Of War Stories and Lies Essay Sample

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A small miss asked her male parent. who is a colonel in the ground forces. “What is war? ” Because she is the youngest girl. the male parent had to reply her inquiry every bit simple as possible. “When one state takes the lives of other people from another state and soldiers like me are sent at that place to halt them. this is war. ” the male parent replied.

“We Were Soldiers” is a war film about the American-Vietnamese War. which was based on the book. “We Were Soldiers Once…And Young. ” The movie is great as it is one of a few American films that show esteem to the Vietnamese military personnels. It is a world that bulk of American war films have portrayed the enemies in a mistaken and fallacious manner. non to advert made merriment of them. Tim O’Brien. in his short narrative. “How to State a True War Story. ” which is about the Vietnam war. contented that one can non state a true war narrative without adding and deducting or doing up a few things to acquire to the existent truth. However. “We Were Soldiers” tried to pay attending to and stand for the enemies. Therefore. the film is a good manner to analyse the Vietnamese War because it depicted the Vietnamese soldiers in a just and true visible radiation.

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Based on the contention stated by O’Brien. war narratives are hence mindless or do non possess the comprehensiveness of the truth. When one reads or listens to a war narrative. he or she can cognize the events and what happened during the war ; but he or she. as a spectator. loses the indispensable of import facet of the narrative. which is the sense or significance.

In the article. “Sanders made a small sound in his pharynx. like a sigh. as if to state he did non care if I believe it or non. But he did attention. He wanted me to experience the truth. to believe by the natural force of feeling” ( 678 ) . Drum sander did non hold any other manner but to make this sound to show his feeling and state the full truth. This certain sort of act. which possesses feelings in it. should be portrayed to pass on the kernel and truthfulness of the narrative. In the movie. the Vietnamese soldier did non state a individual word. However. seeing the image and taking it with him in the war. it tells audiences that this soldier loves the miss. In add-on. after Colonel Moore saw the same image. he remembered his ain married woman. reminiscent of the times he had with her. All the emotions. compassions. and feelings of both unhappiness and felicity – these do non make full look because audiences lose the sense of them. which means most war movies fail to show the true narrative of the war.

Frequently. a war narrative is told from merely one side. No 1 can look at both sides of the war and state all about each side. This is because film makers and viewing audiences should be in changeless side against the enemies. Joe. an American newsman in “We Were Soldiers. ” asked Colonel Moore to state the narrative of the war. Colonel Moore answered and spoke of how his work forces died. He did non state Joe to compose everything about the war. but asked him to compose merely about Americans and what they did. But it could be noted that there were Vietnamese soldiers who besides fought in the war and were similarly killed.

Therefore. the statement that any war has really two sides yet merely one side is told is justified. The credibleness therefore of Joe’s written article or narrative will be questionable? Another cogent evidence to this statement is when the Americans arrested the Vietnamese sentinel. who instantly disclosed everything about his companions. In wars. many soldiers are arrested from both sides. therefore. when American soldiers arrested many Vietnamese soldiers. they asked them about their friends. While some captured Vietnamese might hold disclosed inside informations about their military personnels. others might hold chosen to maintain their oral cavities shut. But in war movies or narratives. the originative heads behind the said plants of art have the power to take whatever they want in their movies or narratives.

A war narrative calls for objectiveness. When one tells a narrative. he or she has an intended end or point to accomplish in the terminal. Everyone knows that “war is hell. but that is non the half of it. because war is besides enigma. panic. escapade. bravery. find. sanctity. commiseration. desperation. yearning. and love” and so many things ( 681-682 ) . However. these elements can non be assorted wholly because merely one or two elements should be picked and focused on. Rat wrote a missive to Lemon’s sister stating her that Lemon died in the war. But he can non state her everything that happened to her brother. He had to allow her cognize about her brother merely. because that was his lone aim. Furthermore. “We Were Soldiers” presented the life of Colonel Moore but merely his life in the war. Audiences had no thought about his family’s state of affairs when he was in the battleground or if he succeeded and won in the conflict. It depicted merely the side of his life that was in the war. Therefore. the film failed to show a complete and true war narrative.

In a war. there is no hero. However. most war narratives have shown that their soldiers are heroes. and their enemies are non. In “We Were Soldiers. ” Moore was portrayed as a great leader. “I will be the first to put pes on the field. and I will be the last to step off. and I will go forth no 1 buttocks. ” he said. Furthermore. the same attitude is found in O’Brien’s article. in which Rat wrote of Curt Lemon: “The cat was a small loony. for certain. but brainsick in a good manner. a existent madcap because he liked the challenge of it. he liked proving himself. merely adult male against sludge. A great. great guy” ( 675 ) . The film and the article portrayed Moore and Lemon. severally. as heroes who do non be in existent life. If the war took topographic point in American lands. so that was possibly credible because they might hold fought for their state and household. But in their state of affairs. they fought for South Vietnamese people to assist them against the North Vietnamese. Furthermore. in both the film and the narrative. no Vietnamese hero was presented. This is apprehensible because both were written by Americans. therefore they presented merely their heroes.

“A true war narrative is ne’er moral. It does non teach. nor encourage virtuousness. nor suggest theoretical accounts of proper human behaviour. nor restrain work forces from making things they have ever done” ( 676 ) . Most narratives now are immoral. with writers sometimes altering the truth to do readers and viewing audiences happy and satisfied with their war narratives. Rat. in his missive. portrayed his friend. Lemon. the best adult male of all time in the universe ; how he was a brother who “would ever voluntary for material cipher else would volunteer for in a million old ages. unsafe material. like making recon. ” Rat knew that when Lemon’s sister would acquire the missive. she would be sad because merely seeing the name of the transmitter. she would hold guessed that her brother has died. In the film. all married womans started shouting before they even read their wires. Therefore. Rat wanted the “dumb cooze” to be proud of her brother even if this meant lying and altering the truth. “If you feel that some little spot of uprightness has been salvaged from the larger waste. so you have been a victim of a really old and awful lie” ( 676 ) .

I felt proud for the Americans at the terminal of the film because they did something humanely in assisting the Vietnamese. which I did non believe prior the film. But so once more. there truly is no true war narrative. This is because the intent of adding and deducting elements and narratives is knowing. No 1 genuinely knows the truth. However. audiences might acquire the truth at the terminal of the war narrative. Nevertheless. what happened in the beginning. in the center. and in the terminal are non wholly a true history of the war.

Plants Cited

O’Brien. Tim. “How to State a True War Story. ”Writing as Revision. Eds. Beth Alvarado.
Barbara Cully. and Michael Robinson. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing. 1996.
675-684.

“We Were Soldiers. ” Dir. Randall Wallace. Perfs. Mel Gibson. Madeleine Stowe. Film.
Paramount Pictures. 2002.

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