Analysis Of The Movie Platoon

This was the first war-type-emergency to hit the United States since the Cold War. The platoon specifically participated in the “Operation Desert Storm” which was a “a 100-hour land war, that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait” (history.state.gov). “Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, ordered his army across the border into tiny Kuwait” (history.state.gov) where oil was a major factor. If Iraq were to win in Kuwait, they would be close to Saudi Arabia and Iraq could easily have controlled at least 1/5th of the world’s oil supply. President Bush gave Saddam an ultimatum, giving him the option to either leave Kuwait by January 15th, or he would implement all the military forces (history.state.gov). At this time, the United States troops were stationed in “Saudi Arabia in case of an Iraqi attack on the Saudis” (history.state.gov) under the operation name of Desert Shield. When Saddam did not evacuate his Iraqi troops by January 15th, President Bush engaged the Operation Desert Shield into Operation Desert Storm. This is where the 2004 Manchurian Candidate picked up the narrative. The platoon was involved in Operation Desert Storm when they were captured and brainwashed. This is significant because it was the first war since the Cold War and it was a war with previously known terroristic countries. This war was appropriate because it left most Americans feeling “confident in their military and technological edge once more” (history.state.gov) which is what Raymond Shaw aimed to do with his campaign of “Secure tomorrow today.” These major historical differences did reshape the movies, but again, it did not take away from the overall theme of the fear of terrorism or the fear of communism, it only customized the themes to their time

The rambunctious behavior of the soldier’s triumphant victory is a strong message visually for the viewer. These soldiers struggle to find their identity and once the war ends, the identity they’ve build at war vanishes, (McCutcheon, 2007). As a result, they essentially lose a part of them selves, (McCutcheon, 2007). When they return home, many soldiers struggle with psychological issues that prevent them from resuming their once regular lives, (McCutcheon, 2007). The images of soldiers celebrating at the end of war give the viewer a taste of this problem. This also allows the viewer insight to the deeper issues surrounding an American soldier’s mental stability and mentality. Through this image, along with many others throughout the film, the viewer is able to dig deeper and truly analyze what they are seeing.

U.S. Navy SEAL ,Chris Kyle was just the average die hard Texan. He aspired to become a cowboy, but it wasn’t working out in his favor. After seeing the horrors of terrorism on 9/11 he was ready to fight for his country and enlisted into the military. He goes on to fight in four tours and becomes the deadliest sniper in American history. After each tour, he felt that he had to go back. He had two goals that he couldn’t give up on; protecting his team and taking out the deadliest enemy sniper, Mustafa. Chris would not stop until he achieved his goals, when he finally did, he faced a new battle. He struggled with normal daily life, but even then he persevered and found a new passion to aid him. Throughout this film, Clint Eastwood portrays the theme of perseverance through the use of setting, camera angles, and the main character Chris Kyle.

The film The War Room is a documentary about Bill Clinton that has very little to do with Bill Clinton himself. The primary focus of the film is devoted to the team of campaign strategists that got Clinton to the presidency. The two main players the film focuses on are James Carville--the Lead Strategist for the Clinton campaign and George Stephanopoulos the Communications Director. The film follows them and their team of campaign strategists and experts as they try to get Arkansas Governor, Bill Clinton, to the presidency. The documentary highlights many key moments in Clinton’s campaign, for example the Gennifer Flowers scandal. However, the film showcases what was happening behind closed doors in the War Room, where Clinton’s

“Everybody get down!!!” He freezes for a second and then it suddenly strikes him--his heart beats almost out of his chest, and his hands are shaking uncontrollably; this is war. This is Vietnam, a cruel war between the Americans and Vietnamese that takes place in a jungle. War is undoubtedly frightening and may seem like the number one threat for the soldiers, but it is not; it is not remotely close. The true threat at a time of war, especially in a place such as Vietnam is isolation. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien illustrates the danger of isolation and why it is the greatest danger in Vietnam. Soldiers are aware that they are detached from society; this continuously haunts them, and as a result, they damage themselves emotionally.

In the movie Platoon, the author, Oliver Stone, tells us a story about an American soldier in Vietnam during the war. The story is mostly based on his own experience when he went there. Even though the story is fictional, he keeps it really realistic and the more close possible to what was reality in Vietnam. He shows how that war was hell for the soldiers we sent there and also for the local population. Oliver Stone produced Platoon to show his disapproval of the war in Vietnam, because that war harmed the American soldiers that went there and also the population that they were supposed to protect. To deliver his political message, Stone used different elements of a movie like the structure of the plot, cinematic techniques and

War changes people, it transforms them and let's out deep emotions and actions that they never thought they had. These transformations of the human soul are best shown with in the film Platoon with the character Chris Taylor and the chapter Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong in the book The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien revolving around the character Mary Ann Bell. The two stories both similar in the way of a character changing from the experience of war; Chris Taylor a man who arrives at Vietnam pale faces and innocent, joining the war thinking he's doing it for the greater good, quickly realizes that he's not in his element. Just as Chris Taylor, Mary Bell comes to Vietnam pale faced and innocent but she comes to the war to

