Comparing the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal to the Film Forrest Gump - Essay Example

Comparing the Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal to the Film Forrest Gump The Vietnam War is one of America’s most conflict-ridden and disreputable wars in history, apart from being the longest. For close to three decades, i.e. from 1944 to 1973, America was either directly or indirectly involved in military and political action in Vietnam. Usually, the involvement is categorized into three phases. First and foremost, there was the covert operations phase that covered the first decade of the entire operation. The second phase is commonly described as the advising phase that covered the subsequent eleven years thereafter. The third phase covered the last years of the war, and this was the time when a direct involvement of the American forces in Vietnam was witnessed. The country escalated the war in this region. However, after the “1968 Tet Offensive,” the country began the process of disengagement and, five years later the country completely withdrew its troops from the region i.e. after the Paris Peaces Accord. This marked the end of the country’s three-year decade involvement in the war. The Watergate scandal on the other hand took place during Nixon’s presidency. In mid 1972, a group of men armed with certain highly developed eavesdropping devices broke into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters situated in the Watergate Hotel Complex in the nation’s capital. The following two years were trying moments for the president and his close allies, as the country would be shocked to realize that the Watergate incident that was initially thought to be a “third rate burglary,” actually had the approval of the state. This was the first time in the history of America that a sitting president was forced to resign due to public pressure. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast these two historical events to the movie, ‘Forrest Gump’. Discussion The movie Forrest Gump narrates the story of an implausibly kind and affectionate individual who is also the kind that some people may refer to as “mildly retarded.” The fact that this individual may not be very smart is quite true. However, the fact that he is fortunate is not in doubt. Some would say this is so because he is blessed with a mother and friend who loved him greatly. Forrest is a native of rural Alabama and is raised by his mother who rents out rooms in the family house to tourists visiting the area in exchange of cash (Ciao 17). Even though this character is viewed to be less refined and was raised not any close to the major cities, he manages to become part of some of the most significant events that took place in the American History i.e. from the late 1950s to the early 1980s (Dlugos 88). Among these events are the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Anti-Vietnam protest movements. He even gets the privilege of personally meeting three American presidents during this time. Other prominent personalities that Forrest is privileged to get acquainted with include Elvis Presley and John Lennon. This film focuses on a period of American history from the perspective of a calm soul who is devoid of skepticism. Generally, the film exposes to its viewers some of the relationships that the character develops through his life. For instance, there is his mother who is committed to ensuring her son’s well-being, his two best friends from the days in the military, Bubba and Dan, and most importantly Jenny who is his true childhood sweetheart. Even though Jenny experiences the changes in the country’s culture from a very different perspective to that of Forrest, she still manages to remain loyal and true to her childhood ally, whose genuineness, compassion, and steadfastness she would find in no other (Dlugos 88). Agreeably or disagreeably to different people, at the end of the day, the disgrace of the Watergate scandal is what the Richard Nixon presidency will largely be remembered for. Over three decades down the line, its effect and how it influenced the integrity of the office of the presidency is still felt considerably. Just like Forrest Gump, Richard Nixon rose from a humbly background and his political career was characterized by a sudden rise within the ranks of the Republican Party. This was largely influenced by his massive contribution to the “House Un-American Activities Committee.” It is from here that he managed to claim the California’s Senate sit and later became the country’s Vice-President during the Dwight Eisenhower’s regime. He was later to face two significant career setbacks. More significantly, he lost the presidency to J F Kennedy in 1960 and two years later was unable to claim the Governor’s chair for the state of California. At this point it seemed apparent to many political players that Nixon’s political career was coming to an end. However, he bounced back in 1968 and claimed the presidency (Berlant 12). Richard Nixon’s first term in office was relatively busy. It was during his second term that the misfortunes of the Watergate scandal rocked his presidency. The effects of this scandal has had some relative influence on subsequent governments, as they have found themselves enduring enormous scrutiny by an energetic Congress and scrupulous media. Watching the movie Forrest Gump is an extremely touching experience. This is because it is poignantly stirring, pleasantly humorous, and incisively explores American values during the early 1960s to late 1990s as influenced by events such as the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. It is one of those movies that apart from being strong on both style and content, is also very entertaining. One fundamental comparison that can be made between Forrest Gump and Richard Nixon is their sudden rises in the political sphere. As Nixon experiences one of the most significant downfalls in the American political history and as a result negatively influencing the political system with impacts that are still being felt several decades later, Forrest Gump goes through life changing the world without even knowing it. He influences the lives of various presidents including Richard Nixon and prominent personalities such as Abbie Hoffman, as well as the lives of several men around him. He also influences a number of historical events, one of them being the uncovering of the Watergate burglary (Berlant 12). It can be noted that the movie Forrest Gump portrays the Watergate Scandal differently from what most books have depicted of the event. Watching the film, Forrest reports to security an incident where he saw certain men with flashlights maneuvering around in rooms at the Watergate complex. He happens to be staying in the city because the president had invited him to make a visit to the White House because he had just been back after completing a tour of China as a goodwill ambassador playing ping pong. He is a man whose patriotism or rather Americanism, social and family values, and entrepreneurial commitment endeared him to be a right-winger. He never gives up on his childhood and longtime sweetheart who happens to have serious suicidal and drug addiction problems. After moving around positively influencing and changing the world he settles down with Jenny and is a loving, as well as, caring father to his son (Belton 14). Most Americans and other western world communities basically refer to it as the “the Vietnam War”. However, the Vietnamese have a different and strong opinion about the war as evident from the way they refer to it. Most of them call it the “American War”. Basically, this is to distinguish it from other foreign wars fought with