Source: CNKI original draft
In a dimly lit movie theater, Americans are watching the movie "We Were Soldiers," an adaptation of American director Randall Wallace based on real battles in the Vietnam War.
Watching a group of newly trained recruits suffer heavy losses in the battle against Vietnam, the American audience in the audience couldn't help but weep for the bravery of these compatriots.
After watching the movie, they also clearly understood the sacrifice of the American army in the Vietnam War, and a strong sense of pride welled up in their hearts.
In fact, the United States has also made many movies about the Vietnam War, such as "Apocalypse Now", "Field Platoon", etc., but the strange thing is that "The Korean War", which also has a very far-reaching impact on the United States in modern times, is almost difficult to see on the big screen in the United States.
You know, whether it is the Vietnam War or the Korean War, the United States is the losing side, why would the United States be more willing to make movies about the Vietnam War and treat Korean War movies differently?
The reasons for starting the Vietnam War
To understand this question, we must first understand why the United States launched the Vietnam War.
Vietnam was a French colony for a long time, but as time went on, the Vietnamese people gradually began to rebel against it, and they did not want to be colonized by the French anymore and wanted to establish a regime of their own.
Thus, in 1945, Vietnam and France fought a war of national liberation, which ended in 1954 at the Geneva Conference, when China and the Soviet Union unanimously proposed a ceasefire between France and Vietnam, and French troops withdrew from Vietnam.
After the expulsion of France from Vietnam, Vietnam was already gradually becoming more stable, and the North and South regimes had reached relevant agreements, but at this time, the United States could not sit still.
In the eyes of the Americans, if Vietnam completes reunification, it is very likely that a united front against the United States will be formed, which will be very unfavorable to the United States.
At the same time, the United States was also worried that the Soviet Union would use Vietnam to expand its influence in Southeast Asia, after all, the Soviet Union, which belonged to the socialist camp, was obviously more trusted by Vietnam than the United States.
If the United States allows Vietnam to develop, the United States will undoubtedly lose its defense line in Southeast Asia, and this is something that the United States will never tolerate.
In addition to this, the temptation to control Vietnam is great for the United States, mainly because of Vietnam's central location in Eurasia.
If the United States can control Vietnam, it will be able to use Vietnam to further influence the Indian Peninsula, the South China Sea, and South Asia, which will help the United States suppress the Soviet Union in the Cold War.
Because of this, the United States began to provide economic and even military support to South Vietnam, in an attempt to establish its own line of defense at the roots of Indochina by supporting the South Vietnamese government. From this point of view, the biggest reason why the United States launched a war against Vietnam was to resist the spread of communism to the whole world, otherwise it would be detrimental to the United States to maintain its position as the world leader.
Therefore, the launch of the Vietnam War can actually be said to be a battle of honor for the United States, and the United States needs to show its strength to the world through this battle, so as to maintain the throne of the world leader. Unfortunately, because the South Vietnamese army was overwhelmed and could not gain an advantage in the battle with North Vietnam, the United States had to take it upon itself in 1961 to send special forces into Vietnam to directly participate in the war.
After that, the scale of the war became bigger and bigger, and by 1968, the number of American troops who invaded Vietnam had reached more than 540,000 in total, which was contrary to the original intention of the United States not to personally intervene in the Vietnamese civil war, but for the United States, this was also a helpless move.
Of course, the American people supported the government at the very beginning of this large-scale US intervention in Vietnam, because they understood that the reason why the government launched the Vietnam War was to stop communist aggression and maintain the hegemony of the United States in the world.
Although the Vietnam War was too long to make a substantial breakthrough, more and more Americans began to oppose the Vietnam War.
But the American people oppose it because the long war has cost them too much, not because they themselves question the government's purpose in starting the war.
From this, we can see that although the Vietnam War ended in defeat, the American people believed that the war was decent, and the reason for waging the war was to protect the interests of the United States itself, and it was a war that had to be waged.
That's why American directors are willing to make films about the Vietnam War.
After all, this type of movie can not only highlight the magnificence of American heroism, but also make more Americans proud.
The Korean War that I am ashamed to mention
Compared with the Vietnam War, which was "compelted" to be launched in order to maintain its hegemony, the Korean War was an unbearable memory for the United States.
Although the Vietnam War was ultimately lost, the United States had a reason to maintain its position and prevent the spread of communism when it started the war; Second, since the beginning of the war, the United States has always maintained its calmness and soberness, and it was not until it was forced to send troops to participate in the battle.
Therefore, from the beginning to the end, the United States has not lost the "demeanor" that a big country should have, and this war is just a lost war for the United States that it needs to fight but ultimately loses.
The Korean War, on the other hand, was a different story.
First of all, the need to start the Korean War cannot be compared with the Vietnam War.
As for the Vietnam War, the United States believed that if it did not start it, its position would be threatened; But as for the Korean War, when North Korea was engaged in a civil war, which side won the battle in the end would not have much impact on the United States, let alone damage the interests of the United States.
Therefore, the United States launched the Korean War in disregard of international law and an unjust war of aggression launched in order to pursue its own strategy and interests in the Asia-Pacific region.
Not only does the United States not only have no support from other countries in the international community, but even the people of the United States itself do not support this war against the DPRK.