In the mental setting, “search[ing] the villages, . . . kicking over jars of rice, frisking children and old men, blowing tunnels, [and] sometimes setting fires” (O’Brien, 399) along with the constant reminder that it was kill or be killed wore down and weighed heavily upon the American soldiers. “They are asked to violate social norms, [to carry] out orders to fire upon the enemy [,] (MacLean, 564)” and commit other atrocities that corrupt their moral code. However, more daunting than the mental strife is the physical challenges the soldiers must overcome. O’Brien describes how on a daily basis the men could catch disease like “malaria and dysentery . . . [and] lice and ringworm (399)” and how the monsoons and the jungle threaten them. The physical setting is perhaps a secondary antagonist, respectively following the enemy soldiers and the war. The physical setting challenges the American soldiers and attacks in ways that differs from the enemy soldiers; the monotonous, never-ending jungle and terrain drains their energy, the monsoons threaten to drown them, and the threat of disease is almost as terrifying as a gunshot wound. The physical and mental challenges in Vietnam create insurmountable burdens for the soldiers to try to cope

This happens in real life and it’s important to help people understand it. One of the best examples is Barnes who goes completely out of his mind with power and trying to constantly be in control. One similarity that stuck out was that they both have the cruel and inhuman village raids. These were honestly hard for me to watch in Platoon. Although I support the military, I personally hate war, so seeing people die for no real reason is hard for me. Platoon shows American soldiers mercilessly killing people and burning a village. They also both describe the awful conditions in Vietnam. Horrible heat, scary noises, and lots of bugs are all described in the novel and in the book. He made it very easy for you to visualize and almost put yourself in their shoes in

“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behaviour, nor restrain men from doing things men have always done” (O’Brien) Platoon is a movie that is free from the chains of an overarching sense of morality. There are no morals to be found in this movie, and it’s nihilistic depiction of war allows no room for morality to come to fruition. One way that Stone accomplishes this is by not establishing a clear “us” (Americans) and “them” (Viet Cong) throughout the entire movie, and instead we see the confusion, anger, hatred, and fear that overcomes the American soldiers sent into a war where the enemy is never fully known. There is a scene in the movie Platoon that is based on the My-Lai

In the short film, “The Negro Soldier,” the whole focus was to get African Americans to join the military. With the use of propaganda, the U.S. government hoped to promote getting African Americans to want to fight for their country. It hoped to instill patriotism in them. It showed that Germany and the Nazis had no respect for them and considered them the scum of the earth. It also portrayed them being accepted as equals into the American society. It was used to make them think they were wanted and play a major role in the success of the war against germany. And to ultimately make Germany and the Nazis look like the bad guys (destroying their monuments) instead of the racist America they lived in. It also portrayed African American soldiers prior contributions in previously fought wars as pivotal moments in American history. It made it seem like they were the reason for those victories. It also explained how the African American soldiers were honored with tributes, memorials, medals and parades for their service in the military. In the ongoing WWII, it was said that there were three times the number of African Americans soldiers in WWII than in WWI. Also, many more were getting commissioned and attending West Point and OCS (Officer Candidate School). African American men that were once printers, tailors, entertainers are now soldiers in the Army as gunners, tankers, radio operators, mechanics, quartermasters, and infantrymen. They were now the backbone of

The horrors of war were depicted by the constant threats to the characters lives, the brutal conditions of the bad weather, hunger and combat. Soldiers had to battle the enemy along with nature. Soldiers would become stressed, paranoid and start losing their personalities. As Captain Miller says, “I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.” This quote shows the mental toll on these soldiers.

The “Lost Battalion” film was a great film about World War One. It showed a lot about the horrors of the war. It also brilliantly depicted the reality of the war.

The movie Platoon tells the story of a platoon of soldiers during their time serving in the Vietnam War. The soldiers find themselves in a variety of ethically challenging situations, and many make decisions with massive ethical ramifications. The situations vary, from searching a village for enemy activity to deciding whether to save a fellow soldier, and the soldiers are forced to choose between varieties of less than ideal options. The movie’s ethical spectrum ranges from individuals concerned only with accomplishing their mission at all costs to those who express concern for the lives of all people they interact with. The two ends of this spectrum are represented in the movie by Sergeant Barnes as the soldier who values only completing his mission contrasted with Sergeant Elias who attempts to preserve the life and humanity of the Vietnamese people he encounters when possible (Kopelson, 1986). I believe that the decisions exemplified by Elias represent a better way of conducting warfare, while those of Barnes represent a descent into understanding only the immediate objective at the expense of winning the overall war. The following key ethical decision points from the movie demonstrate the superiority of the decisions made by Elias

In fact, it did just the opposite. It showed the atrocities that occurred in the war and caused many pro-war advocates to question whether or not we should have been there in the first place. However, it only showed atrocities done to American troops, but it didn't show atrocities that American soldiers did to the Vietnamese. That didn't happen until the release of the 1986 film, Platoon.