other foreign enemies during the country’s bloody twentieth century. However, those Vietnamese who shared communist beliefs simply call it the “The War of Liberation” or rather the “Anti-United States War of National Salvation.” For those few American chiefs who look forward to downplaying the significance of the entire event usually simply refer to it as the “The Vietnamese Conflict.” In the long run, whether one decides to view it as a war or conflict; a war of liberation or an event less significant; an event in the Vietnamese history or a global event; the war remains to be one of those events that greatly shapes the history of America over the years and contributes greatly to the study of American history on its road to becoming a super power. As many scholars, journalists, and historians continue writing and making contributions regarding the war, it is evident that most of their final works examine the historical event from the standpoint of the US. Most of them heavily rely on American sources to evaluate and assess the war as an episode of the United States history (Power 4). Comparing some of the key participants of the war, it is observed that America has even gone further to allow researchers access to a certain secret documentation. As a result, it is basically more feasible to write about the American behavior and their participation than that of any other country that can claim to be directly or indirectly part of the war. Furthermore, some of the controversies that draw much attention whirl around the United States role in the war. Due to these facts, most interested scholars and journalist interested in writing about this historical event have found it more urgent, the need to understand the reasons why the United States acted the way they did. One of the key figures usually mentioned in the study of the Vietnam War is Ho Chi Minh. This was the man who had obtained a copy of the US Declaration of Independence from Americans who were situated in the Southeastern parts of Asia towards the end of the Second World War. Minh was the man who led a group that was referred to as the Viet Minh that had worked in collaboration with America during the Second World War against one of America’s fiercest rivals, Japan (Levy 4). After the war, this was the man who had taken control of the northern part of Vietnam. He formed a government with the hope of getting the American support, considering that the United States had just participated in a world war with the sole purpose of enhancing individual freedom and national independence. Interestingly enough, history took a different twist in this case. Minh’s communist beliefs came about to haunt him since the Americans viewed him as a threat due to this fact. The economic and the political systems of communism were always viewed as a threat to the “American systems of democracy and capitalism.” As a result of these facts, without taking into consideration the fact that possibly Minh’s greater goal was independence; America opposed the Minh’s administration in their war against France. When they finally succeeded in driving the colonial masters out of their land, the Americans this time moved in to try and prevent them from spreading the policies and political systems of communism throughout Vietnam. Unhurriedly but indisputably, America, which was already considered to be the most powerful country went to war. However, for the first in its history, the super power lost. There are many notable similarities between the life stories of Ho Minh and the character Forrest Gump. They greatly influenced the world, as well as, the American History. Ho Minh had a great vision for the country and for sure made a great impact on the history of Vietnam, changing lives and ensuring that they were free from the hand of their colonial masters (Levy 6). Critically looking at the movie Forrest Gump, the director’s desire to expose “the history of the recent United States in post-colonial vein of cultural memory” is evident, especially with relation to the Vietnam War. According to the director of the movie, “Forrest is a metaphor in the movie for a lot of what is constant and decent and good about the United States of America”, unlike what the Vietnam war depicts of the country (Berlant 281). The story of the Vietnam War is one of those unpalatable histories of America that paints a dark picture of the country. The movie emerges from revulsion at what the director perceives to be the culture of negativity that starts to mark the political public sphere in the 1960s. For instance, looking at what happens in Vietnam as depicted in the movie Forrest Gump, right from the pilgrimage to Washington, it is evident that the direct Robert Zemeckis, had the freedom of placing the main character in newsreel footage from Vietnam. However, from the perspective of Tom Hanks who played the lead role and was a co-producer of the movie, he mentions that, “we wanted to capture the reality without playing the same images that have been seen over and over again”(Belton 45). In the film, you can see Forrest Gump’s speech against the war interrupted by a pig that sabotages the public address system. Ultimately, the film appears to be more reactionary than the novel from which it is adapted. It is evident and quite clear that the film attempts to expose certain quarter’s dismay at public political life in the United States. It also exposes to its viewers a mass political movement that happens to be inspired and somehow driven by Forrest Gump (Berlant 282). Conclusion Both the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal as compared to the film Forrest Gump represent a certain dark era in the history of America that most people would really want erased. These two incidences mark the start of the culture of negativity surrounding the political public sphere in the 1960s. Contrary to this, the movie Forrest Gump largely attempts to expose a lot of what is constant, decent, and good about the USA. Even though, the era in the American political history running from the early 1960s to the late 1990s is marked largely by these two negative events, the movie determinedly attempts to reveal another side of the American from the perspective of a calm soul who is devoid of skepticism. Forrest Gump being an implausibly kind and affectionate individual who positively influences change in the society without even knowing it, shows that there are still good men in America. This fact is further stressed in the film when the viewers get see some of the relationships that the character develops through his life. A good example is that of his mother who is committed to ensuring her son’s well-being. The film also features some of his two best friends from the days in the military, Bubba and Dan, and most importantly Jenny who is his true childhood sweetheart. Even though Jenny experiences the changes in the country’s culture from a very different perspective to that of Forrest, she still manages to remain loyal and true to her childhood companion, whose genuineness, compassion and steadfastness she would find in no other. Works cited Belton, John. Movies and Mass Culture. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 1996. Berlant, Lauren Gail. The Queen of America Goes to Washington City: Essays on Sex an Citizenship. Duke: Duke University Press, 1997. Ciao, Mac. "Like a dream, a fantastic dream." The New York Magazine 1996. Dlugos, J. Michael. Mr. Mikey's Video Views; Volume One. New York: Trafford Publishing, 2000. Levy, Debbie. The Vietnam War. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 2004. Power, Samantha. "War and Never Having To Say You're Sorry." 14 December 2003. nytimes.com. 18 April 2012 . Read More