VLVL 24fps and "the Movement"

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
> Terrance:
> > Ortho Bob is obsessed with revenge. He is satirized.
> 
> I don't think that Ortho Bob's characterisation is a satire of Vietnam
> grunts so much as it as a satire of Thanatoids. 

A lot of Vietnam Vets in Thanatoid Village and their number goes up as
the war comes to a close. Of course I was joking about RC being an
animal doctor, he's too bad and mean for that ... must have been in The
NAM.  Pynchon's satire cuts deep. You don't see him writing books about
platoons and shit. 


While I agree that Ortho Bob
> and Vato & Blood are satirised, I'm not sure from the novel what Pynchon's
> actual stance on soldiers who served in Vietnam is or was. 

There ain't no Korean Vets in his books. 

I think he stops
> short of satirising the vets just because they are vets, whereas characters
> like Sasha and the Pisks are satirised precisely in respect of what they are
> -- or what they have pretended to be -- within a political frame. 

Or how they pretend to be some hero or heroine from a war movie or some
shit. 


That, in
> satirising Vato & Blood, he makes them traitors and profiteers in Vietnam,
> but cartoon-likable ethnic stereotypes as well, is an example of how "good"
> and "bad" aren't ever straightforward categories in Pynchon's texts. 

Vato & Blood continue to tow away cars and sell them to born again
chop-shopers and shit, but they help Weed, Vietnamese Bitch, Ortho Bob,
everyone when they take Brock down for a ride. These guys ain't no
angels but there's a moral in the madness. 



I think
> the same sort of thing is at work with Zoyd, Hector, Ralph, DL, Takeshi, the
> Pisks -- most all of the characters in fact.

Sure. We should talk a little bit about the mafia seeing as they were
involved in Hub's Union and SDS.