Vietnam, a place where horror and hardships took place, was home to one of the greatest tragedies we as Americans have faced in recent memory. The Vietnam war, otherwise known as the Second Indochina War, spanned from 1959 through 1975 and claimed the lives of nearly three million soldier and civilian lives. Two of the greatest depictions of this war in my opinion were the films We Were Soldiers and Born on the 4th of July. Although both of these movies reflect the same historical event, they offer a unique perspective to one another. We Were Soldiers, directed by Randall Wallace and starring Mel Gibson, emphasized the combat aspects of war and told an inspiring tale of courage and sacrifice in which the 7th Calvary displayed at the battle of Ia Drang. On the other hand, Born on the 4th of July, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Cruise, is a biography of the life of Ron Kovic who returned from Vietnam paralyzed and questioning his involvement war. I found that the filmmakers objectives were slightly diverging in the messages depicted about the impact of war on American society. This War truly reflected a dark time in American history. In Born on the 4th of July, John F. Kennedy in his famous speech stated, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what can you do for your country” (Born on the 4th of July). This idea of sacrifice for country in evident in both films as well as underlying themes of patriotism, protest, gender roles, and racial unity.
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The highest price paid during time of war is the life of an individual. Many do not understand the amount of courage it takes to sacrifice life for the freedom of others. In the movie We Were Soldiers, Colonel Hal Moore when referring to the men who lost th...
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...ally, the Vietnam War was absurd, for the Americans, it wove insanity with
Mortality” (Dewdney). These two films offer unique perspectives into the lives of our soldiers during Vietnam. The directors of these movies intended to capture the attention Americans and portray the hardships and heroism faced during war. War is an inevitable part of American society. Through screenplay the actors were able to inflict emotions in us viewers as we watch much like those who personally fought and experienced this tragedy. Everything from the roles of women during time of war to the sacrifice in which our soldiers displayed taught a great lesson of courage and unification. These one of a kind films exemplify what being an American really means. We fight for our liberties and protect our freedom by all means necessary even if the war we are fighting is a complete disaster.
The Vietnam War has become a focal point of the Sixties. Known as the first televised war, American citizens quickly became consumed with every aspect of the war. In a sense, they could not simply “turn off” the war. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo is a firsthand account of this horrific war that tore our nation apart. Throughout this autobiography, there were several sections that grabbed my attention. I found Caputo’s use of stark comparisons and vivid imagery, particularly captivating in that, those scenes forced me to reflect on my own feelings about the war. These scenes also caused me to look at the Vietnam War from the perspective of a soldier, which is not a perspective I had previously considered. In particular, Caputo’s account of
	The novel illuminates light on the situation not just during the Vietnam era, but also rather throughout all history and the future to come. Throughout mankind’s occupation of earth, we have been plagued by war and the sufferings caused by it. Nearly every generation of people to walk this earth have experienced a great war once in their lifetimes. For instance, Vietnam for my father’s generation, World War 2 for my grandfather’s, and World War 1 for my great-grandfather’s. War has become an unavoidable factor of life. Looking through history and toward the future, I grow concerned over the war that will plague my generation, for it might be the last war.
Vietnam was a highly debated war among citizens of the United States. This war was like no other with regards to how it affected people on the home front. In past war’s, the population of the United States mainly supported the war and admired soldiers for their courage. During the Vietnam War, citizens of the U.S. had a contradictory view than in the past. This dilemma of not having the support of the people originates from the culture and the time period.
All in all, every year since 1975, Vietnamese have been killed or injured and they are so disappointed. The war causes chaos and is a sign of bad omen to Vietnam. This never-ending horror could be remedied if enough Americans cared about saving Vietnamese lives, as the stars of this documentary claim they did. After all, what kind of people seed a foreign land with hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and then allow succeeding generations to lose eyes and limbs and lives? Only a “violent and unforgiving”
The Vietnam War and how it has been viewed in history has changed drastically over time. At first, during the early parts of the war the American Public was deceived by the government to think that the Viet Cong were monsters and American troops were there for the greater good and to stop the spread of communism. American Soldiers were portrayed as Heroes fighting for the common good and each was good inside. American technology and weapons were seen as superior to the enemy and the film showed battles where American’s earned victories. However, as the American public began to become aware of what really happened in Vietnam a very different narrative began to take shape. Hamburger Hill represents what America thought of the Vietnam War after
The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in the war that he wrote the book “The Things They Carried,” that showed how important the role of story telling was to soldiers. The role of stories was important because it gave them an outlet and that outlet was needed both inside and outside the war in order to keep their metal state in check.
