ric Burns
>narrated the story of the city through his choice of episodes and
unfolding
>of grand themes. There were a number of segments of the series I rather
>liked, such as the treatment of the draft riot, and the Triangle
Shirtwaist
>fire. (Contrary to the vile column in the New York Times by John Tierney,
>who in defending the occupational safety practices of garment sweatshops
>c.1910, managed to attack one of the things "New York" almost certainly
got
>right.) On the other hand, many major aspects of the city's history were
>either missing or treated scantily. On the whole I felt the series tended
to
>belabor the obvious, and often was tiresomely celebratory, sprinkling
>superlatives on everything it discussed; the biggest, the largest, the
>first, or the newest. (Even the draft riot was a cause for civic pride;
only
>really important cities have the honor of hosting really important acts of
>mob viole!
>nce, one talking head opined.) For all the complaints in recent years
>about the supposed political correctness of PSB documentaries, as in John
>Tierney's aforementioned screed, it seemed to me that "New York" was
rather
>traditional in its choice of topics--heavy on the architecture, rather
light
>on women, social conflict and the pet themes of the new social history.
>Ultimately the main theme of "New York" was the possibility of triumph
over
>adversity. A friend of mine commented that the series, which time and
again
>showed New York City remaking itself, rising from the ashes of past
>disasters to ever greater glory, spoke to a personal mythology of endless
>personal refashioning that is the dominant quasi-religion of our time.
>Perhaps this is why the series resonated so strongly with the average
viewers.
>
>That's my two cents. I hope I don't sound too angry. It's not easy
pulling
>one of these mega-series off, and tough choices abound at every turn,
>especially in the choice of material. Still, as I said above, my dominant
>reaction was one of disappointment. I would be interested in hearing other
>responses to "New York." What people liked about and didn't like about it,
>and what you would have done differently? Why was the show so popular, and
>what does that tell us about the gap between serious scholarship and
>middlebrow documentaries? What purpose does a series such as "New York
>serve? And what lessons do the achievements and shortcomings of "New
York"
>hold for those who write upon or teach the history of New York City and
New
>York State?
>
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