As summer begins in America this long holiday weekend, this country is marking the return of the old normal for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, and the first full-fledged season of sorts since winter of last year. Millions of people who've been given their vaccination shots are enjoying the first of those times of that we have been longing for in two years, and they are catching up on a year's worth of lost time in recreation, travel and with family & friends by the pool and at the picnic table.
But on this Memorial Day Weekend, we're again reminded of the true meaning of why we have these few days off at the end of this month of May. At some point during these four days, it's likely you'll have a chance to have a moment of reflection to remember those who have served America in times of war, and the soldiers who have given their lives in combat abroad to defend our freedoms and way of life. As it was last year, this holiday sees not only us saying thank you to those who have served in uniform, but again to also send our appreciation to the millions of essential workers who've kept us safe and healthy in this time as we finally near the light at the end of that dark tunnel of the COVID pandemic.
Though we've been seeing her throughout this entire series starting from that broken nose fight at the end of the season 1 premiere, it's only now that Amanda can lay claim to be an official cast member of Siesta Key when she was included in its opening titles alongside those who've been on the show from day 1. We saw a lot of her last year as the one in the middle of a big love triangle, and we know what happened to her phone at that infamous house warming. But drama aside, a unique aspect to Siesta has been of following the group in their aspirations, and in her case it's her being an aspiring filmmaker - something that we saw of when we returned to town earlier this month.
When the nation shut down last spring as the first half of Season 3 was airing, Amanda was attending Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota when the campus closed its doors and resorted like every other American educational institution to the virtual space. And in being used to working on projects with fellow students, she had to work on her own on what would become "Quarantine Films" - short features that gave her and others the chance to explore in a narrative form a family story that they all had to film, produce, direct and edit all by themselves at home in quarantine. The result was seen on the Season 4 premiere two weeks ago, and the story Amanda chose speaks to something that's all too real.
By the time summer 2021 comes to an end in three months, this coming September will mark twenty years since a watershed moment for our generation: the tragic and unspeakable events of 9/11, which in turn spurred the decade-long War on Terror. And it was ten years ago on May Day that people rejoiced when President Obama announced in a late Sunday night speech to the nation from the White House that the man who perpetuated the deadly attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon that fateful Tuesday morning had been killed by members of an American Navy SEALs infantry. But a previous generation also had to put up with living in a time of war, but not always for the right reasons.
In the autumn of 1955, a conflict with three nations in Southeast Asia became so much more when the Vietnam War started. In 1965, America got involved as it sent as many as 500,000 soldiers to Vietnam, 2.7 million in total and more than 58,000 troops being killed by the time of the Fall of Saigon two decades later, two years after the last U.S. troops left the country. It was the first war to be documented on television, and the graphic imagery beamed from half a world away led to massive protests, the ouster of President Lyndon Johnson and in part contributed to a decline in American morale that scarred the decades of the '60s and '70s including Watergate and successor Richard Nixon's resignation.
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| Amanda with her dad (Screencap from My Father's Daughter) |
In the mini-documentary, Mr. Miller (whose first name was not disclosed) showed his daughter rare 8-milimeter films and photos that was stored away for decades from his tour of duty in Asia, and restored by a digital restoration outlet to show in vivid detail what he went through growing up and then in the war zone... and it was only there that he saw the footage for the first time since he was in the military. He also opened up about the tough life that awaited him when he returned home, including when his second wife's father took his own life before she divorced him and took everything including their kids -- and after breast cancer took away his previous wife.
Amanda's film is entitled "My Father's Daughter" -- she's the only lady in a group of four siblings, and she says at the end of the doc while in tears, "All I wanted to do is to be the person that he's become. The relationship we have is really special." And she adds in the IGTV caption, "My dad has always been my biggest supporter and I never realized how much he had gone through and sacrificed for me and my family until I made the time to sit down and listen. Appreciate your parents and loved ones. Try to take some time to share stories with one another. You never know what you might find out. ♥️."
For more on "My Father's Daughter," SRQ Magazine wrote about Amanda's film which you can check out here, and the video is also available on Vimeo along with other "Quarantine Films" from the film department at Ringling College Art and Design.
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