The movie Good Morning, Vietnam Directed by Barry Levinson and written by Mitch Markowitz Had a solid view, that was portrayed in many ways, on the roles of the North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, and American Soldiers. It also depicted a clear picture of the Vietnamese Civilians and Viet Cong.
The film began with a clear-cut portrayal of American Soldiers within the confounds of an office, and the discrepancies amongst the high ranking and higher ranking Officers. Robin Williams is introduced into the Movie as a humorous man meant to be a radio DJ for the American Soldiers fighting outside the Office. The high-ranking officials in charge of the News broadcastings limited Adrian Cronauer (played by Robin Williams) to broadcast the most mild of new about the war to the soldiers; the very same soldiers who were fighting the war. In this was, the film maker practically hands over to the audience the fact that high ranking officials wanted to virtually blind-sight listeners into thinking that the war is only being fought in the hillsthat it is, in fact, not real to them, but very distant. By doing this he shows how, by using propaganda, the news controlled out view [American view] and the soldiers views on the war that we were fighting. Misleading the masses to believe what the handful of major leaders felt was necessary for the masses to believe by keeping them mal-informed and blissfully ignorant of the actual situations at hand.
Along with the portrayal of misconception within the confounds of the Vietnam War, the filmmaker successfully was able to serve the audience with the sight of individuals within each army confound. He created the antithesis of the faceless mass propaganda that Dictators such as Hitler used to create a subhuman tag for their targets. Consider the fact that when a student reads about mass casualties in a war, decades before their time, they only see the number or statistic, and not the hundreds and thousands of men woman and children who each came from a home, who left their loved ones, and the individual loss each family suffered. Mitch Markowitz introduced an intimacy towards each individual soldier, and compassion to each death among the thousands, through Robin Williams character. He also showed the innocents of the average soldier, how the soldiers conversed with the Vietnamese, continued to live their lives, and did not suddenly become emotionless robots.
Along with the portrayal of individuality amongst the American Soldiers, Mitch Markowitz also represented the other sides of the war. In the Village which this story plot took place, there were images of families, children, and unique individuals within their habitual lives during the war in South Vietnam. The film didnt show the evils of communism, or the major advantages of Capitalism, simply the people and the quality of their lives without active interaction with the government that ruled over them.
Mitch Markowitz, did in fact specifically point out, through the young South Vietnamese/ secret Viet Cong boy Tuan, who was befriended by Robin Williams, that The Americans were the Enemy, not the North Vietnamese OR the French. And through this outlook, implied that this was a wide spread belief during that time. The Americans were brought into Vietnam to bring down communism and support Southern Vietnam, yet, as the movie vividly exacted, the American Military brought much harm to the South Vietnamese. Since north and South Vietnamese look alike, the US soldiers didnt have the ability to differentiate between them, which brought on an onslaught of obvious problems. The Viet Cong were able to seek sanctuary among the villages as South Vietnamese during the day and reawaken as the infamous Viet Cong during the night. Therefor there were many innocent deaths due to mistaken identity, harboring the Viet Cong, and the casualties caused by the Viet Cong (as depicted with the bombing of a caf in the movie) which were not uncovered by the US military.
But the US soldiers also impacted the Vietnamese with their presence in other ways. In the movie, Robin Williams served as a part time English teacher. This was an example of introducing the US western culture into the village, as it was in many villages. It also shows that, although there were boundaries to cross to overcome prejudice against Vietnamese as well as Asians in general, there were steps taken in the right direction with people like Adrian Cronauer. Also as well as Mitch Markowitz for making a movie which did not show his own Prejudices against the Vietnamese, but on the contrary, showed a compassion to the people and their culture and cause.
The Imagery that the producer and writer used was impeccable in portraying the humanities and inhumanities of war and of Vietnam. There were conscious close ups and shots of Vietnamese children, and almost preadolescent Viet Cong and Vietnamese solders. These proved to point out how the people who were being attacked for the govt. which they were ruled over were simply innocent by-standers in a political war they most likely knew very little about. Overall, the Movie didnt seem to be one that was meant to brainwash, like a propaganda film. The honestly in its portrayals of the people of Vietnam, though humorous for a comedic twist, seemed genuinely to be a statement of truth within the falsity that was spread through the propaganda during that time.
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