the “enemy”. This intrusion of American elements replaces not only Chinese elements, but also the Vietnamese cultural identity.
Contemporary culture, however, plays a different role. As current contemporary movies, music, visual arts and other entertainment forms produced by Vietnamese resolve around the Vietnamese “national cultural identity”, which almost always incorporates Chinese elements or Chinese influence in some ways: in its language, practiced customs, art motifs, etc., as addressed. Vietnam’s contemporary culture, in this condition, has the same low probability of dividing between the Chinese elements and “quintessentially Vietnamese”. However, in reality, the concept of “Vietnamese contemporary culture” does not only include productions by Vietnamese people. As the Vietnamese community reacts and corresponds to foreign cultural productions as engagingly as they do with Vietnamese-produced goods, this country’s contemporary culture encompasses these alien productions. In this context, culture is more easily categorizable. Additionally, making the first step in protesting with contemporary culture is a logical movement. Unlike other goods exchangeable economically, which can be manipulated to present as if from a different origin, Chinese contemporary cultural productions take significantly distinct forms. As they are very distinguishable–the use of Mandarin’s often a giveaway–differentiation of Chinese media and entertainment production becomes the simplest,
Of crucial importance is the different attitudes between Nguyen and Quang has towards the Vietnam War. Nguyen represents the traditional view that the Vietnam War was a failure on the part of the Americans, a mistake and pointless war that ruined the lives of many. What is surprising is Quang’s view. With an immediate and loud retort to Nguyen’s negative feelings towards the Vietnam war, Seol’s portrayal of Quang immediately grabs the audience’s attention. Quang is grateful for the Vietnam war, and “thankful for the American soldiers that gave up their lives so [he] could live.” Actor Seol aptly captures the spirit and sentiments of an actual Vietnamese refugee, and in doing so provides a refreshing and different perspective about the Vietnam War. Faced with these differing perspectives, the audience must come to realize that America is not a monolith, but instead composed of people from many different backgrounds with varying experiences, attitudes, thoughts, and
Richard Rodriguez article, “The Chinese in All of Us (1944)”, argues that many different cultures have contributed to making up the American culture. Rodriguez backs up this claim by sharing
Continuing with the views of Nguyen and his parents, Nguyen’s split identity of being Vietnamese and American is fueled by the way he interacts with his family. The aforementioned disagreement between Nguyen and his parents on fighting the
His narrative begins well before American forces set foot in Vietnam, delving into French colonialism 's contribution to the 1945 Vietnamese revolution, and revealing how the Cold War concerns of the 1950s led the United States to back the French. The heart of the book covers the "American war," ranging from the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem and the impact of the Tet Offensive to Nixon 's expansion of the war into Cambodia and Laos, and the final peace agreement of 1973. Finally, Lawrence examines the aftermath of the war, from the momentous liberalization-"Doi Moi"-in Vietnam to the enduring legacy of this infamous war in American books, films, and political debate.
1. STATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTION Throughout the years, the Vietnam War has lived up its name as “one of the most obscure episodes and, at the same time, one of the most serious conflicts not only of the Cold war period but also of the whole modern history” (Hodboďová, 2008). It was apparently the most long-lasting conflict in American history and most disfavored war that broke out after World War II and ended in 1975. The peculiarity of this war lies not only in its prolonged duration but also in an overriding number of war casualties, or in other words, the death and destruction to the country’s people. Averagely in the struggle, more than one million Vietnamese soldiers and over 58,000 Americans were killed, not to mention the massacre
The Vietnam War, once called “the most disastrous of all America’s undertakings over the whole 200 years of history” by George Kennan (Brinkley, p. 773) was a war where the United States entered to support South Vietnam. The goal was to help South Vietnam maintain an anticommunist government. What began as providing aid, turned into intervention, and then full-fledged involvement. In the beginning, few Americans protested America’s involvement in the war, however this drastically changed as time continued. Peace
Because of the recentness of the Vietnam War, those who have lived through it can give testament to the time period and the emotions of the war from their first hand perspective. The Vietnam War spanned a time period of growth in fashion, music, spirituality, and human rights. But, the fear, animosity, and long term mental issues that stemmed from the war have affected all of those, in the service or otherwise, that lived from November 1st, 1955-April 30th,
The American War was a test given to Vietnamese people to test their loyalty to the government. Before that nearly ten centuries under Chinese rule this country has never fallen apart. This clearly proves that warfare can be overcome by trust among the people and the strength of them working
The focus of our group project is on Chinese Americans. We studied various aspects of their lives and the preservation of their culture in America. The Chinese American population is continually growing. In fact, in 1990, they were the largest group of Asians in the United States (Min 58). But living in America and adjusting to a new way of life is not easy. Many Chinese Americans have faced and continue to face much conflict between their Chinese and American identities. But many times, as they adapt to this new life, they are also able to preserve their Chinese culture and identity through various ways. We studied these things through the viewing of a movie called Joy Luck Club,
Vietnam is a country located in Southeast Asia. It serves as the setting for a gruesome and traumatizing campaign. Vietnam, however, also symbolically represents the struggle and the fear. The fear being that American soldiers like Tim O’Brien and Bob Kiley are in a location that is strange and unsettling. They are in another man’s land, not in the comfort of their own homes. To the American soldiers Vietnam is Hell with evil lurking every corner. “Jungle, sort of, except it’s way up in the clouds and there’s always this fog-like rain, except it’s not raining-everything’s all wet...you hear shit nobody should hear.” Nothing is familiar, and the soldier’s coping mechanisms are limited, as indicated by O’Brien’s description of Lemon and Kiley at the beginning.
Andrew Lam moved into the U.S after the Vietnam War with his family. In the book, “East Eats West”, he mentioned many times about hybridity, which is the mix or combination of cultures in the U.S. Also, he gave a lot of information of cultural clashes between Vietnamese and American cultures. However, although cultural hybridity and clashes appear simultaneously in the U.S, to some extent, Americans still have their own identities. Andrew Lam used his opinion as well as examples to define the American identity. Some of them were about relationship between instructors and students, following dream or passion, and pursuing freedom.
Novel without a name by Duong Thu Huong provided a real insight on war from the Vietnamese point of view. Readers are able to contemplate with the themes that reoccur, what the war truly is like, and the effects it causes on the people, society, and the individual. Three main reoccurring themes of this novel were disillusionment of the war, betrayal, and the loss of innocence that the war causes on a human being.
A quarter of a century after the Fall of Saigon, Vietnam continues to exercise a powerful hold of the American psyche. No deployment of American troops abroad is considered without the infusion of the Vietnam question. No formulation of strategic policy can be completed without weighing the possibility of Vietnanization. Even the politics of a person cannot be discussed without taking into account his opinion on the Vietnam Ware. This national obsession with Vietnam is perfectly national when viewed from a far. It was the only war that the United States has ever lost. It defined an era of American history that must rank with the depression as one of this nation’s most traumatic. It concluded with Watergate and led many to believe that the
It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting.
The Vietnam War is one of the most important conflicts of the twentieth century. It is the second most traumatic, contentious, and problematic event in U.S. history—the first being the Civil War. Yet the Vietnam War, means that “the dispute zone”. it was also called "Second Indochina War" and the "American War".