Course Blog for Danny Mayer's ENG 281 course. Post 500 word minimum responses for each film viewed in class. Choose an aspect, theme, cinematic wizardry, or scene, and analyze/celebrate it. Post by the Wednesday before class.
The G.I. Movement was a very successful anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. Over 100,000 American soldiers participated in the G.I. Movement. Eventually, many members of all branches in the military joined the movement. The G.I.’s that joined the movement were fed up with how the American government was handling the war in Vietnam. The soldiers didn’t agree with the killings of innocent men, women, and children, or destroying their homes and villages. The American soldiers that participated in the G.I. movement were mostly drafted into the military to go fight in Vietnam, it wasn’t anything they expected. All the Vietnam War was, was hate and violence for no reason. I chose to write about the G.I. movement because I was interested in knowing more about the men and women who were so brave to stand up against the American government for what they believed in. The majority of American soldiers that went over to Vietnam became very hateful and cruel towards the Vietnamese people. The G.I.’s in the anti-war movement believed that they needed to somehow put a stop to this. Many American citizens and even celebrities supported the soldiers against the Vietnam War one hundred percent, because they all had the same beliefs as well. The movement started to grow more, and by 1970-1972, the G.I. Movement became more popular and grew from the Army to all branches of the United States military. Around that time, the G.I. Alliance, a group started by the soldiers and their families, started to go beyond the war in Vietnam. There is so much about this topic to cover and so much I haven’t learned yet. The G.I. movement was the first time soldiers spoke out against the American government’s actions.
Austin Mattingly Proposal The 1960’s were a time of change for society. The new generation wanted change. They were standing up for themselves and voicing their opinions on some very controversial subjects of the time such as the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam. Although these demonstrations of voicing opinions did not always turn out successful (Gimme Shelter, the concert that failed in California by the Rolling Stones), most were a huge success (Woodstock, civil right demonstrations, the freedom rides). The themes of free love, drug use, civil right activism, anti-war feelings and finding one’s self were evident throughout the documentaries we have viewed. For my proposal for my paper I plan on looking at the changing ways of the younger generations. I plan on examining multiple documentaries to focus on how the “hippie” generation protested and to what avail; I also plan on looking at how they lived their life. The films I plan on using are Endless Summer, Woodstock, Following Sean, The Weather Underground, and the Freedom Riders. In Endless Summer I plan on looking at how the surfers in the movie do not care and live a care free lifestyle following their dreams. In Woodstock I plan on examining how the “hippie” generation celebrated the event and looking at their lifestyle choices, free love, marijuana, etc. In Following Sean I’m going to look at how Sean lived growing up versus how he changed when he was an adult, specifically how he no longer follows the “hippie” generation lifestyle. In The Weather Underground I will examine the lengths that the younger generation went to in order to voice their opposition to the war in Vietnam. And in the Freedom Riders I plan on examining the younger generation and their stance on civil rights activism as well as their way of protesting civil disobedience.
Through the Eyes of the Wife Watching "Regret to Inform" really inspired me to want to learn more about the wives of the veterans from the Vietnam War. Therefore, I decided to base my paper on wives and their hardships. I find the female perspective to be very interesting and would like to shed light on it for others. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton of information on the topic that I have chosen, but since it did spark my interest so much, I am going to try to make do with what there is.
The first website that struck a chord with me was created by Shirley Watkins. There was a beautiful poem that sums up the feelings and emotions of these women and I want to really focus on those aspects throughout my paper. I will probably feature that poem in my introduction to reveal the wives perspectives upfront.
In the beginning, many of the women did not want their husbands to take off for the War at all. They were scared that something might happen to their husbands while they were off fighting. The wives were left behind and lonely at home. One woman said, " I waged a war of loneliness while he was far away for my In-Country was my country; my battle, every day. I knew no other friend, no wife, whose husband was at war - so Life went on around me, just as it had before" (Watkins).
Sadly, many of their husband's lives ended with tragedy. In turn, leaving many family members back home suffering from their losses. Ultimately, The main thing that I want to point out in my paper is that the veterans of the Vietnam War weren't the only ones who were suffering. The women connected to these men must have really struggled, as well.
