World Wars and the Media, Tuesday

[chosehumanity]

"Good morning, everyone." Mitchell's cheer seemed a little heavy on the sheepish side that morning. "I'm Mitchell. Not Professor Mitchell - I hear you have to go to school to earn that. Welcome to World Wars and the Media. Which is a fairly impressive title and sounds properly academic, which I'm not." Unless you counted that stint in Oxford in the thirties, and Mitchell had made very sure at the time no one was around to remember that. At least it was a little more optimistic than his original idea of starting the class, which had involved saying I have absolutely no idea how to teach a class like this and possibly George having a massive fit, if things went the way they tended to.

"But let's not linger on that. The 20th century is famous for its global wars and equal consequences," he segued. "It's equally famous for being a time at which the media exploded all over the place, giving us film, radio, television, the internet..." He looked momentarily wistful. "Obviously, these two cross-pollinated. Through propaganda, but also through the reverse. Rebellions were started and extinguished with the help of rising technology. Unlike previous centuries, there was suddenly this mass of... possibility," he made an enthusiastic gesture with his hands, "Where in the middle of an armed conflict, one single image could travel around the world and change everything. The way the people saw it, the way the people thought about it... It's a powerful tool."

He paused, leaning forward against his desk. "I'm not going to bore you with more general babbling," he said, "But we'll be here to look at and discuss a lot of these things. Of course, to do so, we have to know what we're starting with. So starting with you," he pointed out a random student, "I want your name, I want when and where you're from, and I want to know what you think about war. In a very general sense. What images spring to mind what you think about it? What stories have formed the way you look at the First World War, or the Second, if you even know what those are? Or if you don't, what stories have formed the way you look at the wars of your own place and time?"

Beat.

"Also, have some tea."

[[ wait for the ocd up! ]]

Comments

Re: Introductions

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Eleanor Robinson, from England, 1917. Yes, I know of World War One, obviously," still getting used to not hearing it referred to as 'The Great War'. "A friend back home even served as a pilot. But it seems to me that in the stories of war, the ones usually overlooked are those who were not soldiers. Everyday people who just tried to go on with their lives."

Re: Introductions

[chosehumanity]

It had taken Mitchell a number of decades to stop referring to it as the Great War, and he was still known to on occasion. Oh well. "1917," he said, "Good year, that." About two years post. "What kind of stories?" he continued, sounding interested. "Can you share one with the class?"

Re: Introductions

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"Well," Eleanor thought for a moment, "I think how people's lives were affected could be a story. The village I lived in had rations for food and other supplies. All meat was claimed for the army, but people got by hunting rabbit and quail. And any other ..." she paused, "lost livestock."

Animals didn't have to be turned over if they had 'broken free' from the farms, after all.

Re: Introductions

[chosehumanity]

"Lost livestock?" Mitchell inquired, sounding a tad end on the knowing scale. "Well, you'll find that happens."

Re: Introductions

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"People do manage to find ways to get by," she agreed.