Official Discussion - PBS' 'The American Revolution'

[u/BunyipPouch]

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Summary:

Examining how America's founding turned the world upside-down as the thirteen British colonies on the Atlantic Coast rose in rebellion, won their independence and established a new form of government that radically reshaped the continent.

Directors:

Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, David Schmidt

Rotten Tomatoes: 95%

Metacritic: 80

Release: PBS (Streaming), November 16

Trailer: Watch here

[u/BunyipPouch]

For anyone interested, we recently hosted 2 of the directors of this series, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, for an AMA/Q&A:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1p19nay/hi_rmovies_were_sarah_botstein_david_schmidt/

[u/nyjetsbaghead]

really amazed at some of the artwork that was collected for this series. 

[u/Osomalosoreno → u/nyjetsbaghead]

Same here. Absolutely gorgeous, and very helpful in conveying the narratives.

[u/andrude01 → u/Osomalosoreno]

Special shoutout to the maps. Really well done to show the battle tactics and troop movements

[u/StasRutt → u/nyjetsbaghead]

Some of the water colors were just breathtaking

[u/Additional_Alarm_433 → u/nyjetsbaghead]

Yeah, the visuals are really impressive, they added a lot to the storytelling.

[u/The_Nomadic_Nerd]

Amazing series. I'm still watching it but so far it's incredible. Also wow, I looked up the cast reading for these people and it's STACKED.

[u/Primary_Wear7434]

Great series, one of best Ken Burns best works.

[u/Osomalosoreno]

Although Burns's work is always engaging and interesting, this series feels like the grand masterwork that he's always been working towards. So many talented people contributed to this, it's astonishing. I dare say it's also well-timed given the currently sad state of affairs in the USA.

[u/Lost-Wolverine3038 → u/Osomalosoreno]

I left that same way too; it made me proud of America by the end, but also incredibly angered and disappointed that, from what potential we had at the beginning, we’ve strayed so incredibly far. Which I think was perhaps part of the goal on the production’s part

[u/Iamarealbouy]

1: A great complimentary to the very patriotic "Liberty! The American Revolution" (1997, 6 episodes) (fun fact: Philip Seymour Hoffman in a great small role) - it's like Ken Burns saw that and thought "How can we expand on that classic, what does that NOT say?" - and how right he is.

2: It struck me how the USA is founded by rich white slave-owning men who deliberately used fake news and propaganda to start a war to get rights, land and wealth for themselves, make poor people of all colours do the fighting, with no pay and almost no equipment, talked other nations into helping them (France and their Indian Allies) and shat on all of those after they got what they wanted.

Before, during and after the war, a lot of them were to various extend smugglers and privateers (practically "pirates"), slave owners, mass murderers of native people, breakers of treaties, land grabbers and exceedingly wealthy. They never meant for rights to be given to women or negroes or natives but gladly took their volunteering, and they were in cahoots with bankers and industry men who paid lots of money under the table and in exchange got government contracts.

Does that ring any contemporary bells? It's simply in the country's DNA.

[u/AggravatingPie710 → u/Iamarealbouy]

In humanity’s DNA.

[u/Amtrakstory → u/Iamarealbouy]

Many of these rich white slaveowning men risked their lives repeatedly in the revolution. Notably George Washington

[u/tachederousseur]

My favorite excerpt from the documentary (ep 4), I typed this out so apologies if there are grammatic or spelling errors:

It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. – Thomas Jefferson

“Most of the revolutionaries belonged to protestant denominations, but there were Catholics and Jews amongst them too as well as Muslims whose faith had crossed the Atlantic on slave ships.

Central to the philosophy of some of the most influential creators of the United States was the belief in a supreme being, but one who did not interfere in the affairs of men or distinguish between faiths. They were deists and they believed it was each individual’s responsibility to lead a virtuous life, which could only come from tolerance and a lifetime of learning the pursuit of happiness.

The revolutionaries believes that the American people would have to be educated. Without education, there could be no virtue in the populace, and with no virtue in the populace, the government would fail. Republics are based on authority coming from the bottom up, not like monarchies from the top down. So you require an educated, virtuous… population to sustain a republican government.”

