Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 72

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Popular Culture Review

yearning for the type of change that is illustrated in Kovic's value
transformation. Viewers who supported the military role in
Vietnam, known as "hawks,” were aware of the circumstances
surrounding the Vietnam conflict and thus, would be less inclined to
experience an intensified awareness of a value conflict. However,
even some supporters of Vietnam shifted their positions on Vietnam,
when they realized the war was unwinnable. Former Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara, once an advocate of the war, has now
publicly acknowledged his change of heart.®^
A privately commissioned study completed in 1977 for Francis
Ford Coppola examined film audiences' opinions regarding the war.
The results indicated that many audience members characterized
Vietnam as a negative experience, though they were interested in
understanding the reasons for the war. The American public
recognized the tragic cost of Vietnam in terms of American lives lost,
but also in the destruction of Vietnam and its people. Public interest
may have been stimulated by the Vietnam films of the 1970s. The
success of Vietnam War films released in the 1980s suggests that this
interest continues to exist. In the post-Vietnam era, Americans came
to understand that the cost of the war came in other forms as well:
"For Americans, the legacy of the Vietnam War is a legacy of lies,
errors, and impotence. It is a legacy of futile sacrifice and glaring
inequalities, of deals coming up short against realitV/ and of defeat
that is so unacceptable that it cannot be named."^^ Viewers who
were seeking answers to their questions about Vietnam may have
experienced an increased awareness of the events depicted in
Vietnam war films.
The question arises, whether active participation could be
expected from viewers in a film which was released in 1989, more
than fifteen years after U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam.
Although some viewers may have been directly involved in the war,
either as military personnel or anti-war protesters, viewers could no
longer actively participate in either the war or anti-war protests. In
any case, the personal experiences of viewing audiences would
influence the perspectives which they brought to the movie theater,
and their reactions to the film.
Ron Kovic's value re-orientation may parallel the changes
that echoed throughout parts of the American populace during
Vietnam. Like the innocent young man who willingly accepted the