The Vietnam Syndrome: America's Gut Feeling

The Vietnam Syndrome: America’s Gut Feeling
The reason the Vietnam Syndrome infected so much of the American population so deeply is due to the film industry. Filmmakers were able to tackle their issues with the war by making films that expressed or demonstrated the flaws that they saw in the way the United States participated in the war, such as a toxic division of support and a flawed military culture that produced insanity. The most popular and critically acclaimed Vietnam movies were anti-war. There were combat films like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. Films about the war keep the Vietnam Syndrome alive by keeping in to the forefront of the American public’s collective mind. The question is whether pushing to keep the syndrome active is a good thing. Being reminded of the failures of Vietnam keeps the United States more wary to repeat these mistakes and lose support of the public. The public is also more wary to support a war and requires the government to really prove that involvement is necessary. This awareness that arises from the Vietnam syndrome possesses the power to make America make smarter decisions and be better in general.
The lesson from Oliver Stone’s Platoon was that America was unsuccessful in Vietnam because the troops were not unified. This is demonstrated through the split between the platoon with drama and fighting between the two groups. At the end of the film, as the main character is being air-lifted to a hospital he looks down and reflects, “We didn’t fight the enemy in Vietnam, we fought ourselves, and the enemy was in us.” This central idea of Stone’s film became a large portion of the syndrome.
Many scholars argue that these Vietnam War genre films have addressed the problems of Vietnam such as lack of unity, corrupt military culture, and savage military behavior. In his article on Vietnam films, Thomas Doherty says that the genre was created, “to ease the division and reconcile conflict through myth.” Films such as Full Metal Jacket brought a level of reconciliation through demonstrating how the lack of unity and cruel military culture led to American demise by forcing the American public to admit that all of this happened. Directly following the war, Vietnam films catalyzed America’s process towards healing. The films were never enough to be a complete cure. Today, they keep the Vietnam War relevant. Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket is not only on the canon of Vietnam films, but of must-see films for any film connoisseur. This popularity keeps the failures of Vietnam in the forefront of American consciousness and the syndrome alive.
Contrary to the belief that the Vietnam syndrome is incurable, in his article on oral narratives and the Vietnam War, Patrick Hagopian says, “In an attempt to come to terms with these fraught issues, the public has been compulsively feeding on media treatments of the war since the mid-1980s.” There is a kernel of truth in that statement in that the public turned to media in the beginning to find a source of fulfillment. Since the war ended in a loss, movies allowed for some positive feeling to exist even if it was only the idea that since issues like military practices are having attention brought to them as a result of the movies that things will change for the better in the future.
It is important to recognize that while the syndrome may never disappear completely and that films keep it alive, these same films also eased a great deal of pain directly following the war. Hagopian also argues that Vietnam movies, “function analogously for the wider society, providing the focus for a process of reconciliation described as person and social healing.” The high levels of fictionalization in the films allowed for the country to see happier endings and lessons more clearly than merely looking at the facts and news reports of the war.
With such a strong interest in reliving Vietnam through film, the list of films about the war is extensive. Doherty points out how Hollywood was able to sell the war to America better than Washington because, “if the military’s classic mistake is to fight with the tactics of the last war, the moviemaker’s decisive prerogative is the license to fight the same war over and over again.” As evidence, Tropic Thunder was released in 2008. The sheer fact that even in the wake of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a movie about making a Vietnam movie was created and was successful makes it clear that America has not yet put Vietnam in the back of the closet.
While Tropic Thunder took a much more comedic approach than the previous films, it was the next step after Good Morning, Vietnam in terms of bringing comedy into the image of the war. Hagopian points out that, “The Vietnam War was America’s most deeply divisive military experience since the Civil War, whose spectre has continued to haunt the United States since the withdrawal of American forces in 1973 and the capture of Saigon in 1975.” Tropic Thunder’s success leads to the belief that Vietnam War movies and depictions are not disappearing into the history books alone any time soon. Just as there are Civil War reenactments to remind America that it is stronger united, there will be Vietnam films, memorials, and books to send a similar message to act as a warning for future wars from division and lack of support.
