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Blaming America Again |
| Section: THE ARTS / FILM |
| Author: Col. Harry G. Summers, Jr. |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 4/1/1990 |
| Size: 2,295 Words, 12,758 Characters |
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"All I want is for someone to love me," says Tom Cruise in his role as Ron Kovic in Oliver Stone's movie, Born on the Fourth of July. He need not have worried. Once Kovic defected to thier ranks back in 1970, the antiwar movement positively adored him, for he gave those pampered and precocious “revolutionaries," who themselves had shirked Vietnam service, an unbeatable symbol with which to flay "America".
Twenty years later, Stone continues the assault with his movie about Kovic's exploits. It must have seemed like a surefire formula. After all, how could anyone attack a genuine Marine war hero who had sacrificed so much for his country? And, whatever one thinks about him otherwise, there is no question of Kovic's sacrifice. He experienced, and still experiences, every soldier's nightmare.
There is a very good reason why heliborne air assault troops sit on their helmets enroute to the battle area. Better a bullet in the head than a bullet in the groin. As Kovic himself said poignantly in his 1976 book, "I have given my dead swinging dick for America. I have given my numb young dick for democracy. It is gone and numb, lost somewhere out there by the river where the artillery is screaming in. Oh God, oh God I want it back!"
Shot ...
Read Full Article
...th of July.
What of the overall message projected by the film? Best as can be determined it is that Ron Kovic got shot in Vietnam, becoming permanently impotent. As revenge he turned on his family, his church, his fellow veterans, and his country. Born on the Fourth of July is Kovic's story. All his life, he said in his autobiography, he'd wanted to be a winner. He didn't make it.
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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