re: #179 HappyWarrior

Guang, that’s a fascinating read. I definitely agree with that about how Americans tell the story of Vietnam. In most Vietnam War movies like Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, etc, we don’t even really see them. So yes they do kind of become side characters to something that was ultimately more about them than it was us as Americans. One of my mom’s best friends is actually a Vietnamese immigrant. They’ve known each other since I was a small child and mom’s best friend’s father actually died in the war. I think they got here when the South fell but from what Mom tells me, she hasn’t been back since.

I feel like the Burn documentary is getting better at this as it goes along even though he is approaching it as primarily an America story with fewer Vietnamese perspectives even though it was their country. I would’ve liked more of the personal NV stories like episode eight’s female NVA truck driver and her engineer fiancé both working in separate positions of the Ho Chi Min trail.

Still the fact that Vietnamese, especially then North Vietnamese fighter perspectives are being shown at all let alone with equal personal legitimacy is somewhat remarkable. I can’t imagine this approach in decades past. What’s really fucked up is that despite the introspection we seem to have regarding the Vietnam War itself, it seems we’ve learned nothing except to do the exact same shit elsewhere.