The Unholy Crusade Essay, Research Paper
The Unholy Crusade
Religion is a canopy under which American civilization and
society thrives. Its extension reaches the boundaries of
such cultural mainstreams as films, telecasting, and
music. Oliver Stone & # 8217 ; s 1986 war movie Platoon is an illustration
of the spiritual nuances and overtones that appear in
assorted American genres. Stone non merely uses spiritual
subjects to portray the Vietnam War, but manipulates the war
to demo the degeneracy of American society.
Throughout history, adult male has traveled the universe, and
conquered states, in order to coerce one faith on
another. America was founded by Spain & # 8217 ; s try to distribute
Christian religion to the new universe. Although Spain was the
most powerful state at the clip, their effort to distribute
Christian religion on less civilised people came to a fatal terminal
due to the adventurers & # 8217 ; damaging actions. The film
Platoon reenacts this subject in a modern true life event.
After World War II, America demonstrated itself to be
arguably the most powerful state. When communism
threatened Vietnam, America acted to support its democratic
belief by directing military personnels over to queer the Communist
efforts. Stone uses the war to portray the failed
effort due to the feats of the American soldiers. In
one scene, Barnes ( Tom Berenger ) and Bunny ( Kevin Dillon ) ,
pitilessly kill several guiltless villagers. Subsequently in the
same scene, some soldiers are caught ravishing a small town
adult female. The actions taken by the soldiers are Stone & # 8217 ; s
comparing to the Spanish adventurers & # 8217 ; actions, which
eventually led to both state & # 8217 ; s failed expeditions.
To add deepness to his spiritual fables, Stone non
merely uses historical mentions, but opens it to Biblical
contexts every bit good. Harmonizing to the Bible, the garden of
Eden is a Eden, frequently pictured in a jungle-like
atmosphere. In Platoon, Stone uses the jungles of Vietnam
to stand for the mysterious garden of Eden. Stone & # 8217 ; s
implicit in purpose is to parallel the autumn of adult male with
American devastation in the Vietnamese jungle. When Adam
and Eve committed adult male & # 8217 ; s first wickedness, Eden no longer held the
sanctum of sanctity, therefore began the autumn of adult male. Like
Adam and Eve, America set itself on a phase for the universe
to see, and lost credibleness due to their malevolent
actions. Unlike the old wars that America
participated in, the Vietnam war was, for the most portion,
an independent mission. America sent over 1000s of
military personnels, comprised chiefly of really immature work forces, who were green
to the experience of life, much less war. One of the
immature work forces was Chris Taylor ( Charlie Sheen ) , who came to
the war on his ain agreement. It is in this scene, the
same as Adam in Eden, that Chris comes to lose his
artlessness towards life. Chris & # 8217 ; s term of office in Vietnam unmaskings
him to experiences with drugs, killing, and ferociousness,
which signifies his lost artlessness, and religious
ruin. The same can be said for the other work forces in
Chris & # 8217 ; s platoon, who came over to war immature to reluctantly
lose their artlessness early.
Along with a spiritual background, Stone uses symbolism
to make his version of the controversial 1970 & # 8217 ; s war.
One of the major symbols involved that of the characters
Barnes and Elias, played by Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe,
severally. Their characters symbolized the Biblical
personalities of Cain and Abel. Harmonizing to the Bible,
Cain and Abel were the first brothers of the Earth.
Driven by green-eyed monster, Cain subsequently kills off his brother Abel.
In wars, a bond of brotherhood is created by functioning in
combat together. Elias and Barnes survived several old ages
of combat, doing them the more experient members, and
in a sense & # 8220 ; brothers & # 8221 ; . Later in the film, while the
platoon is being ambushed, Barnes & # 8220 ; frags & # 8221 ; Elias due to
old differences. When Cain betrayed Abel, the land
saturated by Abel & # 8217 ; s blood, cried out to God, therefore
reprobating Cain for life. After Elias was shot by Barnes,
Elias managed to run out to the field, saturated with his
ain blood, for the American military personnels in the choppers to
see, therefore reprobating Barnes in the eyes of his platoon.
This Biblical fable Stone uses in the film portrays
America & # 8217 ; s irreverence for the holiness of household bond.
Stone & # 8217 ; s reading of the Vietnam war was non
merely driven by the events that transpired during the war,
but many spiritual facets besides. The film was non merely
land breakage in the sense that it represented a impersonal
position of America versus Communism, but it was insightful to
the spiritual undertones of all wars. By utilizing spiritual
subjects throughout cardinal parts of the film, Stone
illustrates the degeneracy that American society is heading
towards. This degeneracy is one factor that led to the
American ineffectualness in Vietnam.
32b
