The main character of the film “Platoon” is named Chris Taylor and is played by actor Charlie Sheen. Attempting to run away from his fake, sheltered life back home, Chris chose to drop out of college and join the U. S.
Army. He did not feel it was right that the poor be forced into going to war, and the wealthy are excluded. Originally, Chris felt it was a necessary war and it was his duty to fight in it. Shortly after witnessing some excruciating horrors of war, his view changes indefinitely.In my opinion, the real turning point for Chris was after witnessing the disturbing display of his friend Manny’s remains. I feel like this was the first thing in a string of events that really changed Chris as a person.
He stopped writing letters to his Grandparents, starts smoking marijuana very often, and becomes a very stern character. Chris quickly discovers a great deal of corruption in the military and is eventually faced with a serious moral conflict. Chris has to choose whether he should let the military handle an out of control sergeant, or if he should take justice into his own hands.After a very intense battle, Chris was given the opportunity to kill the sergeant and he takes it.
There were two main sergeants in this film, Sergeant Elias and Sergeant Barnes. They each represent a group of Americans that many can relate to. Some will do anything to get what they want, while others consider the thoughts and feelings of other human beings. Sgt. Elias is confidant, honest, passionate, and a natural born leader.
He looked at the Vietnamese as real people, and would never kill unless he felt like it was necessary. Although Sgt.Elias was in charge of leading troops to victory, he felt like the U. S. was going to lose the war.
Although Sgt. Barnes was a great leader, he led troops in a different direction. The sergeant was brutal to say the least. He had no remorse for his senseless killings, and was not afraid to kill one of his own. In order to get information about the Viet Kong, Sgt. Barnes would do anything he felt would benefit him.
He actually felt like he was forced to take the war into his own hands and felt no sympathy towards anyone who got in his way.This film had many influences from the 1960’s culture. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the drug use. It was quite obvious that smoking marijuana was a normal part of life in the 1960’s. I did not expect it to be very common in the military, but it was made clear that if you did not smoke, you were considered a “lame. ” Drinking beer, listening to music, and dancing were also very common in the 1960’s.
The one scene in the film where I really noticed ethnic culture influence was when the lieutenant was walking through the troops barracks.I noticed that each one of the troops had a shrine above their bed that related to there background. One had a southern accent and had a confederate flag in their shrine; another had several pictures of what looked to be Jesus. I expected race to play a major role in the troops day-to-day life, but to my surprise it was not mentioned once in this film. Instead of skin color, troops were actually focused more on how much time an individual had in, and their rank.
I find this very interesting since there was an extensive race war going on back in America, where African Americans had very limited freedom. I feel like the young people of the 1960’s disliked the Vietnam War so much because it was the first time in history a war was documented on television. For the first time, people could see the disturbing side of war. After seeing all of the negative side effects of war, its only natural to rebel. This was also a new found freedom for young people to express their feelings on a major political topic.
