Wiki for Dr. McClurkens Courses

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You should do a total of 2-3 comments/questions/observations this week.  You do not need to post to all areas. Please do include links to sources, clips, images that are relevant to your point. -- Dr. McClurken

====== I.	How does this movie work as a secondary source? What does the movie get right about history?  ======

-- As we discussed in class, because of when this movie was made, it doesn't function as a potential secondary source in the ways historical films do.  -- Dr. McClurken
====== II.	Problems with historical accuracy? Errors in fact? ======

The movie focuses mainly on the white perspective of coming back home, and ignores a large portion of veterans. WWII was a "total war" which involved people of all races, but the film centers on the suburban white men when there are so many more stories to tell was telling for the time period (this was not even 10 years after //Gone With the Wind//) but is still a missed opportunity for telling many other important stories that are still not mentioned in discussion of World War II to this day. -- Logan Kurtz
====== III.	How does the film’s overall interpretation(s) deviate from scholarly historical sources? ======

====== IV.	How does this movie work as a primary source about the time period in which it was made or the filmmakers? ======

This movie is unique in comparison to the other movies we have watched in this class, since it was made during the time period that is being depicted. This film is able to accurately work as both a primary and secondary source of the time period. I think this film did a great job of showing how disabled veterans were treated when they returned home after the war. Homer’s disability, while it doesn’t appear to ever really bother him anymore, extremely bothers his family and those around him. Homer’s relationship with his newfound disability brings challenges to his reintegration back into his home life. The treatment towards Homer represents a mainstream attitude toward disabled veterans as they returned back home in the United States. I think this depiction is important too because it does not sugarcoat or show a rosy view of veterans. It shows a negative treatment that those like Homer faced as they returned home to their loved ones, and avoids a glorification of post-WWII America and the veterans. –Olivia Foster

I really loved the story line of Homer, the disabled sailor, and the way his disability was portrayed/treated by those around him. Obviously, there were a lot of injured veterans coming back from the war, but I like how the film chose not to focus on the difficulties Homer faced with using his new hands, but on the way he viewed them, and the way others treated him. From the very beginning of the movie the film emphasized how dexterous Homer was with his new hands, the focus of the storyline was, therefore, not on the physical impediment but on the mental. Like many veterans coming home with physical or mental scars, one of Homer’s greatest desires was to be treated with the dignity and respect paid to anyone else, not to be treated with pity, but merely to be seen as just another person; for the greater part of the film Homer only found this respect from his fellow veterans. I liked seeing how Homer grappled with his new hands; how in scenes like the one in the shed, he was desperate to prove himself self-sufficient, showing off his skill with a gun, but then lashing out at the small children because they made him feel like a monster to be ogled. I think that’s what made his relationship with Wilma so interesting to watch, we got to see him push her away out of a feeling of shame and inadequacy, how he feared feeling or being perceived as helpless, and how in the end when he showed his vulnerability, it was met with unconditional love. –Lucca Crowe

One of the things I didn’t like in the film was the portrayal of Al and his alcoholism, particularly how easily he overcame it. Throughout the film Al is portrayed as having an alcohol addiction acquired while overseas. His drinking is a common through line in almost every scene he is in. His addiction obviously causes trouble in the house and distances him slightly from his dutiful wife. We as a (perhaps more modern) audience are left to assume his issues with alcohol stem from some trauma he sustained during the war. All of this I like, it’s great, the issue comes when by the end of the scene he has solved his issues and is now only drinking non-alcoholic beverages. The issue is that the film’s writers set up an obstacle with serious implications and future conflict for the character, and then failed to follow through on those implications and future conflicts. The issue, (which I’m sure was a common misconception in the era), is that alcoholism and trauma are easily waved away, Al just needed to be scolded off screen and he was all better. The trauma of war can manifest in many different ways, but it can’t just go away.         --Lucca Crowe

This film does a good job of portraying the anxiety following the war. With the economy, they feared a usual post-war decline. There were fears of the new atomic bombs, and the brewing conflicts with the Soviet Union and China. All of these things were represented within the movie, and were likely relatable for the audiences at the time. -- Logan Kurtz

As most people have already said, Homer Parrish's depiction as a disabled veteran was impressive in both his adaptations to it and other people's reaction, and felt very true to many disabled veteran's stories who came home. However it works doubly as a primary source because the actor himself - Harold Russell - was a WWII vet and actually did lose his hands in an accident and was given two hooks. He was recruited out of a film called 'Diary of a Sergeant' that documented veteran rehabilitation and ended being the only person to earn two Academy Awards for the same performance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Russell. Harold Russell himself was a primary source and was most likely not even acting all that much, as the portrayal of his character and struggles around coming home disabled truly was his experience, which is something we haven't seen any of in the previous films since they were made long after the event itself. -- Jane Michael
====== V. The "So, what?" question	======

I think this film highlights a difference between American and European WWII veterans and when they came home after the war. I’ve been discussing post-WWII Europe in another history course recently, so what came to mind while watching this film is the difference between post-WWII veterans from the US and Europe. As Fred, Homer, and Al were flying back to their homes, they were noting the things around them that have and haven’t changed since they’ve been gone fighting in Europe. These men were able to return back to their families and homes, and while they were mentally, physically, and/or emotionally different, the war left the continental United States physically untouched. It made me wonder what a film about European WWII veterans returning home would look like compared to this, and how the effects of war on European cities affected these veterans in a different way. –Olivia Foster

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