The movie, Good Morning Vietnam, takes place in South Vietnam where Adrian Cronauer, played by Robin Williams, is stationed as a DJ while the Vietnam War is going on. When Cronauer first comes into Vietnam it is still just a police action but throughout the movie you can see the problems unravel and the war escalates. In the early sixties the war was just seen by everyone as a police action and will be over soon and everyone will come home. As Cronauer states, “the war is not just being fought in the hills”. It was moving down into the streets of the cities. Good Morning Vietnam portrays how the war escalated and how easy it was to get involved.
An important scene in the movie showed how the war was growing. When Adrian Cronauer was asked to leave by Tuan (Cronauer’s friend and also a VC bomber) and a few seconds later the bar is blown up, the scene was inside the city. This shows and proves that the war was moving down into the city streets. This was an indication that the idea that this was going to be finished quickly, a view that many in the United States had, was wrong. The United States was losing control of the war and they were not expecting that and were not ready for it. In reality this is what was really happening and people were seeing it on television and started to protest against the war. With the burning of draft cards, demonstrations and riots, the turbulent sixties became marked by civil unrest.
In the movie, close to the end, there were segments that showed some actual scenes from the war. When these pictures were shown on the nightly news and the American people saw them, they had every right to be upset. To some people they were seeing their children dying and they didn’t know for what they were dying for. They began to question what their government was telling them. The millions that were against the war used this distrust to question other “truths” that they had been told, including the use of illegal drugs. The idea that that the government might be lying about one thing made some people ask if it was lying about everything. This distrust turned the sixties into a time of drug culture. Experimentation with mind-altering drugs such as marijuana and LSD was not seen as just escape, but as a way of trying to see more clearly. The soundtrack to this movie was full of songs that people of that time listened to and identified with. This kind of music also powered the anti-war protesters like the spirituals used by blacks were used against discrimination. With performers like Pete Seger, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez the protesters had a lot to work with. Their songs not only were listened to on stereos in homes, but also were chanted as anthems during protests. It was not only the protest songs that drew the protesters together, however. Songs about love, understanding and acceptance as well as songs about expanding the mind also brought the “counter-culture” together. Music was seen as a universal language that crossed all social and economic lines.
The Term Paper on Analysis Of Americas Longest War The United States In Vietnam
The reports in this novel are prefaced with a quote by Robert Shaplen, which sums up the feelings of those Americans involved in the Vietnam conflict. He states, Vietnam, Vietnam . . .. There are no sure answers. In this novel, the author gives a detailed historical account of the happenings in Vietnam between 1950 and 1975. He successfully reports the confusing nature, proximity to the present ...
The turbulent sixties, even though they were full of social division, also brought a lot of unity in the United States. When there are millions of people talking about peace and stopping a war that was supported by the government, that government must listen. By speaking out in public, other people are bound to hear and maybe even follow along. One good example of people coming together was the scene where Cronauer is playing baseball with all the Vietnamese. The movie Good Morning Vietnam was a good film and even though wasn’t extremely educational in a historical sense, taught some about the war in Vietnam.
