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Masculinity In Vietnam War Film Analysis

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Films and the myth of military war reveal the conflict American soldiers experience with society’s subscribed roles of masculinity during the Vietnam War era. Vietnam War films made during 1986 and 1989 tell stories not only about the war experience, but narratives that reveal societal perceptions of masculinity relevant to the eighties. According to Michael Klein in Hanoi to Hollywood, “Liberal and radical Vietnam-era-coming-home films provide a range of sympathetic portraits of the problem of rehabilitation that challenge mainstream American constructions of masculinity….” (Klein, 22). Representations of masculinity in films serve a dual purpose: they reveal forms of masculinity present in culture while simultaneously playing a part …show more content…

They are expected to be strong, to objectify women, and keep their emotions in check. Young boys are evaluated for their masculinity by his father and eventually by peers, bosses and other males; seeking approval from other men, afraid for being exposed as vulnerable, weak, or soft. As an adult, males continue to try to dominate his world, which excludes other groups such as women, non-white men, and homosexuals. “Our fear is “not fear of women but of being ashamed or humiliated in front of other men, or being dominated by stronger men” (Kimmel, 86). American men spend their entire life proving and demonstrating their manhood in order to prove their masculinity of not being like a woman (Kimmel, 86-87). Films in this essay portray the process of becoming a man through war service and the conflicts it poses with society’s subscribed gender roles of masculinity. Throughout history, military service and war have served as rites of passage for young men and often defined American manhood itself. According to Brenda Boyle in Masculinity in Vietnam War Narrative: A Critical Study of Fiction Films and Nonfiction

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Men went through so many tasks during the Vietnam War physically and mentally. The beginning chapters focus on training for war and being prepared for the worst. For example, when there is a sergeant in a room with the marines. The sergeant walks to the chalk board and writes “AMBUSHES ARE MURDER AND MURDER IS FUN” (36-37). The

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On returning from Vietnam, he grappled with PTSD, “… spending all his money on booze and drugs.” (Wiest 352). Although McTear eventually managed to turn his life around, his story mirrors the path many Vietnam veterans had to tread. Overall, the stark difference in public opinion on both wars and the contrasting post-service careers of the soldiers demonstrates the fundamental disparities highlighted in 'A Band of Brothers and 'The Boys of

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In discussing the many facets of masculinity among young men, one key issue has been the correlation it has with several developmental concerns. In Michael Kimmel’s 2008 publication “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code”, he talks about how men believe manhood is really achieved. More specifically, he talks about “Guy Code”, the universal rulebook that all men must follow if they wish to remain in good standing among their fellow man. These rules are taught as early as their toddler years.

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Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

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In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.

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The three movies – Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and The Green Berets – are all movies based on the same historical event – the Vietnam war and US’s involvement in it. Yet, they all presented us with different and narrative point of view and authority figures in order to paint their individual values. The movies’ most obvious differences lie within the choice of their narrative point of view. The Green Beret, the earliest one, was directed by John Wayne and he also starred in the leading role. Wayne’s authority and influence in the 1960s was similar to the influence of Tom Hanks in the 21st Century.

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In some aspects the military can be said to be an end in itself but the author has failed to address its primary role as servant to the ruling interests. Though the book has some lacunas but it cannot be denied that Kathleen Barry has done a pioneering work on the concept of empathy which is the most important trait in all human beings. It also needs to be inculcated in the soldiers on the battlefield also so that they can effectively differentiate between right and wrong. The book provides a fresh and broad reaching critique of militarised masculinity.

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Masculinity has been a heated debated topic over the past years. Not just america or europe, but our whole society. Men tend to think that entering manhood is a good thing, but most don’t know it can be just as detrimental to our society. Men have certain characteristic when it concerns to masculinity and when doing so it can have a range of effects. So, how do men identify themselves masculine and how do they define themselves that way?

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In Phil Klay’s Redeployment, the war in Iraq is described as an intense masculine experience. Through the pages, the presence of women is marginal, if there is any woman in the short stories, and the reader enters in a realm of men and, more important, of what it means to be a real man. The assumption of war as a complete masculine experience might seem pretty obvious; however, Phil Klay is able to offer a crude and clear depiction of it. The author tells twelve different short stories of men who have only one thing in common: the experience of the Iraq War. But this is not simply a book about the war, but also about the consequences that this terrible experience has on the soldiers.

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History has repeatedly given men privilege due to their physical advantages; yet it is these same advantages that have developed into “rules” or expectations that all men should conform to in order to prove their manhood. Michael Kimmel’s essay, “‘Bros Before Hos': The Guy Code” outlines the “rules” where men are expected to never show any emotions, be brave, act knowledgeable, be risk takers, be in control, act reliable, and be competitive, otherwise they would be showing weakness which is analogous to women. It is humiliating that men associate weakness with women; they should focus on the potential of the individual rather than their gender. Most insults toward men attack their masculinity because society finds it shameful for men to be

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Tom Engelhardt describes “the era of reversals” as “American post-war “reconstruction” [which] would begin not in Vietnam, the land in ruins, which should have been but was not the defeated country, but at home in a land almost untouched by war, which should have been but was not the victor; and the rebuilding would focus not on some devastated physical environment but on the national psyche” (180). American films about the Vietnam war, like Platoon do not focus on the disastrous aftermath that continue to affect Vietnam to this day, but instead on the fight for maintaining or rediscovering American identity after our evident loss in a war, where more soldiers and citizens were killed on the Vietnamese

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In the short story “Speaking of Courage”, from Tim O’Brien’s collection The Things They Carried, many foggy images that the reader may have about war are sure to be made clear. It turns out that some veterans struggle just as much back home as they did in the war, and O’Brien paints a clear picture of the struggles these veterans face. Readers of “Speaking of Courage” get to see America through a veteran's eyes, and attempt to discern the peculiar struggle of being back home from war. In “Speaking of Courage”, O’Brien’s fictional twist on a true story, Norman Bowker reflects on a disturbing experience that happened to him back in the Vietnam War as he drives around his hometown. He has a very hard time moving on from a traumatic moment he faced

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Literary analysis America’s war heroes all have the same stories to tell but different tales. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. This is the writing style and tactic used by Tim O’Brien in his novel, “The Things They Carried”. Steven Kaplan’s short story criticism, The Undying Certainty of the Narrator in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, provides the audience with an understanding of O’Brien’s techniques used to share “true war” stories of the Vietnam War. Kaplan explains the multitude of stories shared in each of the individual characters, narration and concepts derived from their personal experiences while serving active combat duty during the Vietnam War,

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Rather than a single standard of masculinity to which all men and boys are taught to aspire to, studies have documented a variety of masculinity that define manhood differently across racial , ethnic, class, sexual , and regional boundaries.(Kathleen Blee) In this quote the author states that due to intersectional differences, different racial groups of men might have different definitions on what it means to be masculine and what it means to perform masculinity. Gender roles are also modified by life experiences over time across racial groups. In the next images I presented are all images of my guy friends and cousins. More specifically they are all images of African American males in my life choosing to participate in gender and masculinity.

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There is a lot of pressure on men in society to be manly; however, what exactly does it mean to be manly? Though many people have different opinions, a lot of them conclude that a man has to be strong and somewhat emotionless to be considered a man. This assumption can lead to Toxic Masculinity, which is “A false idea that men are expected to be as manly as possible” (The Hard, Adrenaline-Soaked Truth About 'Toxic Masculinity, 2017). Men are forced to face these assumptions not only from those around him, but also from people he might see in Media. Media reinforces Toxic Masculinity which in turn causes men to belittle women.

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