How have depictions of World War I changed over time in American pop culture?

Posted 11 May 2017. 

The answer to this is pretty much the same as what I had to say about the changes in depiction of the Second World War, here.

The bigger part of the problem is one of our collective memory.

Recently, I completed a course on the Korean War, and part of my concluding statement concerning why the Korean War has been referred to as “The Forgotten War” brought to mind the First World War:

The intelligence failures which took place in the beginning and throughout the war and the ferocity of the Korean War mirrored the unfavorable aspects of the First World War as well as it shows that policymakers have yet to learn from the past when it comes to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In the case of the “Great War,” the continuous smaller battles constituted an academic problem of understanding the overall scope of chaos on the battlefield, and the Korean War posed a similar problem in that the mobile defensive campaign following the North Korean invasion was a series of frantic actions to delay the Communist offensive long enough for reinforcements to arrive on the peninsula.

Now that we are a century away from the First World War, our attention has once again become drawn to the nearly-forgotten battles and events which were part of that conflict. Verdun. Ypres. Soissons. These places still bear the scars of the war, and for those living in proximity to the battlefields and former depots, the danger is still very much present.

For us, though, the First World War was largely overshadowed by the more “popular” sequel and the fact that the tangible aspects of the Second World War – planes, tanks, and ships are still around to see. We still have veterans and survivors of the Second World War around, answering questions and attending events, though their numbers are rapidly shrinking. For many consumers of American pop culture, the First World War was in effect, the boring prequel that very few paid attention to, but provided the key plot elements for everything that followed in the story later. Until the development of Battlefield 1 last year, I would venture to say that any 20-something, when asked in 2015 to name the significant contribution(s) of the First World War were, they would probably give a blank look and say that it was before the Second… whereas now, these same folks would be able to talk semi-intelligently about walking barrages, problematic armor, and incredibly limited air support.

“How have depictions of World War I changed over time in American pop culture?”

We forgot… then we made videogames out of it.