Impact of Vietnam War on American Culture - Research Paper Example

Impact of Vietnam War on American culture Impact of Vietnam War on American culture Introduction The Vietnam War was one of themost obscure episodes and one of the most serious conflicts during the cold war period and in the whole modern history. It was recorded as one of the longest war in America that took place during the 20th century (Olson & Roberts, 2011). Its overall impact managed to impact the lives of Americans during the war period and for generations that followed. Moreover, the American nation had to face up to the defeat from the war, which was the first incident in their history. The involvement of Americans in south Asia started in 1964 and after a long period of struggle, it ended by all the US military departing the region in 1975. There were various innovative factors that contributed to the perception of the war. One of them is the transmission of the information of the war by the media particularly television. Its impact on the Vietnam’s war played a more significant role than in any other conflict in the 20th century. It was an innovative method that replaced newspapers and radios, which were the main mode of broadcasting at the time. The general public was involved in the Vietnam struggle raising the height of public opposition. Due to the unlimited access of journalists and photographers in the battlefields, the public were able to see the war as they had never seen before. Impact on the cultural lives of Americans The war influenced almost all branches of the American culture. However, it is crucial to determine how much the description of the war influenced the lives of the Americans and the whether its representation changed over time. The diverse methods used in approaching the Vietnam War were in accordance to various forms of artistic designs and all forms of cultural categories. Thus, the combination of all the factors of the war resulted into Americans growing tired of the violence and encouraged them to come up with efforts to find their way out of the war. One of the impacts that the war had on the American culture was on the literary culture of the Americans. In the first few years after the withdrawal of the Americans from the war, there were less literary works to represent the attitudes toward the Vietnam War. The change overturned in the late 1970’s and early 1980 are when various forms of literary works started to floods the markets. Most of them represented personal narratives from individuals who had first hand experiences of the war. One good example is the novel, armies of the night by Norman Mailer in 1968. It represented a reflection of the march on the pentagon in DC in 1967 (Anderson, 2011). Though his piece was related to the Vietnam War, it represented the struggle from a domestic point of view. There were many other authors who came forward express their attitudes toward the war through novels and works of literature including poems. The Vietnam War gradually became a theme to be appreciated by majority of the authors in the turbulent period. It did not matter whether the writers were American eyewitnesses or nationals from Vietnam. Their main aim was to ensure that they passed their attitudes towards the war and enlightened fellow Americans. As a result, such a case would not reoccur again in future in the American history. The war also had an impact on the music field of the American culture. There were various ways to express moods, emotions in the battlefields and in the frontline of the demonstrations. Music was the most used as it was one of the cultural branch that differed from various other modes of expression such as movies and poetry. During the Vietnam War, the people went through a period of depression and music was meant to uplift their spirits. It was not a form of amusement anymore. The most famous forms of music at the time were the rock n roll, folk music and the hippy movement. The disposition brought about by these themes of music helped to alleviate the pressures that the war inflicted on the people at the time. It was represented by such stars as Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin and the likes. Other forms of music of the combat zone emerged. As a result, when the battlefields allowed, most of the US soldiers listened to such songs that heightening their morale. It helped to relieve the oppressive situation that the combats faced. Most of the songs composed revealed the experience of the Vietnam soldiers’ experiences, which enabled them to survive by diverting their attention. In respect to the themes of the war songs, most of the soldiers tried to mediate the life they were going through in the battlefields by writing songs about paying tribute to the dead comrades, celebrating their heroic acts. Other members of the public in the United States came up with protest songs offering their disfavor for the Vietnam War. It was a form of communication that united the American population who felt hit by the war. The rhythm and the melodies of the songs were not important as the message put across by the songs (Andrew Wiest, 2010). A political message that the songs put across brought out emotions of political anger and dissatisfaction requiring the authorities to do something about the war. As the war began to close, the protest music started to change. The era that followed pictured the moods of the public who started feeling exhausted and depressed. New rhythms of hard rock began to influence more young people. This convergence of culture and the overall protests left a heavy legacy on the people that are still evident in the American culture till today. It left a mark of rebellion on the rock music scenes and marked the origin of the culture wars, which dominates the American politics to this date. As earlier mentioned, television played an important role in cultural, political and entertainment life of the public. Television and film played a major role in impacting the modern culture. The television aired the happenings of the Vietnam War. This lead to the realization that the war’s victims were not the soldiers taking part in the war but the general public of the American population. The morale and the will power of the public were greatly affected. War themes combined with powerful television medium represented a strong combination that formed a public opinion. The Vietnam War inspired various products of the television industry including documentaries and situational comedies. Though war topics started appearing on television screens since the onset of the war, the influence on the militant topics developed gradually. The nature of the Vietnam War did not change in the course of the American history as much as its overall perception. The presence of television cameras covered the war horrors. The members of the public were in a position to see the combat and perceive all the details of the jungle and the surroundings (Daum, Gardner, & Mausbach, 2009). The people could see the Vietnam War for what it was through the use of the television medium. Other forms of documentary coverage emerged which covered the Vietnam War thus providing an in-depth coverage of the war themes from various points of view. They provided an open space that enabled the Americans to prove the needful point. Moreover, the television serial format contributed to the liberalization of tenseness that tied down the American nation. At the beginning of the serial format production, various television network companies were afraid of dealing with themes of Vietnam War. However, the relationship of the timing and the successive development towards the attitudes of the public indicated that the Americans society was ready to face-up to the problem and talk about it. Soap operas came up and became the most popular form of revealing to the public about the happenings of the Vietnam War. Various production companies came up with themed soap operas that revolved around the war and they gained a massive audience (Beattie, 2008). Moreover, a number of influential films that focused on the lives of the Americans who were prisoners of the war or were missing in action emerged including Rambo. In the real sense of the cinematic fantasy, the United States was able to reap the frustrations it had over it losses in the Vietnam War. For instance, one of the most famous lines in Rambo was, “sir, do we get to win this time?” Such films provided consolation over the morality of most of the American forces involved in the conflict. Conclusion The Vietnam War was one of the most obscure episodes and one of the most serious conflicts during the cold war period and in the whole modern history. It made the Americans have a perspective concerning the happening of the war. Though the happenings of the war did not change in the whole of the American history, the perception the Americans had over the war changed over time. People started seeing the war for what it was through various media including television and newspapers. The Vietnams war affected the American culture through music, films, and documentaries. The themes of such media changed to incorporate the happenings of the war. References Anderson, D. L. (2011). The Columbia history of the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press. Andrew Wiest, M. K. (2010). New Perspectives on the Vietnam War. New York: Rouledge. Beattie, K. (2008). The scar that binds : American culture and the Vietnam War. New York: New York University Press. Daum, A. W., Gardner, L. C., & Mausbach, W. (2009). America, the Vietnam War, and the world. Washington DC: German Hostorical Institute. Olson, J. S., & Roberts, R. W. (2011). Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam 1945 1995. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Read More