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Why Hollywood turned broken men into heroes after the Vietnam War

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Why Hollywood turned broken men into heroes after the Vietnam War

Hollywood films portraying the 'heroic myth' no longer resonated after Vietnam, critics say

While the Second World War offered Hollywood plenty of heroic stories, widespread discontent over U.S. involvement in Vietnam made for a tough sell — so the studios changed track.

In the two decades that followed the "good war," Hollywood produced hundreds of Second World War films, evoking the valiant efforts of American troops, often with the input of the military.

But with the U.S. losing the war in Vietnam — and American soldiers being seen more like war criminals than heroes — production of war epics ground to a halt.

Hollywood pivoted to stories of veterans broken by the horrors they experienced — without the military's editorial oversight on the scripts, according to Tanner Mirrlees, an associate professor of communication and digital media studies at Ontario Tech University.

"They are dealing with complex and sensitive issues, like post-traumatic stress disorder, disabilities among veterans," he said.

Critics have called the post-Vietnam period the "Hollywood Revolution" because of the gritty truth portrayed on the silver screen.


https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/why-hollywood-turned-broken-men-into-heroes-after-the-vietnam-war-1.5570479
 
Three post-war films about returning veterans I thought were very well done:

The Best Years of Our Lives ( 1946 )

Till the end of time ( 1946 )

Let There Be Light - documentary (1946)

 
While there may have been many WW2 "victory lap" movies portraying the soldier/veteran as hero, the 40s and 50s was the zenith of "film noir" in which the disturbed (or wronged) veteran character was a staple of the genre.

http://www.transatlantichabit.com/noir/Returning-Veterans-in-Film-Noir.pdf
 
Blackadder1916 said:
While there may have been many WW2 "victory lap" movies portraying the soldier/veteran as hero, the 40s and 50s was the zenith of "film noir" in which the disturbed (or wronged) veteran character was a staple of the genre.

http://www.transatlantichabit.com/noir/Returning-Veterans-in-Film-Noir.pdf

What a fascinating article. Thanks for that bit of Sunday morning coffee reading!  :salute:
 
I will always argue that the US did not "lose the war", they did not achieve all their aims, but they effectively destroy the VC and most of the NVA after Tet, brought them to the peace table and got them to sign the treaty. Had the US maintained a larger force in South Vietnam, the North could never had broken the peace agreement and invaded. funny how people "forget" that bit.
 
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