IVIV (0) Vietnam (Was: Basterds)

[Tore Rye Andersen]

Doug:

> By the way, where's the Vietnam War in IV? I'll be watching closely
> on my 2nd time through, but the War seemed to manifest mainly in the
> form of marijuana smoke in IV. Remind me of what I'm forgetting or
> missed in the first place.

As John points out, Sortilége's boyfriend Spike was in Vietnam and
discusses his experience with Doc (p. 103). After returning to the 
World, Spike is paranoid about running into hippies, who'll think him
yet another baby killer and "try to work some sinister hippie mischief
against him," so he compensates by "frantically trying to assimilate
into the freak culture." Basically, Spike and his fellow veterans just
want to have an "unhassled civilian afterlife" (104) and are portrayed
sympathecially. IV is pretty forgiving in that sense; not towards the
war itself, but towards the boys who were sent to fight it.
 
The "war in Indochina" is also discussed extensively on p. 108-09, in
Doc's acid trip, where we learn that the U.S. is not fighting in Indochina
"out of free will but in fact repeating a karmic loop as old as the 
geography of those oceans" u.s.w.
 
Plus which, Lourdes' and Motella's boyfriends Cookie and Joaquin are also
"newly out of Vietnam, back in the World" (80), where they pursue their
shady deals with phony U.S. currency (which ties in with the Golden Fang).
 
And I'm sure there's more. The Vietnam War is not protrusive in IV, but  
neither is it in any way absent.
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