Religious Aspects of the Vietnam War in Oliver Stone's Film Platoon Essay

The Unholy CrusadeReligion is a canopy under which American culture andsociety thrives. Its extension reaches the boundaries ofsuch cultural mainstreams as movies, television, andmusic. Oliver Stone's 1986 war film Platoon is an exampleof the religious subtleties and overtones that appear invarious American genres. Stone not only uses religiousthemes to portray the Vietnam War, but manipulates the warto show the decadence of American society. Throughout history, man has traveled the world, andconquered nations, in order to force one religion onanother. America was founded by Spain's attempt to spreadChristianity to the new world. Although Spain was themost powerful nation at the time, their attempt to spreadChristianity on less civilized people came to a fatal enddue to the explorers' detrimental actions. The moviePlatoon reenacts this theme in a modern true life event.After World War II, America demonstrated itself to bearguably the most powerful nation. When communismthreatened Vietnam, America acted to defend its democraticbelief by sending troops over to thwart the communistattempts. Stone uses the war to portray the failedattempt due to the exploits of the American soldiers. Inone scene, Barnes (Tom Berenger) and Bunny (Kevin Dillon),mercilessly kill several innocent villagers. Later in thesame scene, some soldiers are caught raping a villagewoman. The actions taken by the soldiers are Stone'scomparison to the Spanish explorers' actions, whichfinally led to both nation's failed expeditions. To add depth to his religious allegories, Stone notonly uses historical references, but opens it to Biblicalcontexts as well. According to the Bible, the garden ofEden is a paradise, often pictured in a jungle-likeatmosphere. In Platoon, Stone uses the jungles of Vietnamto represent the mystic garden of Eden. Stone'sunderlying intent is to parallel the fall of man withAmerican destruction in the Vietnamese jungle. When Adamand Eve committed man's first sin, Eden no longer held thesanctum of holiness, thus began the fall of man. LikeAdam and Eve, America set itself on a stage for the worldto see, and lost credibility due to their malevolentactions. Unlike the previous wars...