In this podcast, Tatiana Prorokova considers gender ambiguity in Vietnam War films.

The Vietnam War takes a specific place in U.S. military history. Having influenced generations of Americans, the conflict unsurprisingly found a wide reflection in American cinema. The most famous, as well as the most significant ones were the films created in the 1970s-80s, including Michael Cimino’s Deer Hunter, (1978), Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979), Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986), Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), and Brian De Palma’s Casualties of War (1989). In these films, the directors aptly touch upon the questions of the army, war, and morality, which are generally the key themes of war films. Yet, they also unveil the issue of gender representation, discussing the problem of masculinity. The issue of gender, precisely the problem of masculine power and female vulnerability, is one of the leading themes in these films. Interestingly, such issues as class, race, and nationality apparently disappear “in the ‘brotherhood’ of war,” while gender always remains a thorny question (Messner 25). What one can see in the films on Vietnam is that masculinity establishes itself as the only right and legitimate agency. Women practically do not appear in films on Vietnam, and even if they do, they are depicted as prostitutes, a role that serves to reaffirm masculinity as well: to erase femininity as it is and strengthen the power of a masculine collective. The examination of the above mentioned films, therefore, allows me to contend that Vietnam War films overtly focus on the issue of gender; yet, they celebrate masculinity and mock femininity.

To illustrate the problem of “mocked” femininity, I look over the representation of women in Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War. First of all, it is important to mention that women always appear as individuals rather than in groups. We often see one woman, usually weak and dependent, surrounded by a group of men (for example, the prostitute in Full Metal Jacket or the kidnapped Vietnamese girl in Casualties of War). I argue that this technique visually helps directors oppose masculinity and femininity. A woman is always depicted as patently distinguished from a man: she is lonely and weak. Moreover, she is obviously the only one who does not belong to the world of war, which is made obvious from the way she is dressed, i.e., she does not wear a uniform, and from the absence of any physical power that is, indeed, an important aspect in war. Thus, all the three directors draw a thick red line between men and women, and, as a result, between masculinity and femininity in their conventional sense. Therefore, Vietnam War films reject the idea of feminization that can be applied to men, strictly identifying it only with women. The issue is visually illustrated through images of demeaning and weak women, whom men always have to try to separate themselves from, both visually and verbally, or exercise power over. Hence, male soldiers do not only clearly differentiate themselves from these women but they also subdue any manifestation of womanliness in themselves.

Notably, women appear as part of the Vietnam War only in two movies: Full Metal Jacket and Casualties of War. I do not consider Linda (Meryl Streep) from The Deer Hunter because we see her only at the beginning of the film – during the wedding – and in the end, when the war is over. Hence, she is never shown on the battlefield, but rather, is represented as part of a domestic environment, taking a traditional female role in patriarchal society. Both Full Metal Jacket and Casualties of War, however, clearly support my idea that the main role the woman is given in a Vietnam War film is the one of a prostitute. This is made apparent in Full Metal Jacket as we literally see a female prostitute. The same idea is obliquely conveyed in Casualties of War as the main female heroine is...