After the victory in the Gulf War in 1991, President George H.W. Bush stated that America had, “kicked the Vietnam syndrome.” If this is true, then what is the explanation of Forrest Gump, which was released in 1994, or Across the Universe in 2007? There were clearly still a multitude of issues that arose in Vietnam that America wanted to address. Those who believe that the Vietnam Syndrome has been cured view it as a disease that has been eradicated over time as the United States. In “Two, Three, Many Vietnams,” Marilyn B. Young says, “Despite Bush’s hopes, the Vietnam syndrome proves to be more like an allergy than a disease from which the country could be decisively cured.” What Young is saying is that there is no pivotal moment that points to the end of the syndrome because there is still evidence that the Vietnam War plays into decision-making on both the political front and the support decisions of the American public. The Gulf War in 1991 was the first time the United States engaged in a war after Vietnam. Forrest Gump may be considered a love story, but it depicts the difficulty of a veteran returning home crippled both physically and mentally in the character, Lieutenant Dan. Julie Taymour adapts songs by The Beatles to a story of a group of young adults against the war and has characters that represent the many feelings Americans had about the war. From hippie musicians to home-made bomb-making activists to drafted soldiers, war supporters, and not as concerned foreigners, each type of person is shown. One of the most notable scenes is when one of the main characters, Max, appears at the government office after getting his draft letter. Here, the soldiers who take the draftees through their physical and mental examinations are all very large, muscular men wearing the same mask so they all look alike. They move in unison in a very robotic manner, as if going through drills reminiscent to the training sequences at the beginning of Full Metal Jacket. The idea behind the masks of the same faces and the movements in is that the military took away the identities and individuality of each soldier and replaced them with fighting machines with no feelings while the Beatles’ song “She’s So Heavy,” plays referring to America as the “she.” Across the Universe was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in Musical or Comedy. Created thirty years after the war ended, Across the Universe used popular Beatles’ songs to appeal to the masses and keep the Vietnam War in the minds of a new generation successfully.
Films allow the audience to feel more senses than storytelling or books alone and have been used historically in teaching the Vietnam War in school. The canon of Vietnam War genre films is well-known and popular with so many films on such a high-esteemed level artistically and production wise. In her article on the Vietnam War through films, Marilyn B. Young says, “Teaching the history of the war in the late 1970s or 1980s meant classrooms filled with students who felt they had been there.” Even if the memory does not come from real-life experience, the pseudo-experience of watching films like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket leave viewers feeling a strong connection to the war. As a result, the Vietnam War becomes part of each individual’s identity on varying levels of intensity. This is how the syndrome stays alive.
While distressing in its sound, the Vietnam Syndrome is a good thing. It stems from the failures of the war and allows for the military, government, and American public to take the time to learn from the mistakes and apply any lessons to future decisions. Some may describe the Vietnam Syndrome as a fear, but in reality, it is wariness. In A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness, Nassir Ghaemi discusses the positive effects of mania and depression on notable leaders throughout history. Ghaemi uses Abraham Lincoln as an example of how the realism and empathy are strengthened with depression. This idea can be directly connected to the Vietnam Syndrome by pointing out the relationship between the syndrome and a dysthymia. Dysthymia is a mild form of depression that is more chronic than the more debilitating, general form of depression. The Vietnam Syndrome is on the dysthymia side of the depression spectrum. The sense of realism and empathy and the carefulness in decision-making and planning that exists is a result of the Vietnam Syndrome.
The Vietnam Syndrome is, in its essence, a widespread decrease in tolerance for American casualties and the desire to keep Americans from dying overseas. Lessons learned from Vietnam and the presence of the Vietnam Syndrome can be seen in more modern history. The Gulf War was won in large due to lessons learned from Vietnam. A major lesson learned from Vietnam was that gradual intervention would not cut it. With a barrage of troops and firepower, the United States quickly triumphed over the Gulf. After this victory, President George H.W. Bush announced that the Vietnam Syndrome was no more. Young says, “Vietnam was written, albeit in invisible ink, all over what I suppose some now think of as the good, or at least the better, Gulf War of 1991.” For many, this victory was enough to “write over” the Vietnam War and close that chapter of history. For this to be true, the Gulf War would have had to become the new precedent in thinking about war. The discussion of how the Vietnam Syndrome has played into the Iraq War alone disproves this theory because American support decreased exponentially after a much smaller number of deaths than during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Syndrome is like that feeling a person gets in the pit of their stomach when they are going to make a mistake and then change their behavior accordingly.

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. Platoon, directed by Oliver Stone (1986: MGM Studios). DVD.
[ 2 ]. Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1987: Warner Bros. Production). DVD.
[ 3 ]. Platoon, directed by Oliver Stone (1986: MGM Studios). DVD.
[ 4 ]. Thomas Doherty, “Full Metal Genre: Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam Combat Movie,” Film Quarterly, Vol. 42, no. 2 (1988-1989): pp. 24. JSTOR. Accessed May 4, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1212619?&Search=yes&searchText=jacket&searchText=metal&searchText=full&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dfull%2Bmetal%2Bjacket%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=2&ttl=4464&returnArticleService=showFullText
[ 5 ]. Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1987: Warner Bros. Production). DVD.
