The Impacts of the Vietnam War on American Culture - Research Paper Example

The Impacts of the Vietnam War on American Culture The Vietnam War is the conflict that tore the American society apart, embedded itself in its collective memory, scarred the social psyche of the country, and altered the perceptions people have on the public institutions, the military, the media, and the government in general. More than 250 films, 750 novels, 1,400 personal narratives, and over a 100 short-story collections have been published in regard to the war in Vietnam (Summers, 1995). Most people argue that it was the most humiliating time of the American history and will remain to haunt the country for a very long time. The Vietnam War changed a big part of the American culture. To say the least, the entertainment world was greatly affected. While there are those people who supported the war, most others feel that the whole period was despicable and should not have happened in the first place. Movies such as The Green Berets which was actually the only film made during the war itself was a box office hit. The pro-war song by Barry Sadler’s, Ballad of the Green Berets sold a whopping 8 million copies in 1966 (Tricht, 2009). The society appreciated this new form of entertainment but it acted as a good way of reminding the country where it has been from, where it was, and where it should be headed. As most people regretted their country’s part in the war, it was no doubt that the movies and music had so much effect on the people and the proponent of peace. Generally, the American people had not enjoyed the fact that they had lost the war. While the truth is a lot of people’s lives were lost in Vietnam, most regrets came from the truth that America had lost in a war it had invested so much on. The movies and music that were produced during this era were, therefore, supposed to act as consolation concerning the American forces’ morality in the war. Among the major movies that were produced to do this were Uncommon Valor, Rambo, and Missing in Action. In Rambo, the most famous line was "Sir, do we get to win this time?” (Tricht, 2009) The main idea behind producing the movies was that the films that were already in theaters did not make any matters better for the American people who were already being consumed by guilt. Films such as Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, or Apocalypse Now created a very swampy and fiery hell psychopaths in form of solders sent to Vietnam. The films were modeled around the famous My Lai massacre of 1968 where scores of innocent people, including mothers and children were killed. Such movies reminded the American people just how evil the war must have turned them to thus sparking a wave of those who felt that the actions of the American military in Vietnam were justified and the My Lai massacre should not be used to judge the Americans. History is cruel. In regard to how people have written about the Vietnam War, it is evident that not a lot of people bought the idea that whatever America was doing in Vietnam was right (Jentleson, 1992). Most books write about the loss of the war and why America was to blame (Rosenheck & Thomson, 1986). Some writers have given justifiable reasons why America should not regret what happened in Vietnam, including the My Lai Massacre. The innovation in material culture was immense during the Vietnam War. In general, music and films were the most affected. People did not take long to appreciate these production as they trusted them as good sources of not only information but also consolation. In many ways, the release of M*A*S*H was very timely and influenced a lot of television production. The show attracted over a hundred million viewers which was a big achievement during a time when technology was not as robust as it is today (Rosenheck & Thomson, 1986). Since then, it is right to conclude that the technology did not stagnate. Television shows and films that are based on ‘a true story’ are still famous and do very well in the theaters. During and before the war in Vietnam, films bases on crime and horrific actions of governments were not famous in the mainstream media. Adopting the Vietnam War into a film was therefore not very easy. However, the fact that there were so many controversies surrounding the war attracted attention from producers who felt that they needed to bring some ‘action’ into their production. Today, there are countless films that are based on true events from all over the world. The recent 12 years a slave and The Last King of Scotland are definite examples of how the mainstream media has evolved into appreciating the films that are based on true events. In other words, the innovation that the Vietnam War sparkled in the entertainment industry is formidable. The war is said to have been made worse by the media. Many people depended on the media to relate to them what was happening in Vietnam. Unfortunately, and as expected, the media does not have any problem distorting information so that it has more airplay and viewers remain glued to the television and radio sets. Most people in America must have hated the Vietnamese whenever they saw them and the military who were sent to the country would not have had any problem maiming the people and killing thousands of them. The Vietnamese did not act any different from how any other group of people would. Any