Introduction Pang Yang Huei
Strait Rituals,
06/2019
Book Chapter
On September 3, 1954, the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China), under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong, launched a massive artillery bombardment on Nationalist-controlled (Taiwan) Quemoy ...and Matsu islands off the provincial coast of Fujian, triggering the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. Ultimately, the United States, which took a great interest in the region, resorted to nuclear threats in early spring of 1955. Altogether, it took an agonizing eight months of tensions and threats before the Chinese were willing to negotiate. Nonetheless, hostilities erupted again on August 23, 1958. The second crisis, however, stood out for its swift resolution.
The futility of the Vietnam War can be understood through the uniqueness of Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket (1987). Its reemphasis on the 'dislocation and disjuncture' of the Vietnam ...experience is an antithesis to the masculinity of Platoon or Rambo. Its value is in the film's repudiation of any 'new patriotism' or reversion to the commercially viable frontier myths. Kubrick used brutal realism and dramatic irony to show the disruptive effects of the war. The result of this decision is a film that engages the international audience in multiple fronts by revealing the disconcerted, ugly and controversial facet of the human condition in Vietnam.
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The author wishes to thank Dr Daniel Crosswell and Associate Professor Kevin Blackburn for reading and commenting on previous drafts.
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