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 hills…that 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 soldier’s 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 didn’t
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 didn’t 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 cafйin 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 didn’t 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