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ABSTRACT
This article examines the subversion of the hero soldier figure in three Vietnam War films from three different nations that faced defeat in Vietnam: Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Schoendoerffer’s Dien Bien Phu, and Jeong Ji-yeong’s White Badge. A close analysis reveals that all three films undermine the image of the virtuous and powerful hero soldier through recurring stylistic elements. Apocalypse Now, through the ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ helicopter sequence – as well as the opening and ending sequences – portrays the American soldier as a barbaric aggressor. Dien Bien Phu, meanwhile, visually undermines the image of the powerful hero soldier through cinematographic techniques which portray the French soldiers in the field as small and powerless. Finally, White Badge – which, unlike the two other films, takes place in the post-war period – subverts the image of the hero soldier through its use of auditory and visual elements to portray the Korean soldier as aggressor and, first and foremost, victim. The article concludes with a discussion of how the three films influence audiences’ perceptions of those who fought in Vietnam.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Filmography
Coppola, Francis Ford, director. Apocalypse Now. Omni Zoetrope, 1979.
Ji-yeong, Jeong, director. White Badge. Vanguard Cinema, 1992.
Schoendoerffer, Pierre, director. Dien Bien Phu. AMLF, 1992.
Notes
1. Anderson, “Military Heroism,” 591.
2. Belton, “War and Cinema,” 183.
3. Robic-Diaz, “Forgotten Indochina War”; and Cadé, “Delphine Robic-Diaz,” 371–373.
4. Robic-Diaz, “Forgotten Indochina War.”
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Norindr, “Filmic Memorials,” 132.
8. Robic-Diaz, “Forgotten Indochina War.”
9. Norindr, “Filmic Memorials,” 132.
10. Ibid., 132–133.
11. Saldanha Alvarez, “French Centurions,” 97; Rich, Cinema and Unconventional Warfare; O’Connell, “Jean Lartéguy,” 1087–1097.
12. O’Connell, “Jean Lartéguy,” 1089.
13. UQAM, “The Indochina War”; and Saldanha Alvarez, “French Centurions,” 97.
14. Robic-Diaz, “Forgotten Indochina War”; and Rich, Cinema and Unconventional Warfare. As Paul Rich notes, La 317ème Section is characterized by a ‘cinematic authenticity’ – a quality Schoendoerffer strived for in his films. The 1965 movie significantly shaped French cinema, as it ‘established many of the basic themes of the modern French war movie.’
15. Eberwein, The Hollywood War Film, 31.
16. Ibid.
17. Robic-Diaz, “Forgotten Indochina War.”
18. Belton, “War and Cinema,” 198.
19. EG Perry, “Apocalypse Now is not an anti-war film.”
20. xxx
21. Kinder, “The Power of Adaptation,” 14–15.
22. Sterngold, “South Korea’s Vietnam Veterans”; and Breuker, “Korea’s Forgotten War,” 38.
23. Ibid., 37.
24. Ibid., 38.
25. Ibid., 39.
26. Gowman, “White Badge.”
27. Breuker, “Korea’s Forgotten War,” 36.
28. Venant, “‘White Badge’ of Courage.”
29. Breuker, “Korea’s Forgotten War,” 36.
30. Ibid., 49.
31. “Ride of the Valkyries.”
32. “Richard Wagner,” Music and the Holocaust; Eberwein, The Hollywood War Film, 33.
33. Apocalypse Now, 5:27.
34. Norindr, “Filmic Memorials,” 147.
35. Robic-Diaz, “Dien Bien Phu,” 107–121.
36. Dien Bien Phu, 1:14:24.
37. Anderson, “Military Heroism,” 591.
38. Eberwein, The Hollywood War Film, 13.
39. The opening bears a striking similarity to Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (2012), which opens with a black screen accompanied by the sound of phone calls made
by victims of the 9/11 attack. While Zero Dark Thirty differs in that it does not include a
single image, like White Badge it plunges the viewer into a visceral auditory experience
that sets the tone for the rest of the film.
40. Gorbman, Unheard Melodies, 22.
41. Stilwell, “The Fantastical Gap,” 194.
42. Breuker, “Korea’s Forgotten War,” 49.
43. Ibid, 40.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Bianca Berman
Bianca Berman is a recent graduate from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where she obtained a Master of Arts in Security Studies in 2022 and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service in 2021. While at Georgetown University as an undergraduate and graduate student, she focused on international security, counterterrorism, film studies, and music in film.