Literature
In the early years of the war most literature supported the war as they did not want to seem unpatriotic but as it dragged on opinions began to change. With the birth of the “flower power” era peace and love became very desirable to many people. On the 27th June 1969 “life” magazine printed all 242 Americans that were killed during the week in the “Hamburger Hill” incident. Each dead soldier had there picture displayed on a full page. This showed the public that were was more to lose than public money. It reinforced the anti-war sentiment in the country. Many youth magazines began to appear which were becoming more and more radical because of the increasing death toll. They informed people of demonstrations and this increased the publicity that they got.
Popular Culture
By the mid sixties the Haight Asbury district of San Francisco, California spawned the subculture of young dropouts called “hippies.” They were easy going, longhaired and brightly coloured. They believed in peace and love, the taking of hallucinogenic drugs and the spiritual wisdom of the east. These people were losing faith in how the older generation were running the world. In particular, they were unhappy with the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. They saw a cross over between radical politics and hippy lifestyles. Many took part in marches and demonstrations including the French students in Paris who were protesting not just for peace but also for educational and social reforms. Others decided to completely drop out of society and live in communes were they grew there own food. As fighting intensified and casualties rose, anti-war feeling grew among the hippies and for the first time middle class Americans began to voice their unhappiness for the war.
Popular Music
Music was at the forefront of the protests movements across the world. In the United States singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez wrote powerful anti-war songs. Dylan’s blowing the wind combined the spiritual and political ideas of the peace movement and became an anthem for the anti-war protests against the USA’s involvement in Vietnam. Music festivals like Woodstock in 1969 that features artists like Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin and Santana spread the message of protest, peace and love. Many artists felt that it was important to tell about the evils of war and its trials and tribulations. An example of one of these song is “Feel like I’m fixing to die” by Joe McDonald. It was written in 1968 at the time of the Tet offensive. It has a very sarcastic tone and is very pessimistic. It sums up the feeling of the soldiers that are going to die in a war that they do not understand. It also makes reference to the high death toll and labels the soldiers as unimportant identities. Lyrics include “What are we fighting for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,” and “Whoopee! Were all going to die.” Another example is the song “Drive on” by Johnny Cash. This is the story of a man trying to cope with the news that his friend has died in Vietnam. The person is clearly haunted and refers to the psychological effects that the war has on the soldiers and their family and friends. Another song that protests about the Vietnam War is “Dear uncle Sam” by Loretta Lynne. It is an emotional song that describes the feeling when she discovers that her boyfriend has died in the war.
Cinema
In the 1968 the first movie about the Vietnam War was made. “The Green Berets” was directed and stared John Wayne but the American army also had a say in the way it was made. The movie was very strongly pro American and portrayed them as heroes in a foreign land that were saving the people from a great evil. Many think that because John Wayne escaped conscription for WWII he felt he was paying back the US. The movie is seen as piece of propaganda that pro war. After the war nearly all the movies made about Vietnam portrayed the Americans in a negative light. The movies “The Taxi Driver”(1976) and “The Deer Hunter”(1978) both showed the psychological effects the war had on the veterans. In the Taxi Driver Robert De Nero plays a man that is so mentally scared by the war that he becomes a shell of a man that goes on to kill a number of people. The Deer Hunter tells the story of 3 steel workers who go of to fight and the after effects it has on there lives. Another movie about the conflict is “Apocalypse Now ”(1979.) This shows the madness of war and the effect that it had on the people of Vietnam. It contains strong imagery and is extremely well made. Probably the best movie about the Vietnam War was “Platoon” which was written by Oliver Stone who was a veteran. Because of the rawness and the portrayal of the American Soldiers no Hollywood Studio would agree to make it. It wasn’t to the 1986 that it was made. It showed how many of the soldiers turned to drugs to help handle the effect the war had on them. It also painted a bad picture as to the leadership in the war with one scene in which a soldier kills his commanding officer.
Media
This was the first war every that viewers at home got full uncensored footage of the war straight into there homes. This showed how brutal and violent the war and built up more opposition. It showed the victims of American napalm attacks that went wrong and injured American soldiers. This made people believe that this was a savage, unjust war that they could not win. An example of this is the massacre of Mai Lai village that was considered friendly to American troops. They believed that they were Vietcong soldiers and killed everyone in the village. A film crew caught all of this on camera. When people say this at home they began to think what exactly were they trying to achieve. The reason there was so much resistance to the war was because most people did not understand what they were fighting for.