Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 73

Bom on the Fourth of July

69

task placed before him by his country, early on, the American people
also accepted the government's explanation for U.S. military
involvement in Southeast Asia. Eventually, the wheelchair-bound
Kovic realizes that he has lost both his innocence and his chance at
achieving the American Dream. Many Americans faced a similar
loss of innocence as the saga of Vietnam unfolded nightly on their
television screens.
Viewers share in Kovic's experience, the veteran who tries to
make sense of his Vietnam experience, which eventually "became
the metaphoric representation for American society trying to do the
same."®*^ Consequently, viewing audiences reacted to the events on
screen with agonizing guilt and discomfort. Born on the Fourth of July
presented viewers with unpleasant scenes from Vietnam ranging from
the slaughter of innocent villagers, and the friendly fire death of a
soldier, to the repulsive scenes of a V.A. hospital.^® These events led
some audiences to the conclusion also reached by Kovic that the U.S.
role in Vietnam was unjustified.
Unique Successes of Bom on the Fourth o f July
Prior to the 1986 Academy Award winner. Platoon, film
critics dismissed most Vietnam films as unrealistic. Criticism also
came from those who argued that incidents such as the Russian
roulette scene depicted in The Deer Hunter were never documented by
U.S. Armed Services in Vietnam. Others suggested that Hollywood
had "derailed the war by packaging and selling a simplistic,
sentimental, soap opera version of America in Vietnam."®^ Coming
Home, the 1978 film starring John Voight as a handicapped Vietnam
veteran, is a sentimental version of the war which focused more on a
love story rather than the war itself.
Oliver Stone's films have depicted the Vietnam war with a
different perspective than that offered by earlier Vietnam War
films. Film critics Auster and Quart heralded Platoon as the "first
cinematic step taken by Hollywood in coming to terms with the truth
about Vietnam."®^ Platoon succeeded in presenting a view of Vietnam
through the eyes of a soldier.
Critics praised the film 's
cinematography, describing it as "war at ground zero."®® 'The rite of
passage story is told by a naive recruit, Chris Taylor, portrayed by
Charlie Sheen. Platoon's success is due to its realistic depiction of
how Vietnam truly felt to American soldiers.®^ However, the film