Good Morning, Vietnam – War Genre Hollywood Film Analysis

Introduction

The war genre, “Good morning, Vietnam (1987)” is movie that was released by Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams) that aims at demonstrating how the war involving the American soldier, South Vietnam and North Vietnam in 1965. Cronauer was a member of the American air forces, as well as a talented radio disk jockey. The movie opens when General Taylor happens to hear about one of the Cronauer`s shows over armed forces radio  in the island of Crete, and suggests the latter to be transferred to his command in Vietnam in order to entertain soldiers during that time of the war. However, the by then nominal head of the operations of the radio station, Sergeant Major Dickerson (J.T. Walsh) got upset when Adrian Cronauer is assigned as a DJ without his consent, but General Taylor insisted that the talented radio disk jockey is hilarious and perfect as far as giving the soldiers morale is concerned. After reporting at the military station, Cronauer was authorized to be reporting news only after it has been edited by the censors. He began his first broadcast shift at 6 A.M., where he made a dramatic first impression, especially by shouting, “Good morning, Vietnam!” and hence the title of the movie. This paper pays high attention to the analysis of this war genre.

Analysis of the war genre, Good morning Vietnam

The movie, good morning, Vietnam had a solid view that was demonstrated in numerous ways, especially on the roles of the North Vietnamese, American Soldiers, and the South Vietnamese. It is portrayed as a clear illustration of the struggle of the civilization of the Vietnamese and the Viet Cong especially after the end of the Second World War. Precisely, the North Vietnam, under the leadership of the by then Northern Vietnamese Prime Minister, Pham Van Dong was outsourcing military resources from China and Russia in order to conquer South Vietnam. This form of support from the communist nations could have elevated to the level that no nation, including the United States (the super power) could have managed to conquer them. The American government feared that the continued support of the North Vietnam from Russia and China could have extended with time especially through frequent attacks of the neighboring countries such as the Southern Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia.

It is worth noting that the American government had a prior experience of the power of communist states, especially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It is important to remember that during the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in war together as allies against the Axis powers. Additionally, the American government aimed at promoting peace especially among the independent countries such as the South Vietnam. It is worth noting that after the end of the Second World War, the United States emerged as Supper powerful country in the world, and participated in the signing of the Peace accord in Paris on 10^th February 1947. The parties involved in the Peace accord included the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France, which negotiated the details of peace treaties with the minor Axis powers (such as Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria), Italy, and Finland. In this peace agreement, the parties involved should not in any way interfere with the peace of any of independent country for selfish gains. Apparently, Northern Vietnam, China, and Russia were violating this agreement by helping North Vietnam with military resources in order for it to conquer and gain control of an independent states such as the South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Consecutively, the film started with a cleared cut portrayal of the American soldiers sitting within an office, coupled with the differences amongst the high ranking American officers. Robin Williams is brought into this movie as a comical man who is supposed to be a radio dick jockey for the American soldiers in the war, which is outside the office. The funny thing is that despite Robin Williams being introduced in the office as a radio DJ, he does not have the full autonomy to broadcast everything that is happening in the war, especially due to the fact that the high ranking American officials who were in charge of the news broadcasting had limited the former from anything that has not been edited by the censors.

It is ironical that the American soldiers were spending most of the time in the office rather than in the field, and the wanted Robin Williams to broadcast only what they seem important for the members of the public to know, rather for him to air what is truly happening on the ground. This form of distortion is a representation of what happens in the broadcasting stations in the contemporary world that we live in. Precisely, what the public gets from broadcasting stations is not always true, since most of them have been edited in order to suit the interests of their masters. For example, cases of police brutality are high in the present world, and majority of innocent lives are lost through the hands of police or soldiers who are at the same time paid handsomely in order to protect citizens. However, in order to safeguard the reputation of the military officers, the actual information is distorted and framed in such a way that the individuals who have been shot dead were criminals and even after being requested to surrender to the soldiers in uniform, they retaliated by opening fire to them.