Saturday, 10 October 2015

Good Morning, Vietnam!! (the battle for values and freedom remains)

There is no doubt that, for a long time, I avoided re-watching "Good Morning, Vietnam!".
As a Robin Williams fan, I waited eagerly for the release of this movie. I was looking forward to seeing a comic genius have a good time with a cultural icon that I not only identified with, but grew up with.
The Vietnam war formed a part of my consciousness, from my earliest memories of seeing the Draft notices appear on the television at night, requesting that those "Whose birthdays fall upon this date... report to your local recruiting office or police station", to the later news bulletins announcing the death of "Corporal so-and-so, of Scrubby Creek, New South Wales...".
All the while the young patriot in me was proud of seeing Australians go to war, while a part of me shrank, and hoped the war would be over before I was called up.

I knew Veteran soldiers from World Wars 1 and 2. They were the older men in our community, and were held in a certain respect. They were the yardsticks by which we measured ourselves in a small country town in Western Queensland.

The Vietnam boys were different. They were my generation, although a little older, and they were friends, and average guys...no mystique surrounded these young men. Until they came home.
It was then the differences showed, and none were ever quite the same. It was a different war, with different rules, and a different outcome. Vietnam was something new.

Yet I didn't see it fully, until I saw "Good Morning, Vietnam!"
Oh, I understood many things, and I valued the ideals that the soldiers lived by, that allowed them to go to war, but I did not realise the trauma involved.

Robin Williams was hilarious in this film. He showed the full array of comic artillery that was in his arsenal. He was funny, outrageous, sarcastic, spontaneous, and irreverent. Each one was to become part of his comic persona that ultimately identified his comic genius. He also showed a much deeper, serious aspect to his character. Walter Cronauer was a real person, a real disc jockey on U.S.Armed Forces Radio, although he was never as outrageous as his film persona. Williams' portrayal takes this character to a different, darker place than Cronauer ever went in real life.

What we see in the film is a clash of cultures. Williams is an American who believes that he is a Good Guy. He is there as part of the effort to save a country. He is a nice, polite, American guy, and he sees no reason why he shouldn't get what he asks for.
What he doesn't see is that he is banging heads with a culture that doesn't see him as a Good Guy, but as just another dominating force. The Vietnamese have their culture, they do not need his presence, and some of them don't even agree with the war his people are waging.

The gradual education of Walter Cronauer and his eventual disillusionment with both his military masters and the people he has misunderstood, is one of the painful yet illuminating lessons of this film. When Robin Williams leaves Vietnam, he is a shattered and educated man. His humor is subdued, his dreams and bravado are gone. He is older.

I first saw this film as soon as it was released. It broke my heart. I went in expecting a good time. I came out shocked and saddened. I didn't expect to be shown such truths. I never watched it again.

 Decades later, I finally had to watch it again, because my wife insisted. I'm glad she did. I saw through fresh eyes the meaning of meeting head-on a culture you not only don't understand, but one you severely under-estimate. A culture that has it's own mores and traditions, and is unused to being trampled by another culture which it does not necessarily regard as being superior. A culture which has radical elements which lie just below the veneer of gentleness and humility.

Australia's conversation with Islamic integration and  immigration is one we have handled badly in recent times. Muslims are here to stay, and we must learn to accommodate the increased numbers of a religion which has been in Australia for two hundred years, in one form or another, while at the same time not allowing our natural acceptance of new ideas bring about the downfall of our society and our values.

Blundering about like a comedian in a war zone will not achieve the result we, as Australians, desire, but neither will being heavy-handed and trying to beat acceptance into our new neighbours. We need to learn to tread the fine line between the two, and perhaps the scene in "Good Morning, Vietnam" which allows Williams' character to be most at ease with the people in Vietnam is the one Australia needs to heed the most.

He takes over an English language class,and instead of teaching them formal language; he teaches them a way they can communicate with each other.

Muslims are not like most Australians, and some are extremely different to Australians.
Yes, they need to change some ideas and attitudes, but so do we. Just like the First Settlers had to.
And the Gold-Rush settlers. And the Economic migrants from Europe in the 1800's. And the Post-war migrants after World War 2, and the Ten Pound Poms in the Sixties.

We are a Nation of Migrants. We have always changed. On both sides of the equation. If we didn't, then the rabid anti-Muslim protestor wouldn't be able to pick up a quick Doner Kebab on the way from his protest rally, and we would never buy any Japanese/Thai-made/Chinese motor cars to drive to work.

We may not be comfortable with this latest wave of immigration, but with some effort we can make it work. Just ask the Vietnamese who flocked to our shores in boats after 1975. They seem to be pretty damned Aussie to me. Effort from BOTH sides....it's all we need to make it a "Wonderful World"

OOOHH, YEAHHH!!

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