FREE ESSAY ON GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM

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 cafe 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 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.