The war is over for me now, but it will always be there

War films aren't really my cup of tea. I've never really enjoyed them. Still, Platoon is one that I do find interesting. It is the first film about the Vietnam War that showed a realistic depiction of what the soldiers went through on a day to day basis. Lawrence W. Lichty and Raymond L. Carroll bring up how the first films that were made about the Vietnam War that came out before Platoon, such as John Wayne's The Green Berets and The Boys in Company C, tried to show the lighter side of the war rather than the hell it actually was. Although not realistic of the war and harshly reviewed by critics, The Green Berets was successful in ticket sales and "many in the audience cheered" when they first saw it. This showed that in 1968, people did want this type of war film and maybe that they were trying to get away from the actual horror of it through films and media.

The Green Berets (1968)

By 1986 this had changed. I think that the audience who grew up seeing images of the war on the news and in the papers and soldiers who were actually there wanted there to be, and for others to see a realistic depiction of the war and what they actually went through. This is where Platoon was quite successful. The film's director, Oliver Stone, served in Vietnam and the film is loosely based on his experiences, another reason it's so realistic. The scene where the platoon reaches a village, burns it down, and kills and rapes its inhabitants  is one of the rawest scenes in any film I've ever seen. It's extremely disturbing to watch. However, this film does not completely shy away from exaggerating events and making them more imaginative. For example, the image/scene that is depicted on many posters and ads, where Elias is shot multiple times is much more movie like than trying to show a reality of the war.

Poster for Platoon 

Another interesting point about Platoon is how much of the story and characters can be paralleled to David Lynch's Blue Velvet.  The main character in both films are college aged males who get themselves into a living hell. In Platoon, Chris Taylor drops out of college and volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam and ends up realizing he has made a huge mistake. Similarly, in Blue Velvet, Jeffrey Beaumont investigates a mysterious women's apartment after finding an ear in a field, also realizing it's a huge mistake when he comes into contact with the sadistic Frank Booth. Both of these characters are seemingly innocent and relatable when they are first introduced to the audience but this soon changes and the major theme of moral ambiguity is entered into both films. In Platoon, Taylor becomes frustrated and snaps at a young disabled man which leads to his bludgeoning. In Blue Velvet, Jeffrey becomes a bit similar to Frank Booth and hits Dorothy when she asks him to. These and other actions from the two characters lead the viewer to question if we're really supposed be rooting for them. 

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) in Platoon

Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) in Blue Velvet (1986)