at parade, ron weird tension between celebrating people who served/the country vs.

glorifying war (the looks on the wounded soldiers faces; undoubtably what they did was
incredibly selfless, but isnt it kind of strange that we have these big public displays
where they are paraded (sometimes only with the help of others) and stared at
whole family gathered around the tv, watching JFK address/jackie o about hw the nation
all do anything to assure the survival and success of liberty (even children watching,
totally quiet), ask what you can do for your country
gendered aspect of the movie (i.e. the video of him climbing rope/working out/etc. with
school sports)
-tells friend (jimmy?) that someone ehas to stay home with women and children
while the real men go fight in the war (implying the war is inherently masculine, and any
man who doesnt conform to this = emasculated or feminine)
weird that they recruit from high schools/talk about the glory and prestige (appealing to
people whore still very much developing, may not have other options)
war as being a way to be a part of history; tells friends that he feels like he needs tp
serve his country and protect his country (concerned about protecting us from
communism)
-friend says hes taking care of himself (communism isnt there in NY with them)
dad is hesitant to have ron go to war (even though he and uncle bob were both in the
military), he is nervous about this
mom says he is doing the right thing, gods will, god is against communism (but WHY? i
think lack of justifiation/explanation for WHY communism/the vietnam war was
necessary/started/etc. demonstrates the ways in which this 1 wasnt clear at the time
and 2 the fact that it didnt matter (kind of blindly following)
-how do we create this idea of nationalism/obligation/necessity of
war/serving/military/etc. without doing a lot of critical thinking (i.e. media! the addresses
by kennedy where he appeals to this intense nationalism, ask what you can do for your
country)
realization that they killed all of these civilians in this town/village (is this war?), guilt,
leader (lt.?)saying it wasnt the soldiers fault (they got in the way), capt. says that its

very unfortunate
ronn shoots fellow soldier, admits this to capt., capt. denies his confesssion/basically
tells ron that he is just confused and that he didnt kill wilson (he doesnt want to hear
this/will not tolerate him telling him this), trying to confess/absolve himself of what he did
wrong (related to catholic faith?) but essentially told that confessing/telling the truth
about what he did/his accident is not tolerated (and even directly rejected) living in
denial? how do you absolve yourself of guilt or make right if you are made to deny
reality/what actually happened
injured, read last rites (awareness that death is coming)
angry watching protesters/buruning of american flag
told hell never walk again/cant have kids but ron says he will (determined? denial?)
race aspect = nurse/dr tells him vietnam is white mans war/rich mans war; real war is at
home where people dont have rights (that is what really needs to be solved)
irony of telling all black staff that he deserves to be treated with decency/trated well/etc.
because he deserves it and hes a vietnam veteran
criticizing ronny for believing the bs lies about communism that were used to justify war
telling his parents that no one at home unerstadnds how vietnam really is/what the war
is really like (thinks they are ignorant)
-brother (tommy) doesnt think the vietnam war is right
ron brought to parade/rally/etc., used as an example for the real hero/the real one who
knows what is going on in vietnam (trying to counter/address/squish any criticism of the
war/military)

says he would give up what he believes in to have his body back (compares being
paralyzed to castration for him)
police using teargas/violence/etc. to break up protest at university (lack of freedom to

protest/speech/etc.); police state; how police/law enforcement is used to maintain status

quo (just as we talked about with the way that surveillance online will affect peoples
ability to protest or speak critically, we can see that on a lower/more obvious level, law
enforcements power (to arrest, to hurt, etc.) can be used t enforce status quo and stop
people from protesting/voicing concern
-complex role of police in movie but also today (what are cops responsibilities? to
protect WHO? to protect WHAT? another tool of larger govt. attempt to control
opposition to status quo ideas

end protest (combination of people against vietnam war vss. patriatic music/people
championing the war), ronny joins with the people protesting against war outside of
republican national convention
-you can hear police talking about what crimines to look for/how to target the
hippies and get
them away
becomes disillusioned with military/what they told him and what he was told in military
(while drunk)
talks about how they shot women/chuldren, told to go to stop communism but thou shall
not kill (morally wrong, moral crisis over what he did); feels like his parents forced him
to go/kennedy forced him to go; communism won (what he did was for nothing)