In the eyes of the American public, South and North Korea are engaged in a civil war, and there is no need for the United States to intervene in the war between them.
This will not only negatively affect the image of the United States in the international community, but will also cost a lot of money and manpower.
After the start of the Korean War, it had a negative impact on the U.S. economy, and it also brought pain and sorrow to many military families, after all, it was the soldiers who fought the most difficult war.
Moreover, after the United States launched the Korean War, its attitude was very aggressive.
At the beginning of the war, the U.S. side was actually only asking North Korea to retreat to the 38th parallel, because South Korea had the support of the United States, so North Korea was no match for South Korea at all, and it was soon defeated and retreated.
It stands to reason that the United States should have signed a peaceful armistice agreement with North Korea at this time, after all, its demand for participation in the Korean War had already been realized at this time.
However, the ambitions of the United States were not extinguished, and General MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the Korean War, believed that the United States should not retreat from this, but should continue to advance northward and completely take Korea, so as to maximize its own interests.
In fact, with the military strength of the United States at that time, if there were no other external forces involved, then MacArthur's idea would definitely be realized.
However, the United States underestimated the importance that China attaches to its own security and national interests.
After the U.S. military insisted on continuing to attack North Korea, China resolutely joined the Korean War, because the Chinese side knew in its heart that if the United States was allowed to control North Korea, the situation would be very unfavorable to China.
After the Chinese People's Volunteers supported North Korea, it was obvious that the US military could no longer suppress North Korea as before.
In the end, the U.S. military was also repelled by the People's Volunteers and the North Korean army, and the Korean War, in which the United States was desperate to intervene, ended in failure.
In addition to the status of a "defeated party" in this war, the United States only gained international infamy and economic and military losses.
Don't look at the great cause of the United States, the losses of a war are not worth mentioning.
However, you must know that the United States spent more than 73 million tons of materials in the Korean War, and the number of American casualties was as high as 140,000.
From this point of view, compared with the Vietnam War, the entire process of the Korean War of the United States was obviously impulsive and irrational, not only did it come out of nobody, but it was also very embarrassed when it ended in the end, and it did not have any dignity as a world power.
Because of this, the Korean War became a war that both the U.S. government and the American people were ashamed to mention.
In such a very failed war, how could an American director make a film specifically for it? Isn't this a slap in the face of the Americans themselves!
The media technology gap
In addition to the difference in the meaning of the Vietnam War and the Korean War itself to the United States, the reason why there are more films about the Vietnam War is also due to the gap in media technology between the two wars.
The United States entered the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, when American media technology was at the forefront of the world, but it did not reach every American home.
Take television as an example, in 1950, the entire United States had not even one-tenth of the households that owned television.
So, after the Korean War, not every American knew that the war had begun.
At that time, most Americans wanted to get news only through newspapers, radios, etc.
These two ways of obtaining information are not as timely and interactive as television.
Even if many Americans know that the Korean War has been launched, they only know about this one thing, and their hearts do not fluctuate much about the occurrence of the war.
Even if the war was lost, the American people only knew that their families and incomes had been greatly affected by the war.
As for the war itself, many people do not know much about how much the United States invested in the war and how many soldiers it sacrificed, and this war is also very vague in their memory.
By contrast, by the time of the Vietnam War, television had reached almost every household in the United States.
The American people can directly see the news of the Vietnam War on TV, and the battles that took place the day before can soon be seen on TV the next day, and some of the live broadcasts can make the American people feel more immersive, which can make the American people resonate with the Vietnam War even more.
In this way, films about the Vietnam War will be more likely to arouse the interest of the American public.
As for the movies about the Korean War, the American people have no impression of them, so how can they go to the cinema to watch them?
Considerations of the Marché du Film
There are many aspects to making a film, and in addition to the points mentioned above, it is also necessary to evaluate the popularity of the film in the market after its release.
The reason why American directors are more willing to make films about the Vietnam War is naturally that they think that this series of films will be more popular with audiences.
First, the Vietnam War was far more well-known than the Korean War;
Second, the Vietnam War was a better example of American heroism from top to bottom than the Korean War, which had no heroism.
For the American people, the presence of many American soldiers in the Vietnam War also made them feel a strong sense of heroism.
For example, Chuck Mawhini, a sniper who served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a sniper during the Vietnam War, and Paul Maha, an American brother who entered the battlefield as a playmate and repeatedly made war achievements.
The heroic qualities of these American soldiers in the Vietnam War will surely arouse the interest of the audience if they are made into a movie.
In addition to the above two points, the situation in the Korean War was too complicated compared to the Vietnam War.
Whether it is the number of participating countries or the reason for the start of the war, it is difficult to describe it clearly in a film that is less than a few hours old, which also makes it difficult for the director to construct a perfect film.
epilogue
In general, there are many reasons why the United States prefers to make films about the Vietnam War rather than the Korean War.
As for the majority of the American people themselves, they also have different views on starting the Vietnam War and the Korean War.
And among them, why is there no deliberate effort by the US government and American society for the purpose of "downplaying the history and truth of the Korean War"?
Resources:
The Mythological Construction and Rhetorical Studies of Hollywood Vietnam War Films (1975-1990) – Mai Miao
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