Hearts And Minds Vietnam Analysis

Through revealing that actors had in fact portrayed Polley’s family, the film sets out to emphasise the reliability and truthfulness of the documentary as well as the recounts. Without notifying the audience that such archival footage was fake and placing this revelation at the end of the film allows the audience to really consider what the “truth” is. When asked about the making of the film, Harry Gulkin, Polley’s biological father, states that the truth is a subjective narrative, that these “narratives are shaped in part by their relationship to the person who told it to them, and by the events” (Stories We Tell 2012). Additionally, Polley states, “the way her mother’s story changed depended on who was going the telling” (Vulture, 2013). This point is what resonates from the film and its purpose – that the there are different sides to the truth; one truth to one person is false to another.

Of crucial importance is the different attitudes between Nguyen and Quang has towards the Vietnam War. Nguyen represents the traditional view that the Vietnam War was a failure on the part of the Americans, a mistake and pointless war that ruined the lives of many. What is surprising is Quang’s view. With an immediate and loud retort to Nguyen’s negative feelings towards the Vietnam war, Seol’s portrayal of Quang immediately grabs the audience’s attention. Quang is grateful for the Vietnam war, and “thankful for the American soldiers that gave up their lives so [he] could live.” Actor Seol aptly captures the spirit and sentiments of an actual Vietnamese refugee, and in doing so provides a refreshing and different perspective about the Vietnam War. Faced with these differing perspectives, the audience must come to realize that America is not a monolith, but instead composed of people from many different backgrounds with varying experiences, attitudes, thoughts, and

This shows that Vietnam changes people. The land was so different, and so were the people, which both influenced craziness. The soldiers had to withstand all hardships and mental distractions while fighting for their country.

Tim O’Brien uses storytelling over happening truth to extend his message and further dissects the theme of psychological trauma. Although Tim O’Brien isn’t always successful in conveying his message by disregarding actual facts, he does focus on providing synopsis that replicated the platoon’s experiences and feelings during the Vietnam War and the aftermath. Tim O’Brien wasn’t trying to recount the real events of the Vietnam War but rather confess the emotions and actions tied to it.

The final theme I notice between Tim O’Brien and the Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam videos is the blame or guilt every soldier felt between things going wrong on missions or losing their friends. In “The Things They Carried”, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross takes the blame for the death of his soldier Ted Levander. In the story it states “He felt shame. He hated himself. He had loved Martha more than his men, and as consequence Lavender was now dead, and this was something he would have to carry like a stone in his stomach for the rest of the war”. Lt. Jimmy Cross often caught himself dreaming about a girl he loved to escape the war. He possibly thought about her too much which is why he took the blame. But in all reality, Lavender was shot while using the bathroom and that’s that. The only blame for that would be the war itself. In the video 60 Minutes: “My Lai Massacre”, a report on a very brutal attack on a Vietnamese village by U.S Soldiers, Hugh Thomson is a hero for saving many Vietnamese civilians from an awful fate. More than 150 women and children were marched

Throughout Tim O'Brien's short work "How to tell a true war story" O'Brien has two reoccurring themes. One is of the desensitization of the troops during their hardship regarding the events of the Vietnam War, and the other is of the concept of truth. Truth may seem simple enough to explain, but is in fact endowed with many layers. The story is chalked full of contradictions, as well as lies, and embellishments, and yet O'Brien claims that these are the truth. The truth, whether it be war or society's, is in fact a concept that can be conveyed many times and in many ways. Whereas each is independently untrue, the combined collaboration of these half-truths is in essence the only real truth.

During the mid 1950’s, the Vietnam War turned to be the modern pinnacle for battles resulting in the deaths of 58,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese death. It saw the viable destruction of modern technology such as the newly fashioned M-16 rifle and the Apache, a helicopter made for mass destruction. For the soldiers experiencing Vietnam, it was truly an experience which would shape their hearts and minds forever. As evidenced in Tim O’ Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Vietnam War was an emotional tremor for the soldiers as they experienced deaths and created legendary tales which would define their lives, as well as future generations indefinitely.

