Then and now, a matter of degree: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

I caught the end of The Best Years of our Lives on Channel 13 the other night. It's one of the best coming-home-from-war movies ever made, and I think veterans of the current war would be well-served to watch this movie and compare their experiences with the experience, albeit dramatized, of the "Greatest Generation" veterans.



Before, I'd watched the movie from beginning to end twice. During this viewing, however, two particular scenes caught my attention and got me to thinking. The first scene was the soda shop scene where Fred Derry defends Homer Parrish from an anti-war "Americanist" who argues that the great personal sacrifices of World War 2, including Homer's amputated hands, were a waste, and worse, the result of a vast conspiracy. The second scene is in Fred Derry's apartment where Marie Derry, Fred's unhappy wife, leaves him after telling him off as a loser and proclaiming her own independence.

The two scenes got me thinking about how popular cultural archetypes have changed while the fundamental nature of American society has not. It seems that the anti-war radical was stubbornly vocal even during the patriotic World War 2 era. His successors have barely changed since then, except he was a disreputable fringe radical 60 years ago, but now dominates Ivy League political science departments, politics, and media punditry. The villainous archetype of the anti-war American 60 years ago, barely changed, is now viewed as a wise hero in popular and political culture.

Marie Derry is an ambitious, judgemental, materialistic and vain, proudly independent woman who leaves her husband, an honorable war hero struggling to find his way at home. Apparently, the self-centered feminist isn't a modern creation, either, except back then, she was presented as a selfish creature who betrayed her commitment to her honorable husband. Now, she's become a feminist heroine who owes nothing to anyone else and is right to do whatever is necessary to gain whatever she can get in life, regardless of the effect on her husband.

My conclusion? We wax poetic about halcyon days, but our society's fundamental nature actually hasn't changed that much since the Greatest Generation. We've just allowed our worse nature to get the upper hand. We'll never eliminate our weaknesses, nor should we, but what can we do to reassert our strengths?

Eric

Columbia University May Merge GS with CC

Interesting article in today's Columbia Spectator: University May Merge GS with CC. Passionate discussion in the comments. I'm very curious as to how this proposal will play out.

Eric

Happy Veterans Day 2007

Happy Veterans Day to all current and former American servicemen and women around the world. Read the history of Veterans Day here.

Remember November 11th is Veterans Day--Some Thoughts

by Father Dennis Edward O'Brien

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".

Remember November 11th is Veterans Day

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

11/11/98

Eric

How Asian men are portrayed in movies by Asian-American women

. . . or, What the Fuck, Sister?!

Watch enough movies by Asian-American women movie-makers, and it's easy to begin wondering, do our women hate us?

Case studies:

Joy Luck Club, starring Ming-Na, by Amy Tan, 1993.
Double Happiness, starring Sandra Oh, by Mina Shum, 1994. (Canadian film)
Red Doors, starring Jacqueline Kim, by Georgia Lee, 2005.

I'm not a movie aficionado, so the fact I can name as many as three movies by Asian-American women that alarm me as an Asian-American man is a bad sign. To this day, I can't stomach any work by Sandra Oh because of her role in Double Happiness.

As far as movie messages go, feminism that's generally critical of gender relationships is one thing. We're in modern times, and while we may sometimes be uncomfortable with feminism as men, we support our sisters. As well, when confronted with racism in our popular culture, it's a struggle for our people, but we are willing and able to handle those outside of our demographic group who demean us. We understand that carving our niche in American society is a progressive generational struggle.

However, when our sisters, as exemplified by Mses Tan, Shum, and Lee, whom we rely upon as our life partners, emasculate us, and inject their hateful image of Asian men into popular culture, we have no defense for their back-stabbing betrayal. There is nothing we can do about Asian-American women who denigrate us, and worse, idealize non-Asian men as deliberate counterpoints to their caricatured portrayals of Asian men. Because these women are the forefront of Asian-American representatives, they legitimize anti-Asian male stereotypes like no one else can.

I don't understand: why do Asian-American women hurt their brothers like this?

I spotted this revealing tidbit about Red Doors in an interview with movie lead Jacqueline Kim:

APA: Were you surprised by the intense reactions about how there were no Asian guys?

JK: You know it's something we saw that would probably come, but the three guys who were playing the boyfriends are such lovely and varied actors. I think two of them were originally supposed to be Asian American, and we lost them within 24-36 hours of shooting, both for visa issues. But, I personally think -- Georgia's experience was growing up in Connecticut, where I think they were one of three Chinese American families. I grew up in Detroit, where we were one of three Korean American families, so I mean, white boys were just... who you date.

* Emphasis mine.

"Visa issues"?! Again: What the Fuck, Sister?! Where did Georgia Lee film this movie - Antarctica? * What, she couldn't find Asian-American male actors - with American citizenship and the other necessary credentials - either as her first choices or emergency fill-ins to play the boyfriends? Kim then immediately contradicts her excuse by saying that "white boys" are the accurate characterization of her and Lee's dating background, meaning that white actors properly represent boyfriends in the Asian-American woman's experience, anyway. She strongly implies that the "visa" explanation is just a tossed-out excuse and white actors were meant to play the boyfriends all along. They don't even care. The lack of regret and easy dismissiveness from our sisters in their choice to represent their brothers negatively in American culture is dismaying.

* Red Doors was filmed in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

Eric

Military moms are not failures

This postcard "secret" is in today's postsecret batch. I take it personally because my mom took it very hard when I joined the Army.