“The Vietnam War was arguably the most traumatic experience for the United States in the twentieth century. That is indeed a grim distinction in a span that included two world wars, the assassinations of two presidents and the resignation of another, the Great Depression, the Cold War, racial unrest, and the drug and crime waves.” (Goldstein 1). The Vietnam War is widely regarded as one of the most traumatic experiences in all of American History. Innocent boys trudged through the mud, the heat and the fear that came along with fighting in Vietnam. Tim O’Brien paints a picture of how difficult and traumatic Vietnam was for the soldiers who experienced it in his book, The Things They Carried. Throughout the course of the book the elements of fiction: plot, character and setting all act to serve the purpose in conveying O’Brien’s theme of his work which is revealed to be at the conclusion: a message of universal immortality. In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried setting is the most crucial element in understanding theme, followed by character then lastly plot.
Unlike the WWII era, the Vietnam War brought realism into literature and film. There were no heroic movies of men fighting in Vietnam. Men could no longer shoot fifty enemy combatants on top of a tank without being hurt. Instead, popular culture brought a realistic view of war, death, pain, and destruction. Author Tim O’Brien, like many war veterans, struggled with his Vietnam experience and expressed them through writing. Tim O’Brien exposed the truth behind war stories because he shows the difference between WWII romanticism and Vietnam realism.
The book, We Were Soldiers Once... And Young, begins at a pivotal point in American history. The year was 1965; the year America began to directly interfere with the Vietnam affairs and send our young men to defend the notion of "freedom." During this year, Vietnam interested and concerned only a few Americans. In fact, the controversy of American involvement in Vietnam had hardly begun. But this all changed in November 1965 at the Ia Drang Valley in distant Vietnam. The Battle at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany was the first major battle of the Vietnam conflict; a conflict that lasted decade and caused American turmoil for many more years.
Finally, Tim O’Brien conveys how society’s view on courage plays an important part in the creation of guilt for soldiers in the Vietnam War. At the start of “On the Rainy River”, Tim O’Brien is drafted to be in the Vietnam War against his will. O’Brien says, “I was drafted to fight a war I hated...the American War in Vietnam seemed to me wrong.,” (40). However, regardless if one was against the war, they were forced to anyway. In adhesion, society developed one stance on the war pertaining to courage, which is that the man needs to do the bravest thing, which was to go to war and fight. Although this also ties with the theme of masculinity with men being tough, it more importantly exemplifies courage in going to risk your life for the good of the country.
The Vietnam War was a controversial conflict that plagued the United States for many years. The loss of life caused by the war was devastating. For those who came back alive, their lives were profoundly changed. The impact the war had on servicemen would affect them for the rest of their lives; each soldier may have only played one small part in the war, but the war played a huge part in their lives. They went in feeling one way, and came home feeling completely different. In the book Vietnam Perkasie, W.D. Ehrhart describes his change from a proud young American Marine to a man filled with immense confusion, anger, and guilt over the atrocities he witnessed and participated in during the war.
...ust deal with similar pains. Through the authors of these stories, we gain a better sense of what soldiers go through and the connection war has on the psyche of these men. While it is true, and known, that the Vietnam War was bloody and many soldiers died in vain, it is often forgotten what occurred to those who returned home. We overlook what became of those men and of the pain they, and their families, were left coping with. Some were left with physical scars, a constant reminder of a horrible time in their lives, while some were left with emotional, and mental, scarring. The universal fact found in all soldiers is the dramatic transformation they all undergo. No longer do any of these men have a chance to create their own identity, or continue with the aspirations they once held as young men. They become, and will forever be, soldiers of the Vietnam War.
In conclusion the soldiers use dark humor, daydreaming, and violent actions which all allow an escape from the horrors they had to go through in Vietnam. These coping mechanisms allowed the men to continue to fight and survive the war. They wouldn’t have been able to carry on if it wasn’t for the outlets these methods provided. Without humor, daydreaming, and violent actions, the war would have been unbearable for the men, and detrimental to their lives going forward.
Born on the Fourth of July is a film starring Tom Cruise who plays the role of Ron Kovic, a Vietnam War Veteran that deals with the repeated taunting of his deployment overseas and the aftermath associated with his decision to join in the war. He was injured and paralyzed on his tour and has to constantly cope with the flashbacks to his experience of killing innocent civilians while in the war setting. Throughout the film you see how a boy from a Massapequa, NY grows up and becomes a Marine in a time where people either seemingly supported the war or downright disagreed with it. With Kovic as the director, the viewer can really understand how he...
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as