Popular Culture Review Vol. 8, No. 2, August 1997 | Page 66
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Popular Culture Review
its extreme, becomes exploitative.^^ Scenes in the V.A. hospital
depict a callous disregard for the lives and commitment of Vietnam
veterans. Nurses explain that doctors are "too busy" to adequately
care for the patients, a response that symbolizes the attitude both
inside and outside the V.A. hospital walls. The materialistic myth
fails Kovic, for despite his commitment to being a "good soldier," he
is rewarded with life in a wheelchair. The myth loses its persuasive
ability, and is often subverted when individuals recognize that in
real-life situations, the myth gives way to greed and corruption.^^
After he returns home, Kovic and a high school friend reflect
on the number of local men who died in Vietnam and recount the
stories of their injuries to one another. Kovic rationalizes his injuries,
explaining that he "failed" in Vietnam, as if to accept blame for his
"sins" (the death of innocent people). In a moving statement which
foreshadows his transformation, Kovic tells his friend, "I would give
all my values just to be whole again."^^
The value conflict is also portrayed in opening scenes which
highlight the traditional values of family, religion and love of
country, and in later scenes where the veterans reject both these
values and the materialistic myth. Kovic struggles with the
religious beliefs which go to the very core of his being--his
Catholicism. In a heated exchange with his mother, a drunken Kovic
"rails against the very things he once believed in~God, Mother and
Country."^^ He rejects religion, blaming God for abandoning him
while he was defending his country. Faced with the harsh reality
that his sexuality has also been a casualty of the war, in a heartwrenching scene with his father, Kovic cries out, "Who's going to
love me?'^^
Faced with the internal battle between competing value
systems, Kovic begins a journey which leads him to discard the
materialistic elements of the American Dream. He visits a Mexican
resort area filled with embittered Vietnam veterans who vow never
to return to the United States. At Villa Dulce, the veterans retreat
into lives of alcohol abuse and debauchery, frequenting houses of
prostitution in search of women who can make them feel whole again.
Villa Duke is an escape from the failure of the American Dream.
Here Kovic meets Charlie, an angry paraplegic veteran,
played by Willem DaFoe. When Charlie attacks a prostitute who
rejects him because of his physical limitations, the two veterans are