I responded to the postcard in the postsecret community forum:

When I volunteered to enlist in the Army, my mom cried and acted as though I was volunteering to commit suicide. Whenever a son or daughter enlists, it is very tough for the parents who have always protected their child's safety and interests fiercely. We should never lose our support and sympathy for soldiers' moms and dads, even the ones who denounce their child's decision. They do so out of love for their child, and never forget, no matter how much they test our tolerance, they still are honored members of our American community.

To this day, my honorable military service is the proudest and most enriching part of my life and the most important, meaningful thing I've ever done . . . and my mom is still opposed to the idea.

I wrote this in my bio statement when I was the VP of my college veterans group: It truly is selfless service – a lot of love and pride goes into soldiering. It doesn’t matter why someone joins or where he came from, or how much he enjoys (or suffers) his duties. It doesn’t matter who’s making the tough decisions in the White House. Soldiers are part of a heritage that is older, deeper and more essential than the republic for which they sacrifice. Soldiers are of the people. They are the primal embodiment of the social contract we make with each other to be a civilization.

Pragmatically speaking, my experience as a soldier placed me on a path to become an Ivy League graduate with a job in the civilian world that, while low-paying, I'm proud of doing. Even so, I feel a strong pull to go back to the uniform because serving in the military is the most important job any person of my generation is doing right now. This war is taking place at a crossroads in our nation's and the world's history, wherein the world order on multiple levels is changing. Our children's America will not be the same as our America or our parents' America. Americans like the child of this Marine mom are determining, right now, what that America will be like for our children, and in what kind of world. Moreso, because this war is full spectrum - meaning that it mixes together economic, infrastructure, security, diplomatic/political, humanitarian, media, judicial, community, social/cultural/religious (you get the idea) interactions, as well as the military's traditional 'Cold War' combat role - and the greatest difference across that spectrum is being made on the ground "over there", it is absolutely necessary for our best and brightest men and women to be in uniform right now. The Long War is a different kind of war, but it is no less a generational undertaking than that of the Civil War or World War generation. If anything, our war is a much more complex endeavor - your child can do worse for a formative moral-physical-intellectual challenge.

But, yes, military service is sacrifice and your child is making a dangerous, even life-threatening, decision. We are facing committed deadly enemies and our people are being killed and grievously injured by them.

Marine mom, I know it hurts and you may not agree with me now or ever, but your child's decision actually points to your success as a parent to instill selflessness, community, and other superior values, and while he or she still has a long road ahead in which his or her idealism will be tempered, your child has taken a determined step on a special path shared by very few members of this generation. We need more Americans like your child, not fewer.

Nothing about volunteering for the military in this day and age is easy, and what our parents think of that decision matters a lot. If I don't go back to the uniform, the pain that re-enlisting would cause my mom would be a major reason. As a college senior, I wrote this column about my personal debate over re-enlisting (or not).

Finally, Marine mom, if it helps to comfort you, when your child is finished with the military, he or she can apply to Columbia University in New York City (my Alma Mater), which has a thriving student-veteran campus community: Dean's letter to veterans.

04NOV07 UPDATE. A woman identifying herself as the mom replied to my post and said:

Thank you for your post. You managed to touch upon many of the exact same things that I am apprehensive about. You really gave me some food for thought and another perspective. I appreciate that rather than the emails that belittle my comments. I can understand those too. Which is why this was my SECRET. I will never tell my son. I did not try to talk him out of his decision. I took him to the airport and I have written him regularly while at boot camp. Many of the things I tried to nurture in him-empathy, compassion, kindness, a healthy distrust of authority are all things that I was afraid would be stripped at boot camp. So far his letters home sound like his old self. You were able to relay many of these qualities in your own post. Obviously you are an articulate, intelligent man. It really was a comfort. While it may be hard for me to see my son at graduation, in his uniform and with a rifle, I know I admire his courage, conviction, and determination. I am proud of my son. Maybe someday I can say I am proud he is a Marine.

Eric

R-Day and Beast Barracks flashbacks

Here are a West Point grad's recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, recollection, and recollection of R-Day and Beast Barracks, and the Academy itself.

Been there, done that.

I don't remember much about my R-Day at West Point, just a few snapshot flashes, but everything in this grad's account of R-Day and Beast rings true, with some differences. I'm not a woman, I went through Beast nearly 2 decades after she did, I entered the Academy as a prior-service prepster, not a 18-year-old civilian, and I don't quite get the "6 to 8 weeks" statement. Beast is 6 weeks, then you're into Acceptance Day and Re-Orgy week, then the (fatal for me) plunge into academics. Two weeks can be an entire training period at West Point. Maybe she factored the post-Beast transition into the expanded time range?

Anyway, it's a nostalgic read. I share very little with West Point grads, but we do share R-Day and Beast Barracks.

Eric

GS invitation to military veterans

This is a step in the right direction:

Welcome

I invite you to discover the School of General Studies (GS) of Columbia University. GS is the finest liberal arts college in the country created specifically for students with nontraditional backgrounds who seek a traditional and rigorous Ivy League education. What you may not know is that GS has been educating military veterans for over 60 years.

Since World War II, the School of General Studies has served veterans who interrupted their education to serve their country. Like these military service women and men, most of the 1,200 degree students at GS have, for personal or professional reasons, interrupted their education, never attended college, or can only attend part-time. They bring a wealth of life experience to the classroom, and contribute in a unique way to the diversity and cultural richness of the University.

From a student's first semester, throughout his or her undergraduate career, and extending into the graduate's professional life, the transforming impact of a Columbia education is evident. We find that women and men from the United States armed forces have been and continue to be excellent candidates for our degree program.

Please take a moment to learn more about our unique college and the opportunities offered by the Columbia undergraduate program. We are very proud of our tradition of educating women and men from the armed services, and we hope to continue that tradition long into the future.

Peter J. Awn
Dean, School of General Studies