PROJECT
MFA
MODELs
Nathaniel Barney Douglas
Cory Storey
Julian Rubalcaba
Philip Reed
Benji Kaufman
Victoria Williams
Jason C
ROLE
Director
Designer
Motion Designer
Photographer
There is a vacancy in history, a vacancy that contains a crucial understanding and hinders us from comprehending history as a whole. The emptiness that we feel does not come from dissipated events or hollow periods. It comes from a lack of perspective, or an absence of empathetic dispositions.
We can change this. We can change how we learn about history; reading a textbook is not the same as listening to your grandfather’s war stories or watching a documentary on the 1930’s depression. Nothing can enrich the truth like listening to a personal memoir or observing life during that time period. Nothing can replace what visual images can stimulate in the heart and mind.
However if we only obtain history from one individual opinion, our perspective becomes twisted and biased; we begin to form a very subjective view. To avoid this singular mistake and to better fathom history, we must observe it as a whole, to scrutinize history for better judgment, we learn something bigger than we are told.
I believe that the portrayal of World War II (WWII) events is the most deceitful presentation of history. It was a disastrous global war that began in 1939, ended in 1945, and involved a vast majority of the world’s nations, including all of the great powers. After the war ended, every involved and affected nation recorded the event differently. Every textbook from differing regions was written in a unique perspective for either political or educational purposes. For example, the Allies wrote themselves to be heroes and deemed the Axis powers to be atrocious, but the Axis recorded World War II in the opposite manner. Looking at history from this objective point of view, how can we say who was equitable and who was erratic?
What is Crossroads?
To elucidate this disconcerting question, I developed a project called Crossroads, which is an interactive narrative piece that can be used as a tool to let people view World War II history from numerous lives. This is a collective project that follows different characters in the World War II period. Just by observing the content, the viewer can see how the war impacted the lives of the characters. Some characters in my project may have crossed paths with each other during the war, but may have dramatically different impressions afterwards.
Based on WWII phases and battle lines, the story has four chapters.
“First Light” is based on the Battle of Britain, from 1939 to 1940. In this chapter, the two characters, Micky Burns and Steve Burns were brothers born and raised in London. When fear of the war covered the city of London, Micky chose to leave everything behind, but Steve decided to fight back by joining the Royal Air Force. Through them, the audience can see two divergent attitudes of Londoners about the war, view how they survived, believed and made it through.
“Edelweiss” is based on the Battle of Stalingrad, from 1942 to 1943. The Edelweiss flower was the symbol of the Nazi Mountain Rangers. It was also the favorite flower of Adolf Hitler. It grows in the high and cold mountains, symbolizing the true soldiers’ spirit. The Austria-born sniper Josef fought for the honor of serving the Nazis, while the Russian farmer Sasha swore to kill every single German that appeared in the Russian land. Both became heroes to their own side, and devils to the opposite side.
“Day of Days” is based on the Normandy invasion, 1944. When the Allies invaded Normandy, two American soldiers suffered the tremendous pain of being in a battle in a foreign county. With the American armed forces, they took part in the airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Siege of Bastogne, and on to the war end. Their experiences and the moral, mental, and physical hurdles they had to overcome are central to the story.
“The Fall” is based on V-E day, 1945. The chapter depicted a German view of Hitler’s Third Reich disintegrating along with National Socialism. It is a tragic love story between a German high commander and a secretary.
