Vietnam: Reality and Remembrance the Role of Popular Culture in Defining American History

The mass public's understanding of the Vietnam War has been largely shaped not by historical record, but popular culture. Movies, music, and myth have created a historically inaccurate "reality" of Vietnam and this mediated reality is quietly replacing the truth about American involvement in Vietnam. Furthermore, the secondary education system in the United States is doing little to remedy the situation, preferring to ignore a topic that still holds political and emotional ammunition more than thirty years since its end. The following paper will examine a wide variety of issues surrounding the public's understanding of Vietnam, including why the educational system has difficulty teaching Vietnam, what has taken education's place in teaching later generations about Vietnam, the differences between the reality of the Vietnam experience and what popular culture teaches, and the consequences of this distorted view of American history may have on future generations of students. Sources will include both historical and contemporary film, music of the Vietnam era, historical texts, contemporary media, and personal interviews.

Part I will discuss the background and history of the nation of Vietnam as well as the basic historical data necessary to establish a context for the complexities of teaching the Vietnam War in contemporary society. Part II will then explore the current knowledge and opinions of the Vietnam War and its veterans held by the mass public and define the stereotypes that have resulted largely from the failure of secondary education's approach to teaching the Vietnam 'Yar. The complex reasons that brought about this failure will be explored as well as the role of popular culture in filling the educational void. Part III will provide analysis and examples of the influence of popular culture on current generations of students and the subsequent distortion from this exposure. Part IV will conclude the paper with a forecast of future historical trends concerning the remembrance of the Vietnam War based on current data as well as suggestions and possible solutions to better implement educational approaches to the Vietnam War.