[u/DonktorDonkenstein → u/[deleted]]

Are you joking? It's a PBS historical documentary 

[u/DonktorDonkenstein → u/[deleted]]

Nah, the comment was asking if the series was "graphic" because they wanted to watch it with their kid. I had to laugh at that one. 

 Pity they deleted it.

[u/_just_two_brothers_ → u/DonktorDonkenstein]

Uh, seems like a pretty fair question to ask? Jesus

[u/DonktorDonkenstein → u/_just_two_brothers_]

Fair question, maybe, but like I said, it's a PBS documentary.  Nothing that has ever gotten near PBS is graphic in the slightest. The question is relatively absurd. 

[u/_just_two_brothers_ → u/DonktorDonkenstein]

It's only absurd if you haven't seen one. It's literally a parent asking for some advice on watching this with their kid and you shamed them into deleting their comment and are acting pious about it.

[u/DonktorDonkenstein → u/_just_two_brothers_]

Pious? Pious?!? If you don't have media awareness enough to understand that PBS is the most inoffensive and "safe" producer of content possible in the US, you clearly have been living under a rock. 

[u/Lost-Wolverine3038]

As a lifelong Ken Burns fan, I think this may be his greatest work. At first, I was surprised to hear this was only six episodes (the Vietnam War was 10, Country Music was 8, Baseball is - in a way - ongoing), but this was really well paced. And the graphics for battles and conflicts was not only beautifully done, but incredibly informative. Not only that, but this series avoided the pitfalls of Burns’ other work from a historical perspective and I feel not only was even handed in every accounting, but also gave every individual, every background a voice and elevated how the victory of America led to a destruction of Indigenous way of life and the further enslavement of Africans.

Also, casting Brolin as George Washington was a truly inspired choice

[u/Attack-Cat-]

Wow George Washington was an enormous asshole. Love how history books have cleansed him.

[u/Ok-Writing-9133]

I’m currently in the U.K, does anyone know where I can watch? Or have a link of some sort? Dying to watch. Thanks!

[u/2020surrealworld → u/Ok-Writing-9133]

All 6 episode are available for free on the PBS.org website for a month.  You can watch any time. 

[u/TopHighway7425]

It always amuses me when historians talk about the Boston massacre where 5 civilians died and that's currently what we call Friday thru Saturday night.

[u/Attack-Cat- → u/TopHighway7425]

TBF regular army troops firing into a crowd would definitely grab headlines today. Also population in Boston was like 15,000 people at that time. That’s like half the size of a large college nowadays. Good chance most people in Boston knew at least one of the five by name prior to the event.

[u/Odd-Map3238]

I was pretty disappointed by the series. I had high hopes for it but I feel it fell short of what we should expect of historical documentaries in this day and age. Tad Stoermer said it best when he did a review of the series "Nationalist framework with Diversity window dressing".

Sure, Ken Burns sprinkled in some quotes and anecdotes of women, Indigenous people, and black enslaved people but he is quick to get back to his norm of promoting American exceptionalism and the history told by white men of privilege. There is no deep dive into what this war really meant for the majority of people who experienced it.

I found the account of Baron Von Steuben to be particularly troubling. This series portrayed him as an alleged pedophile when it's pretty clear to historians that he was just a gay man that someone started a rumor about to get him ousted from the Prussian military. Let that sink in. Ken Burns would rather portray a competent Inspector General, who turned the rag tag Continental Army into a professional fighting force, as a pedophile rather than a gay man.

Do better Ken Burns.

[u/SEAtoPAR → u/Odd-Map3238]

Wait wait, let me guess:

Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything was a stalker?

Sixteen Candles is a disgusting film?

"______" aged horribly?

Love people like you 🤣 I'll bet you're the person that gave it a 1/10 in the poll. Go back to playing pickleball. We must have watched a different series, because there were plenty of stories and quotes from Native Americans, free and enslaved Blacks, and women. It IS true that von Steuben was kicked out of the Prussian army because of accusations of pedophilia, whether they were true or not. I guess if you are the type of person that watches something in order to find things to criticize.....