American Cinema In The Vietnam War

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Introduction The Vietnam War was a defining fifteen year battle between the United States backed South Vietnam and the communist forces in Northern Vietnam, its implications visible on Western culture for decades on. These fifteen years influenced the culture and civil society in the United States and redefined the ways the media interacted with Government in the fight over public opinion. The battle for public opinion was fought in all social structures starting with the formal education system and Academia, and on to the smaller communities and families. In this mass I explore the role the Political and Social civil discussion held over the American movie industry in the years after the Vietnam War. What affect did the public's discussion have on the movie industry? What topics and points of view were too radical before the war, but later seen as mainstream? In a nutshell: What role did the Film Industry take in the civil-political discussion in post-Vietnam USA? In my short study, I found that through covering the Vietnam stories, the American Film Industry redefined the borders of freedom of speech, and showed itself as a stage for future civil political and social discussions. The American Public today sees films as a wealthy source for Government criticism and social debate, all due to the Industry's ability to cover the Vietnam War and its social and its political aftermath, through contemplating eyes. This is true, even though the industry did not advocate ideas not already known and familiar to the public. In other words, films shown were always criticising government, but only to the extent the public was able to incorporate. None of the films I saw took totally new ideas and air them to the public. On the other hand, Corrigan writes that the extensive media coverage of the war in live and documentary makes it near impossible to cover the war by

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