The Vietnam War and Genre's Impact on Our Opinion of It

The Vietnam War era was one of the most controversial time periods in the history of the United States. Protests, bombings in colleges, Woodstock, and broadcasting real footage of our boys in Vietnam were all part of the experience that was the Vietnam War. Genre can make a big impact on the way we look at different things in our lives, and the Vietnam War is no different.

Probably the genre with the most influence on this time period is music. There are almost countless songs about the war, both protesting and approving it. "Goodnight Saigon" by the great Billy Joel paints a true picture of what life was like for a soldier in Vietnam. Men went into Vietnam "spastic, like tameless horses" and left "in plastic, as numbered corpses." This song really changes the way civilians think about the war. It tells about brotherhood and bravery, saying "we'd all go down together" in the chorus. The lyrics to "Goodnight Saigon" can be found here: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/billy_joel/goodnight_saigon.html

Movies can also change the way we think about things. Inception modifies how we percieve dreams. Titanic shows us how financial class makes no difference to cupid, and how that love can be strong enough to last after someone dies. The Star Wars series of movies tells us the story of how one man let his emotions kill everyone near and dear to him, but he made the right decision before his only son was killed. Movies do the same thing for our opinion on Vietnam. Jacob's Ladder is the story of a soldier's return home after serving in Vietnam. He suffers through psychological trauma from a drug he was given, and he becomes almost deranged. The Wikipedia page for the movie is located here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob's_Ladder_(film. This movie makes us think if other soldiers were part of weird experiments to make them suffer from the trauma they suffer, and makes us feel resentment for the government if they did. This is a U.S. fovernment protest movie at its finest.

Novels can also change us. Uncle Tom's Cabin changed the way people thought about slavery throughout the world. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is the story of a black teenager and his tour of duty in an all-black squad in Vietnam. The story deals with the main character's emotions while fighting. He feels sorrow for the enemy he's fighting, because they are someone's father, brother, son, husband, or friend. It changed the way I thought about our enemies in Vietnam. They weren't evil, just the government that controlled them was. They were just poor, regular farmers forced to fight in order to survive. Here's the Barnes & Noble page for Fallen Angels: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fallen-Angels/Walter-Dean-Myers/e/9780590409438/