HOLLYWOOD AND THE VIETNAM WAR Key questions: How the Vietnam War has been portrayed in film. Why could America not win? What would victory have consisted.

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1 HOLLYWOOD AND THE VIETNAM WAR Key questions: How the Vietnam War has been portrayed in film. Why could America not win? What would victory have consisted of? Was America engaged in a noble cause to defend a small country against Communism or an aggressive war against a people seeking for self-determination? Edouard COLIN, EEMCP2, Londres

2 OBJECTIFS Initiation à l'analyse cinématographique. Critique historique et scientifique des films (réalisme/fiction). Difficultés de la représentation de la guerre/message de la cinématographie d'Hollywood.

3 BIBLIOGRAPHIE Le XXe Siècle à l'écran, Shlomo Sand, Seuil, 2004. Imaginaires de guerre, les images dans les guerre d'Algé rie et du Vietnam, Benjamin Stora, La Découverte, 2004. The Vietnam War in History, Literature and Film, Mark Taylor, Edinburgh, 2003.

4 LE CINEMA DE LA GUERRE DU VIETNAM Pendant la guerre 1964-1975: Green Berets, John Wayne, 1968 Les Visiteurs, Elia Kazan, 1971 Après la guerre 1976 – début 1990s: Le Vietnam fait écran (150 films et documentaires)‏ Taxi Driver, Martin Scorcese, 1976 Garden of stone, F. F. Coppola, 1987 Les documentaires: Vietnam, l'année du cochon de De Antonio 1968 Hearts and Minds de Peter Davis 1974 Four hours in My Lai de Kevin Sim 1989

5 5 films majeurs à grand succès : Taxi Driver de Scorcese Coming Home (le retour) d’Hal Hasby Deer Hunter de Michael Cimino Hair de Milos Forman Apocalypse Now de Coppola. 1 e étape :Le cinéma des années Carter (1976-1980): les années critiques.

6 1 st extract : Deer Hunter (Voyage au bout de l'enfer) by Michael Cimino It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director in 1978 Extract: Prisoners of the Vietcong and the Russian Roulette. (1h14 – 1h34) Describe the place and the « living » conditions of the prisoners. How are the prisoners treated? Describe the Vietcong soldiers: behaviour, way of speaking, activities... Why can you say they look uncivilised and inhuman? What are the consequences of the captivity for the Americans? How did they escape?

7 Extrait 2 : Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola It won the Cannes Palme d'Or in 1979 Extract: Offensive launched against a Vietnamese village. (36-52 min) Compare the US strategy/the VC strategy Describe and compare the behaviour and the feelings of the American soldiers when they are in the air (helicopter) and on the ground. How did the Colonel managed to win the battle? With which consequences for the inhabitants of the village? Comment the Colonel's character: behaviour, relationship with his men, views on the way the USA wage war against Vietnam... Why can you say this film is a criticism of the American tactic and involvement in Vietnam?

8 2 e étape : les années Reagan (1980-88): entre critique et retour de la figure du héros. Le cinéma reaganien: « America's back! ». Série des First-Blood/Rambo, Missing in action (portés disparus) de Joseph Zito (1984) avec Chuck Norris, mythe des POWs et des MIA. Le renouveau des films critiques. Birdy de Alan Parker en 84, Full Metal Jacket de S Kubrick, Good Morning Vietnam de Barry Levinson (1987 pour les 2), Casualties of War (Outrages) de De Palma 89, trilogie d’O Stone (Platoon 86, Born on the Fourth of July 89, Heaven and Earth 93).

9 3 rd extract : First Blood (Rambo I) by Ted Kotcheff, 1982 Extract: The impossible reintegration of the veterans: (1-15 min). How is Rambo's loneliness shown? Why can we say that his fatherland (the society) and the authority (represented by the sheriff and the police) refuse to reintegrate him? How his PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is represented? => It shows that the soldiers were not responsible for the failure in VN but because they had a lack of support of the society and the authority.

10 4 th extract: Platoon by Oliver Stone. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1986 Extract: The Search and Destroy tactic and its consequences. (40-56 min) What happened just before the GI's entered the village? Describe the scene and explain the consequences of the Search and Destroy tactic. Explain the opposition between Barnes and Elias. Why is Chris behaviour ambiguous? What did the GI's after they burnt the village?

11 THEMES POSSIBLES A ETUDIER La figure du vétéran: reporter la responsabilité sur l'arrière. La figure du combattant vietnamien: l'impossible représentation. La figure du soldat, une victime. Transformer la défaite en victoire: le cas des POWs et des MIA. La critique raciale: les minorités ethniques dans la guerre.