To actually preserve the memory of WWII we should look to entertainment
Reverence has a place in WWII commemorations, but if we actually want to preserve the memory of war we must look to entertainment, writes Will Cooling
Last week saw the British establishment come together for the penultimate time to mark the 80th anniversary of a major event in the Second World War, with dignitaries including The King and Prime Minister attending a special VE Day service in Westminster Abbey. That more than eleven months have passed since Sir Keir Starmer’s predecessor bizarrely made a premature departure from D-Day commemorations is a stark reminder as to just how long the bitter final stages of the war against Nazism lasted.
When later this year victory over Imperial Japan is marked, that will bring to a close what will almost certainly to be the last set of landmark anniversary services to be attended by those who fought in WWII. A conflict that even today continues to profoundly shape the world around us will have completed its long journey from living memory to history.
Our kids aren’t learning about WWII
So it was somewhat disappointing when my son could only shrug his shoulders and explain that they had done some colouring-in when I asked him what he had learnt about VE Day. And it struck me that for the longest time both World Wars have been reserved for sombre remembrance or adult nerdery, with few attempts to get younger or more casual audiences interested. That’s a stark contrast to the media landscape acclaimed comic book writer Garth Ennis, co-creator of such international hits as The Preacher and The Boys, encountered as a child in the eighties. “Around the age of eight I came to understand that [war comics] were based on real events and real people. As I got older that understanding grew, so that I could appreciate the enormous hardships of the men on the Arctic convoys (HMS Nightshade), the savagery of the Burma campaign (Darkie’s Mob), and the political fractiousness of Nazi Germany (The General Dies At Dawn). Allowing for the natural hyperbole of stories aimed at an audience of 8-12 year old boys, there was an element of truth here that most genre fiction lacked”.
This was learning through entertainment, with the reality of the war brought to a young audience in a way they would seek out and appreciate. It had a life-long impact on Ennis, who has recently completed a revival of one his childhood favourites, Johnny Red. “Total war. Almost unimaginable sacrifice in conditions beyond description. 27m Russians dead, 5m Germans. Women fighting alongside men, in the front line and in the air. Soviet soldiers facing a monstrous fascist enemy with a similarly dreadful totalitarian system at their backs. Strange as it may seem, all of the above features to one extent or another in Johnny Red. That strip is where I began learning about Russia’s contribution to the defeat of the Nazis, and how our Cold War world had been shaped as a result. No one else was in any rush to tell my generation about it.”
Entertainment is the best commemoration
Again it’s important to note that this was high-concept, populist entertainment; Johnny Red would place a British fighter pilot on the Eastern Front to give young readers someone to root for. It’s the type of storytelling risk with such material that rarely happens outside the world of video games, with series such as Call of Duty or Wolfenstein bringing war to life in a way that excites a mainstream audience. Of course those games are produced in America, and written from a perspective that is understandably less interested about what Britain did in WWII, or what the war and its aftermath did to Britain.
Whether it’s the pivotal role played by women on the home front, the multinational and multiracial military that fought under British colours or how victory helped bring greater democracy and better public services, the Second World War still has tremendous meaning today. There is a place for reverence but there is also a place for using entertainment to spread interest in the topic further. It is a real shame that throughout this 80th anniversary year no special effort was made to produce innovative content that brought the WWII to life for new audiences. As the likes of Garth Ennis show, even something as simple as a child’s comic book can spark a lifelong interest in the broader topic.
Will Cooling writes about politics and pop culture at It Could Be Said substack