The POP-EXPOSE ‘Why World War II Has Stayed So Marketable’!
(Story courtesy of Serpentorslair Contributor ‘Train‘)
Why has WWII stayed so marketable?
WWII (enough said I hope), the conflict between the Axis which was mainly the German, Italian, and Japanese forces who sought to genocide all races other than their own, and pretty much the rest of the world was allied forces who gave there lives to get to Hitler and stop a made man. Hitler was one of the cruelest leaders of modern History and the Japanese Army was relentless in the Pacific to try and keep control of their nation.
There have been many movies and toy lines bases on WWII though. I have to guess there is 1000 upon 1000 of movies about WWII. One of the first I saw in the mid 80’s was The Big Red One, one of the first things that grabbed me about the movie was Luke Skywalker(Mark Hamill) was in it. Over the years many have caught my eye, “Battleground”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” with none other then Alec Guinness, “Schindler’s List”, “Diary of Ann Frank, Inglorious Bastards”, “Monument Men” and most recent “Fury”. Also there were the remarkable mini series “Band of Brothers” and “Pacific”. I have also caught many Netflix movies made in the past few years that were quite good. Who can forget Hogan’s Heroes, and various other TV cameo appearances such as Family Guy. On top of the movies there have been toy lines ranging from the little Green Army men, to 3-3/4 line, and probably most popular in the WWII genre are the 12 inch figures, which I do have a nice collection of. There are also countless books and documentation on WWII, some of my favorites are “Helmet for My Pillow” by Eugene Sledge, and I have post recently started reading The Tigers of Bastogne”, I also own quite a few of documentary books with pictures and captions of the war. I’m not a big gamer, but there have been a number of video games over the year.
So I’m not quite sure what is keeping this era so popular. I believe the major surviving population that were involved in the war are getting up into their late 80’s and well into their 90’s. I know I still am very interested in learning about WWII. Perhaps it is the magnitude and the grand stage of people it affected, from the guy on the front line charging on after see his buddy fall beside him from people behind the front lines, to pilots, war ships, supply ships, and men an women back home who sacrificed and dedicated their efforts toward defeating a cruel and crazy monster. Perhaps it was the dedication and perseverance that a nation came together and fought as one to defeat the enemy. Either way WWII has stayed a staple in American History.