The most important question I feel was asked in this film was the one that Peter Davis asked in one of his interviews to Walt Rostow the Aide to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. The question was "why did they need us there?" In other words why did we have to join into this war in Vietnam, what sort of gain was in it for our country getting into another time and economic consuming war. An answer was given through a short clip of Lyndon Johnson stating "the answer is simple there is none else who can do

Since 1968, there have been at least 25 films made that portray the events of the Vietnam War. Historians have to ask themselves when watching these films, "Did the fictional character represent historical figures accurately? Is this how a soldier would react in this situation?" The point of view of the director of the film can change with simple alterations in camera angles. For example, a view from the ground of a battle seen can show how the innocent people had the war in their own backyards. The view from a helicopter can show Viet Cong firing rounds at American troops and the troops can't tell the difference between the innocent and the enemy. The audience feels empathy and sympathy for the person from whose point of view the

These reports add to the overall effect of My Lai, that it was just another normal event in the Vietnam War, what was common practice, but it was the one that broke the silence on these types of events. (Knightly, 2003) Nixon had tried to shrug it off as ‘an isolated incident’, but in reality these incidents were commonplace, resulting in a growing suspicion of Nixon. (Gray and Martin, 2007) It can be argued that it had to be publicised by a freelance journalist back in the US who was still capable of being shocked by the actions. (Knightly, 2003)

The documentary is structured around the eleven lessons learned throughout WWII and the Vietnam War. Although they were obvious to McNamara after the fact, the lessons were not so clear in the midst of fog. Failing to apply the majority of the lessons learned set the United States up for a total disaster and one that would haunt the American people for years. One particular lesson that was not applied was: Empathize with your enemy. Vietnamese and American cultures and motives could not be more different; and at the time could not have been more misunderstood, by both sides. In the Vietnamese eyes’, the Americans were trying to pick up where the French

Throughout America’s history, the issue of immigration has been on the forefront major debates. Immigration is among one of the most stimulating topics of discussion. Often when discussing immigration the question of assimilation also arises and whether or not immigrants are truly doing so. Since the beginning of this country, immigrants and even natives of the land have been pressured to assimilate to “American” Culture and to commit to its standards. When a group of people fail to assimilate to these standards, they encounter critics. The Native Americans, who wanted to preserve their traditions and values, had their children taken from them and sent to boarding schools with the goal to assimilate Native tribes into “mainstream America’s way of life.” In the nineteenth century, the largest mass lynching, which involved Italians , occurred in New Orleans. Italians were discriminated against because they did not share the same traits as their Anglo-Saxon camarades. (Falco) Today, in the twenty-first century, Hispanic immigrants ,and others, are also criticized because they are believed to not be assimilating. In fact many like the Samuel P. Huntigton, chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies, have voiced that the most serious threat to America’s traditional identity is the immigration of Hispanic immigrants. However, the issue may not stem from these people themselves. The issue and controversies surrounding assimilation primarily stems from

It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting.

Initially, when I began college, my major was biology. During my senior year, my career path began to evolve after taking a few psychology courses. To some extent, I was intrigued, but I also recall being unsure of the next step to take. I had a mental note of my revised career plan, but I did not have tangible plan to present to my advisor. Thus, my academic advisor recommended that I seek guidance from Career Services. At the time, I was not fully sold on the idea of making an appointment with Career Services and decided to use the internet instead of career advisor. I remember searching for “a career in psychology” and getting close to ten million search results. After several failed searches, I realized that is was too hard to determine what information was actually correct. Therefore, I concluded that it was probably best to follow my academic advisor’s advice to meet with Amanda Boland, the career consultant assigned to seniors with interest

VastuShastra is a 5000 years old Indian Vedic science which had laid down the guidelines for human beings so that they could live in peace in their own space. Even in great scriptures like Atharv Veda, Gita, MayamatamMansar, VishwakarmaPrakash, SamranganSutradhar, VastuRatnavali and Sthapatya Veda, VastuShastra is described broadly. The fundamental concepts of VastuShastra were laid odwn by Rishi-munis through their thorough research in this area.