By Ella Prieto, Managing Editor
Ken Burns returned to Gettysburg College on Friday to present to the broader Gettysburg community in the College Union Building (CUB) Ballroom. Long-time collaborator Sarah Botstein joined him to kick off “The Art of Ken Burns – Gettysburg Film Festival.” The event included screenings of Burns’ movies along with a question and answer session. It was also filmed by PBS.
The event began with an introductory speech by Assistant Professor of Political Science Dr. Alauna Safarpour. She discussed the pivotal moments that elections have caused throughout American history, specifically citing several elections in 1800, 1864 and 1964.
“The elections discussed in the following clips by the legendary filmmaker Ken Burns are a few of these pivotal moments,” said Safarpour. “You may notice parallels across these elections to our modern political circumstances.”
Following Safarpour’s speech, clips from Burns’ filmography were played that highlighted “Consequential Elections.” This included the elections of 1800 (from “Thomas Jefferson”), 1864 (from “The Civil War”), 1960 (from “Jackie Robinson”) and 1964 (from “Jackie Robinson”). A coda concluded the film reels, showing a clip from “The Civil War.”
President of Gettysburg College Bob Iuliano then entered the stage. He commented on how Gettysburg strives to provide a consequential education and shared his excitement that students and members of the community could hear from two people who have led consequential lives.
Burns and Botstein then gave introductory remarks about consequential elections.
“We’re now at a place where we never thought [we would be], that some of the bedrock institutions should be so threatened,” shared Burns. “In all of this, the peaceful transfers of power, free and fair elections, the independence of the judiciary are not in question. And all of those things are in question right now.”
Botstien added, “I think we see every time we have the national election the exposure to what divides us and what unites us…I think that’s how I like to think about how we approach scenes about our politics, scenes about elections, scenes about crisis and scenes about consequence.”
The floor was then opened to questions from the audience. The first, from a student, asked what similarities the two see between the 1968 election and the Vietnam War with the upcoming election and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Burns answered, commenting on how he often finds there to be a timelessness in conflicts. He elaborated that issues such as mass demonstrations, asymmetrical warfare, isolationism and more continue to pop up throughout history and that the Vietnam War and the Israel-Palestine conflict are examples of this. However, he does feel that a new element has been added, with the current election having a candidate that Burns feels cares more about himself than his country.
“What [1968] didn’t have is a character that is so devoutly devoted to themselves and not to the well-being of the United States,” Burns said.
The next question asked how the filmmakers believe current events will evolve in historical memory.
Burns asserted that while many claim history is written by the winners of conflict, that is not always the case, as seen in the Civil War: “Militarily, the South lost, but they actually wrote the history of the Civil War, and they’re still writing it. Unfortunately, to our great threat, the Confederate Army has not disbanded. It’s still there, and it’s everywhere, in every state… the memory gets corrupted when there’s a vacuum of attention to it.”
Botstein stated that this question is really the crux of their films, sharing, “What is historical memory, and how do you get at the truth of history and then visualize it and then bring it to life on the screen?”
Ultimately, they both agreed that history is always complicated to tell and that how our current events will be told in the future is up in the air.
Next, a student asked how they find special guests in their films, such as Elisha Hunt Rhodes and Sam Watkins.
Burns answered, “There’s so much serendipity in what we do. It’s really hard to describe, I could write a gigantic mnemonic just about stumbling over something, a picture, a photograph.”
He also asserted that nobody is just an “ordinary person,” and by digging into people’s stories, fascinating discoveries can be made.
The following question asked how the filmmakers navigate feeling like they are copying someone else’s work while also trying to create their stylistic identity.
Burns replied that it is important that he yields to other people in the creative process at times but that filmmaking is also a practice where creators are constantly reimagining and reworking as a filmmaker.
Botstein answered, “You have to be unbelievably decisive and sure that you’re right, and then absolutely sure that you’re wrong sort of at the same time.”
She explained that while in the creative process, creators have to “shut down all the noise and just have the most honest reaction to your work that is your own.” This can all be very conflicting, but flexibility is also important when filmmaking.
The final audience question inquired how the two navigate compromising for the sake of working and achieving goals while also fighting for values they feel are important.
“That’s a central question in American life,” said Burns. “Americans like to think of themselves as uncompromising people, but our genius is for compromise. And when that fell apart, we killed each other.”
However, he feels that sometimes we compromise too much, such as in the cases of the ⅗ compromise and the use of the electoral college.
Iuliano asked the final question for the afternoon: given the series on elections, are they pessimistic or optimistic about the future of democracy?
Burns said, “I’ve been more pessimistic than I’ve ever been in my life.” However, an interview with former President Barack Obama has lifted his spirits.
“He didn’t buy it [the pessimistic question Burns asked] for a second. He was optimistic, sanguine,” Burns said. “I don’t think he was saying that the guy he wants to win will win. He was just saying, ‘we’ll get through this.’”
Botstein answered, “I think that the complicated politics and elections and wars and destabilization that we’re having is really unusual. And I think I’m trying to focus more on the world stage and work hard to be optimistic about our domestic stage, but I do think it’s a unique time.”
Iuliano concluded the event, saying that Burns’ and Botstein’s remarks can serve as a call to action for students in these complicated times.
