Assignment on the film "Platoon."

D.C.Ellison, Instructor

The film "Platoon" won the 1986 Academy Award for "Best Film" as well as several other awards. Written and directed by Oliver Stone, himself a Vietnam Veteran, it is one of the few films respected and lauded by both critics and supporters of that war. Your assignment is to write a 500 word essay on the above film in which you incorporate a response to each of the following.

Chris Taylor is the primary character in the film with whom the audience is expected to identify and empathize. But what kind of man is Taylor? Is he a hero, or a person with an identity problem, perhaps a character defect? If Sergeant Barnes is the antagonist deserving of moral condemnation after killing Sergeant Elias, what should be our judgment on Taylor who kills Barnes? Would Taylor’s desire for retribution against Barnes exist if the latter had killed only the peasant woman during the sweep of the village? Why wasn’t Taylor equally indignant after Bunny killed the deranged peasant after finding him in hiding?

Why was there animosity between the enlisted men and the Lieutenant? Was the animosity deserved?

Note that the platoon consists of ethnically diverse men and yet there appears to be no racial prejudice among them. What accounts for this?

Why were many of the men in the platoon supportive of Barnes despite their conviction that he had murdered Elias?

If you were assigned to combat in that platoon which of the leaders would you prefer? Why?

Given the current debate on introducing women into combat positions, would the presence of women in the platoon have altered the conduct of that unit? Would women be a positive of a negative element in the platoon?