person will gladly kill if that is the only way to protect their home. The Vietnamese, in their hate for the American people, were justified. Later on, the media started showing the real picture and the pain the American military was inflicting on Vietnam (Mermin, 1999). In no time, America had to retreat. The news on My Lai massacre was one of the main reason that America could not have remained fighting. Politically, the United States of America definitely paid a very high price for the Vietnam War. The war weakened the faith the public had on the government. It also scarred the competence and honesty of the leaders. In the wake of the war, cynicism, skepticism, distrust and a high level of suspicion toward the authority characterized the perceptions and the view of most Americans. While the military is one of the most highly esteemed organizations in the US, for years, it was discredited and held in very low regard. After and during the war, the American people did not trust any public institution. The attitude the people had on the war affected a lot of other parts of the society. The cohesion itself was highly affected. When the veterans of war were returning home from Vietnam, they did not receive any welcoming parades. The people actually shunned the 2 million-plus Americans who had gone to war. Even the 300000 physically wounded army personnel and scores of others who bore psychological scars did not receive any welcome either. There was virtually nothing done to aid the loved ones of the 58000 who died yet these families needed assistance so they could adjust (Sturken, 1991). What made the situation even worse is the aforementioned films that hit the stores right after the war was over. The films and the television programs depicted the veterans as drug-crazed psychotic killers. They were shown as vicious and ruthless executioners and equally as vicious at home. They seemed as a menace the society had created. The My Lai massacre had shown the platoons as cruel and as people who has no glimpse of what humanity was. To the relatives and family of the war veterans, it was evident that the eruption of such crude miasma of the soldiers through contemporary art was only making matters worse. The 1982 dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was an important turnaround of events and helped reconstruct the mindsets of the people and their attitudes toward the veterans and the public offices for that matter. After the memorial, the American culture acknowledged the suffering and the sacrifice of the soldiers and conceded that a good number of them were good and only fighting in a bad war. While the troublesome specter of the war was diminishing, it was apparent that it continued to haunt the American people and in one way of another destroy the national psyche. The Vietnam War Veterans Memorial in the nation’s capital, which is the most visited site, continues to remind the Americans of the war. The icon lacks the glory, heroism, moral certainty, and patriotism that most war memorials contain but will forever remind the people of the countless young American lives that were lost due to the overweening virtue of the self-appointed messianic belief of the country. In the future, America will have more time to question the importance and the repercussions of sending troops to an outside country. The withdrawal of the army from Iraq and the passing of laws that demand that no American troops spend more than 90 days in a war-torn country is supposed to protect the lives of the army personnel and act as a good way of avoiding similar results (Sturken, 1991). Conclusively, there are already a lot of materials covering the Vietnam War. Films, songs, books, and other different publications have been made in relation to what went down in Vietnam during the war. While there are those who feel that America was right to go to Vietnam and fight, it is evident that so many others believe that whatever America did to Vietnam was cruel and should not be condoned elsewhere. Movies such as Rambo and Missing in action tend to justify the presence of America in Vietnam but the truth is that so much brutality was done in Vietnam. Conversely, the war sparkled a lot of innovation both in songs and films. The knowledge on adoption of real events for films was definitely made common during this period. In relation to culture, the Americans started viewing war from a different angle and now appreciate the importance of peace. A lot of aspects of the culture itself were changed, including the changes that occurred in the entertainment sector. References Jentleson, B. W. (1992). The pretty prudent public: Post post-Vietnam American opinion on the use of military force. International studies quarterly, 49-73. Mermin, J. (1999). Debating war and peace: Media coverage of US intervention in the post-Vietnam era. Princeton University Press. Rosenheck, R., & Thomson, J. (1986). “Detoxification” of Vietnam War Trauma: A Combined Family‐Individual Approach. Family Process, 25(4), 559-570. Sturken, M. (1991). The wall, the screen, and the image: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Representations, 118-142. Summers, H. G. (1995). On strategy: A critical analysis of the Vietnam War. Random House LLC. Tricht, B. V. (2009). Vietnam War Movies. Representations of a Controversial War. From China Gate (1957) to Rescue Dawn (2006). Read More