From Amanda D:
ReplyDeleteThe G.I. Movement was a very successful anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. Over 100,000 American soldiers participated in the G.I. Movement. Eventually, many members of all branches in the military joined the movement. The G.I.’s that joined the movement were fed up with how the American government was handling the war in Vietnam. The soldiers didn’t agree with the killings of innocent men, women, and children, or destroying their homes and villages. The American soldiers that participated in the G.I. movement were mostly drafted into the military to go fight in Vietnam, it wasn’t anything they expected. All the Vietnam War was, was hate and violence for no reason.
I chose to write about the G.I. movement because I was interested in knowing more about the men and women who were so brave to stand up against the American government for what they believed in. The majority of American soldiers that went over to Vietnam became very hateful and cruel towards the Vietnamese people. The G.I.’s in the anti-war movement believed that they needed to somehow put a stop to this. Many American citizens and even celebrities supported the soldiers against the Vietnam War one hundred percent, because they all had the same beliefs as well. The movement started to grow more, and by 1970-1972, the G.I. Movement became more popular and grew from the Army to all branches of the United States military. Around that time, the G.I. Alliance, a group started by the soldiers and their families, started to go beyond the war in Vietnam.
There is so much about this topic to cover and so much I haven’t learned yet. The G.I. movement was the first time soldiers spoke out against the American government’s actions.
From Austin M:
ReplyDeleteAustin Mattingly
Proposal
The 1960’s were a time of change for society. The new generation wanted change. They were standing up for themselves and voicing their opinions on some very controversial subjects of the time such as the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam. Although these demonstrations of voicing opinions did not always turn out successful (Gimme Shelter, the concert that failed in California by the Rolling Stones), most were a huge success (Woodstock, civil right demonstrations, the freedom rides). The themes of free love, drug use, civil right activism, anti-war feelings and finding one’s self were evident throughout the documentaries we have viewed.
For my proposal for my paper I plan on looking at the changing ways of the younger generations. I plan on examining multiple documentaries to focus on how the “hippie” generation protested and to what avail; I also plan on looking at how they lived their life. The films I plan on using are Endless Summer, Woodstock, Following Sean, The Weather Underground, and the Freedom Riders. In Endless Summer I plan on looking at how the surfers in the movie do not care and live a care free lifestyle following their dreams. In Woodstock I plan on examining how the “hippie” generation celebrated the event and looking at their lifestyle choices, free love, marijuana, etc. In Following Sean I’m going to look at how Sean lived growing up versus how he changed when he was an adult, specifically how he no longer follows the “hippie” generation lifestyle. In The Weather Underground I will examine the lengths that the younger generation went to in order to voice their opposition to the war in Vietnam. And in the Freedom Riders I plan on examining the younger generation and their stance on civil rights activism as well as their way of protesting civil disobedience.
From Geri B:
ReplyDeleteThrough the Eyes of the Wife
Watching "Regret to Inform" really inspired me to want to learn more about the wives of the veterans from the Vietnam War. Therefore, I decided to base my paper on wives and their hardships. I find the female perspective to be very interesting and would like to shed light on it for others. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton of information on the topic that I have chosen, but since it did spark my interest so much, I am going to try to make do with what there is.
The first website that struck a chord with me was created by Shirley Watkins. There was a beautiful poem that sums up the feelings and emotions of these women and I want to really focus on those aspects throughout my paper. I will probably feature that poem in my introduction to reveal the wives perspectives upfront.
In the beginning, many of the women did not want their husbands to take off for the War at all. They were scared that something might happen to their husbands while they were off fighting. The wives were left behind and lonely at home. One woman said, " I waged a war of loneliness while he was far away for my In-Country was my country; my battle, every day. I knew no other friend, no wife, whose husband was at war - so Life went on around me, just as it had before" (Watkins).
Sadly, many of their husband's lives ended with tragedy. In turn, leaving many family members back home suffering from their losses. Ultimately, The main thing that I want to point out in my paper is that the veterans of the Vietnam War weren't the only ones who were suffering. The women connected to these men must have really struggled, as well.