Most recent public comments by Ian Mills https://nowcomment.com/users/17142 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=408543 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36344?scroll_to=408543 Bee Vang shows how the war in Vietnam overshadowed the conflicts that Hmong men faced. Yes, at first they were greeted in America with pride and honor, but all of that seemed to be forgotten. The American film industry's seeming attempt to educate the masses about this part of history was through Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," but instead leaves out some important issues that are clear in Hmong-American life, such as the lack of a father. As Vang's uncle uses the term "Kho-siab," which is synonymous to "loneliness" or "bereft heart," we can see that not only does it represent America's view of Hmong affairs, but the way its represented in the media too. Bee's character in the film, "Thao," is fatherless and looks up to Eastwood's "Walt" as a father figure and someone that can help him out of being pressured by the Hmong gang culture of the U.S. Though this is something that many Hmong people went through, the fact that the film doesn't draw attention to Thao's lack of a father perpetuates the role of Hmong men that isn't recognized in American history. Since Kho-siab sums up Vang's uncle's understanding of Hmong remembrance, it too represents the role of Hmong soldiers in the history of America. Wed, 11 Nov 2015 22:13:35 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=407051 https://nowcomment.com/documents/36342?scroll_to=407051 Nguyen's insight on how America views war and profits from it, shows how people are more willing to be entertained than do what should be right. American people tend to focus on what is appealing rather than what is true when it comes to war. With Hollywood films depicting American soldiers as the heroes, we tend to root for the men of our homeland and disregard their actions for the sake of war. This is how the American military-industrial complex is able to brainwash people into believing America can and will defeat anything that stands in its way. They make us believe we won the Vietnam War, when in reality America was defeated and partly responsible for millions of deaths. People don't want to focus on the depraved things humans have done to each other, instead they want to create a good vs. evil scenario where its obvious who is playing who. We tend to forget that war is not something to be romanticized, rather it should make us as humans uneasy with the way we could treat other human beings. The fact that many American immigrants were the result of the U.S.'s involvement in war shows that people were forced into an American life that they couldn't see any other way out of. Though Nguyen tells us that his family has done well since moving to America, it wasn't exactly something they initially felt was the right thing to do. A false representation of war is what allows people to misconstrue patriotism with reality. People would rather believe that their country's involvement in war is for the greater good, when in most instances it causes destruction in humanity. War is hell and no flashy Hollywood studio could ever compare to the real thing. Mon, 09 Nov 2015 22:31:52 -0600