North American Postmodern Fiction and Film, Spring
2000
Reasons and Consequences in the U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam civil war
Different names for Vietnam war: an imperialist war, revolution,
a civil war for reunification, a guerrilla war, a media war, an American
civil war
reasons &
historical facts 
Consequencescultural
representations of Vietnam war
reasons:
-
World savior, Manifest Destiny, the myth of the (last) frontier e.g. Why
Are We in Vietnam? (Norman Mailer: Texas, Alaska--Vietnam)
-
domino theory
-
conservatism in the 60's; optimism and nationalism inspired by JFK; the
babyboomer generation
History:
the country divided in 1954; the U.S.'s involvement since around 1955;
support forces arriving since 1961, intense bombing since 1965, withdrawal
since 1969, and the total withdrawal in 1973, a few months after a ceasefire
was signed in Jan. The fall of Saigon in May 1975.
Strategies used: helicopter bombing, attrition (the repeated
taking and abandoning of the same territory in pursuit of a high enemy
'body count'), pacification (involving intrusion into villages for enemy
caches of documents and supplies)
Consequences:
immediate ones:
Atrocities:
A. American side:
-
58,148 dead, 270,000 injured
-
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Agent Orange
-
Vietnamese side
-
dead: (from both sides) more than 4,000,000 civilians and soldiers¡X10%
of the entire population
-
displaced: 9,000 out of 15,000 villages
-
destroyed: farmland, forest, farm animals; all six of the industrial cities
in the North
-
affected: 200,000 prostitutes, 879,000 orphans, 181,000 disabled people,
1 million widows
consequences in the U.S.: another civil war -- the anti-war movement
long-term consequences:
1.the displaced Vietnamese Amerasians, Vietnamese refugees
cultural
representations of Vietnam war
national denial at first, then burst of interest in Vietnam in
late 70's -- e.g. memoirs, fiction and films on "Vietnam war"
-
the vets as misfits -- suicidal, criminal, (e.g. Taxi Driver
1976,
Deer Hunter 1978, In Country 1989)
-
superhero(re-masculinization of U.S. culture): First Blood,
Rambo;
musical: Ms Saigon
-
killing and other forms of brutality-- Platoon; Born on
the Fourth of July;
-
Sexist:
-
memoir: Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic ( "
Awright,
ladies!¡KThere are eighty of you, eighty young warm bodies, eighty
sweet little ladies, eighty sweetpeas. . .Grab your trousers!" shouted
the sergeant. ¡ "These are trousers¡Knot pants! Pants
are for little girls! Trousers are for marines! Put your trousers
on!"
-
--"THIS IS YOUR RIFLE LADIES I WANT YOU TO KNOW IT ALL EVERY
PART OF IT!" (76, 82)
-
the role of Oliver
Stone-- from Platoon 1986, Born 1989, to
JFK
1991, to Heaven and Earth
-
anti-myth--Apocalypse Now 1979
-
"the other side of heaven" -- e.g. Heaven and Earth,
Surname
Viet Last Name Nam
confusion of reality A. Hollywood vs. reality (The
Stunt Man and Forrest Gump)
(1980 Harris Survey¡X91% "lad they served their country";
74% "enjoyed their time in the service" 72% agreed with the statement:
"the trouble in Vietnam was that our troops were asked to fight in a war
which our political leaders would not let them win."
B. The Stunt Man, Slaughter-house V (1972)¡XArmies
of the Night (Norman Mailer)
-
women's versions In Country (the novel) Democracy
(Joan Didion)
comic versions Good Morning Vietnam, Forrest Gump