Anything But History
"File:Suite One Control Room at DNTV-2 Television Studio, Dunedin (1960s).jpg" by Archives New Zealand is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Time was, broadcast television was a medium for mass education as well as mass entertainment.
Just a week ago, I had a Zoom reunion with very close friends of mine who had lived in Taiwan at the same time as me for years. We have known each other for 30 years now. Hard to believe that much time has gone by.
My close friends Art, Russ and Sean have been with me through thick and thin. just as my wife Jade has been with me for close to 25 years. Sean lives in New Haven, Connecticut, Art in New York City, and Russ still lives in Taiwan. Art organized the Zoom meeting, and we talked about old times as well as the present and what we might do for the future — for almost five hours! It was a wonderful reunion.
One thing Russ brought up was how there was too much violence, sex and everything dirty under the sun in Hollywood movies these days. Art concurred, and both worried how this would affect Art's children. I could understand the concern; parents want to protect their children from such "adult" content.
At the same time, I brought up the fact that what is being left out of so many films and TV shows is historical reality; what REALLY happened in American history. Sad thing is that in its effort to "give the people what the people want," Hollywood seems to have forgotten that what makes up a country is its history. The past is very much what America is all about, and what has given us our heroes, our writers, our adventurers, the great scientists and discoverers who have made the United States the great nation it is.
When was the last time we had a TV series on the life of George Washington Carver? What about movies about Louis and Clark, who explored the lands acquired from France? How about documentaries about Washington Irving or Nathaniel Hawthorne? There is almost nothing about how the West was settled, about the Native American peoples who lived here before anyone else, or any TV dramatization of our first president George Washington.
Going back to the 1980's, I only know of one TV series on George Washington, and that was pretty much it.
Instead of violence-filled junk, Hollywood should make children's versions of historical shows with our great founding fathers so the kids can learn something about American history. What makes me sad is that our kids really learn next to nothing about American history, how the government works, what the point of our Constitution is, the first five presidents of the United States, and the great people who helped make this country what it is.
I explained to the guys that one of the things I do is to help preserve local history for future generations. My most recent book, More Lawndale News Memoirs, tells something about the Latino communities I worked in, some of the people who helped contribute to their communities, and how life is for many of the people in those parts of the southwest side of Chicago. It is my way of preserving history.
When I lived in South Korea, there were a lot of TV programs for kids about Korean history. In the evening, people could watch TV dramas about Korean history as well as documentaries on other subjects.
My wife commented on how little to nothing there is on American TV of anything historical. She is very much correct; there really is nothing. I just find it sad that Americans are growing up not knowing really anything about the country they live in. Most other countries do a way better job of presenting their history through TV and movies, and I wish my country did too.
Daniel Nardini spent 22 years as a newspaper correspondent for Lawndale News and The Fulton Journal. He has published six books, including his eyewitness account of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, The Day China Cried. He is listed as an Illinois author in the Illinois Center for the Book.
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