Ken Burns is one of the most famous documentary filmmakers in the entire world. You might know him as the creator of a very well-done documentary on the U.S. Civil War, which came out back in 1990. Over the years, Burns has released several other successful documentaries, covering topics from “Prohibition” to “The Vietnam War” to “Baseball.” His calling card (other than his undying commitment to historical accuracy, allegedly) is that his documentaries take a very long time to produce, and in turn, they also take a long time to watch. Several of his films are more than 11 hours in length. And thanks to his deal with PBS, they’re often available for free to anyone who wants to watch them. A Ken Burns documentary, in other words, is something of an “event” in the world of nonfiction filmmaking. When Ken Burns comes out with something new, a lot of people pay attention. And your tax dollars, which are distributed to Burns via PBS, a public broadcaster, give his films the imprimatur of a legitimate, important historical record.
But his most recent project — a six-episode, 12-hour marathon called “The American Revolution” — is not, in fact, a legitimate or important historical record. It is, in many respects, a very well-produced piece of propaganda. Online, you may have seen some commentators dismiss the production as “woke” for one reason or another. But it’s actually far more insidious than that. If this was just another “woke” production, it’d be very easy to dismiss. When you think of a “woke” production, you think of rampant DEI casting and equity-focused writing, which makes the whole thing unwatchable. You think of a show that you can just write off, and forget about entirely. When you think of a woke film about the American Revolution in particular, you imagine something where George Washington is portrayed as a green haired bisexual. Something over the top and egregious and that nobody would take seriously.
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