[ 6 ]. Patrick Hagopian, “Oral Narratives: Secondary Revision and the Memory of the Vietnam War,” History Workshop, no. 32 (1991): pp.134. JSTOR. Accessed May 5, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4289107?seq=8&Search=yes&searchText=film&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528%2528healing%2Bthe%2Bvietnam%2Bsyndrome%2529%2BAND%2B%2528film%2529%2529%26Search%3DSearch%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3D%2528%2528vietnam%2Bsyndrome%2529%2BAND%2B%2528platoon%2529%2BAND%2B%2528film%2529%2529%26hp%3D25%26acc%3Don%26aori%3Da%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&resultsServiceName=null
[ 7 ]. Patrick Hagopian, “Oral Narratives: Secondary Revision and the Memory of the Vietnam War,” History Workshop, no. 32 (1991): pp.135. JSTOR. Accessed May 5, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4289107?seq=8&Search=yes&searchText=film&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528%2528healing%2Bthe%2Bvietnam%2Bsyndrome%2529%2BAND%2B%2528film%2529%2529%26Search%3DSearch%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3D%2528%2528vietnam%2Bsyndrome%2529%2BAND%2B%2528platoon%2529%2BAND%2B%2528film%2529%2529%26hp%3D25%26acc%3Don%26aori%3Da%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&resultsServiceName=null
[ 8 ]. Thomas Doherty, “Full Metal Genre: Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam Combat Movie,” Film Quarterly, Vol. 42, no. 2 (1988-1989): pp. 24. JSTOR. Accessed May 4, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1212619?&Search=yes&searchText=jacket&searchText=metal&searchText=full&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dfull%2Bmetal%2Bjacket%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=2&ttl=4464&returnArticleService=showFullText
[ 9 ]. Tropic Thunder, directed by Ben Stiller (2008: DreamWorks). DVD.
[ 10 ]. Tropic Thunder, directed by Ben Stiller (2008: DreamWorks). DVD.
[ 11 ]. Good Morning, Vietnam, directed by Barry Levinson (1987: Touchstone Pictures). DVD.
[ 12 ]. Patrick Hagopian, “Oral Narratives: Secondary Revision and the Memory of the Vietnam War,” History Workshop, no. 32 (1991): pp.134. JSTOR. Accessed May 5, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4289107?seq=8&Search=yes&searchText=film&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528%2528healing%2Bthe%2Bvietnam%2Bsyndrome%2529%2BAND%2B%2528film%2529%2529%26Search%3DSearch%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3D%2528%2528vietnam%2Bsyndrome%2529%2BAND%2B%2528platoon%2529%2BAND%2B%2528film%2529%2529%26hp%3D25%26acc%3Don%26aori%3Da%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&resultsServiceName=null
[ 13 ]. Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis (1994: Paramount Pictures). DVD.
[ 14 ]. Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymour (2007: Revolution Studios). DVD.
[ 15 ]. Young, Marilyn B. “Two, Three, Many Vietnams.” Cold War History 6, no. 4 (November 2006) pp. 414. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed April 8, 2013).
[ 16 ]. Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis (1994: Paramount Pictures). DVD.
[ 17 ]. Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymour (2007: Revolution Studios). DVD.
[ 18 ]. Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1987: Warner Bros. Production). DVD.
[ 19 ]. Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymour (2007: Revolution Studios). DVD.
[ 20 ]. Marilyn B. Young, “Now Playing: Vietnam,” OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 18 no. 5 (2004): pp. 22. JSTOR. Accessed May 5, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163718?seq=4&Search=yes&searchText=film&searchText=syndrome&searchText=vietnam&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3Dvietnam%2Bsyndrome%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q1%3Dfilm%26f1%3Dall%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3D%26pt%3D%26isbn%3D&prevSearch=&item=3&ttl=1205&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null
[ 21 ]. Platoon, directed by Oliver Stone (1986: MGM Studios). DVD.
[ 22 ]. Full Metal Jacket, directed by Stanley Kubrick (1987: Warner Bros. Production). DVD.
[ 23 ]. Nassir Ghaemi, A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness (Penguin Books, 2012).
[ 24 ]. Nassir Ghaemi, A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness (Penguin Books, 2012).
[ 25 ]. Young, Marilyn B. “Two, Three, Many Vietnams.” Cold War History 6, no. 4 (November 2006) pp. 413. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed April 8, 2013).

Links: Between Leadership and Mental Illness (Penguin Books, 2012). [ 25 ]. Young, Marilyn B. “Two, Three, Many Vietnams.” Cold War History 6, no. 4 (November 2006) pp. 413. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed April 8, 2013).