The war fought across the Pacific Ocean and East and Southeast Asia between Japan and the Allies, from the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 to Japan’s surrender in September 1945.
11 titles · in the order the archive depicts them. A series counts once, regardless of however many of its episodes carry the tag.
The Chronicle
The events and themes the archive follows through the Pacific War, in the order they happened, each with the titles that depict it. Press a name to read about it in the threads below.
The fierce campaign by the United States to seize control of the island of Iwo Jima from Japanese forces in order to secure a launching platform for continued bombing raids…
FilmsSeriesAt the archive’s paceeach bar is the titles released that decade
The median title about the Pacific War came out in 2006; the median across the rest of the archive, in 2004, so this period’s titles run 2 years later.
The gold dashes are how many of this period’s 11 titles each decade would hold if they had been released at the same pace as the other 280 dated titles in the archive. That measures the archive’s own collecting, not the world’s film output, and at these sizes one title moves a bar by a whole step.
Cast of Characters
The historical people the archive’s titles put on screen in this period, grouped by what they are known for. The number is how many titles set here they appear in.
A thread follows one event or historical theme across the archive, wherever and whenever it appears. Pick a tab to read one; they are in the order they are filed on the timeline. Pulling a thread opens up a narrowed timeline view filtered to every year that thread touches.
The surprise strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the American naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Intended to be a decisive blow that would cripple the American Pacific Fleet in anticipation of war with the United States, the strike left over 2,400 Americans dead and several capital ships, notably four American battleships, sunk. However, the absence of American aircraft carriers from port on the day of the attack left the fleet in better overall shape afterwards than Japanese planners had hoped.
The brutal struggle for control over the Solomon island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific during World War II. With its key location threatening access to Australia, the island became the site of a prolonged campaign between Japanese and American / ANZAC forces on land, at sea, and in the air.
The fierce campaign by the United States to seize control of the island of Iwo Jima from Japanese forces in order to secure a launching platform for continued bombing raids against the Japanese home islands.
Every place the archive’s titles set in this period name, with each one nested under the larger place it sits inside where that place is here too. The number is how many titles set here name it.
No title set here has been given a saltiness score yet. That is unrated, which is not the same as accurate.
Archive Density
26%11 of the 42 titles the archive sets between 1941 and 1945 carry the Pacific War tag.
This measure can help illustrate cinematic hotspots within a time period by comparing which years of the overarching, actual historical time period are backed up by a cinematic release.
Share of the 31 genre taggings across 11 titles set in this period. A title filed under three genres is in three of these slices, so this is a share of taggings rather than of titles.
Films only. Co-directors are counted individually, so a director’s solo work and their collaborations are grouped together. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.
Series only, counted once each however many episodes carry the period. Average saltiness ignores any title still unsalted.
Also on the Timeline
Part of and part of it are declared by the archive: one period counted as belonging to another, whatever their dates. Periods overlap freely so concurrent means the two spans share years, and the shared stretch is named. Bounded means it lies wholly inside this one, beginning and ending more than 10 years within its boundaries. Before and after are the nearest periods lying outside this one, with the gap in years shown instead. A shared thread is what the two have in common besides the calendar, and a period lying wholly outside this one can still share one.
Periods before, during, inside and after Pacific War, with their year ranges, the years they share with it, the threads they share with it, and how many titles the archive holds of each.
