Truth Over Time: The Evolution of Hollywood\u27s Thinking on the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War is an event that has seared itself onto the mind of the American public, initially due to comprehensive news coverage and later, generations of filmmakers. The American people of today most definitely have a very concrete set of beliefs about the Vietnam War-- mainly that it was a war fought in vain, responsible for the needless deaths of tens of thousands, a war that should never have happened. This begs the question: how did we as a people arrive at this point of view? Did we always feel this way, or was it a gradual process? Interestingly enough, we may find the answer in an unlikely place: Hollywood. The films made about Vietnam, starting in the late sixties and continuing up to the present day, serve as a graphic illustration of the evolution of our thoughts and feelings as a nation regarding the Vietnam War. The lens through which Hollywood has viewed the Vietnam War has undergone quite a bit of evolution over the years. Hollywood’s first foray into the conflict, The Green Berets, asked an important question--did America still have the stomach for WWII-era patriotism? The subsequent movies answered that question with a resounding no. Starting in the late seventies and continuing up until the present day, Hollywood has regarded Vietnam with a potent mixture of resentment and anger, hammering away at several important themes-- innocence lost and the bitter veteran in particular