On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 9:19 PM, Joe Coughlin <[email protected]> wrote: > It was a bit tone deaf. I mean, there are many people in this country who > are still affected by the Vietnam war (and yes, there are a great many more > in Vietnam who are still affected, too). To have it as a prop in a game show > without any real context seems wrong to me.
Did the same veterans organizations complain about the Top Gear Vietnam Special a few years ago? Or was that series not popular enough in the US at that point? At the very least, the Top Gear episode treated the role of Americans in Vietnam with a distinct lack of respect (in their usual tongue-in-cheek manner). They started their race at the museum of US war junk left behind. They also passed the wreckage of a B52 in a lake or pond that, for all I know, was the same one seen in TAR. For what it is worth, my mom -- a die hard TAR viewer -- told me about the apology. When I asked her what she thought might have ticked off the vets, she said the pro-Communist song sung by some of the locals. And, in case you were wondering where I get my dark sense of humor from, she added that if the vets didn't like how the country was depicted, they should've won the war. As for Joe's comment about believing the B52 lacked context, years back when TAR went to Kazakhstan, I pointed out several errors in how the country was represented, going so far as to say the show relied on frankly racist stereotypes instead of offering any in-depth observations of the country. I was roundly rebuked at the time; people said I was expecting too much from what is a game show as opposed to a documentary, and that TAR treats all nations as mere backdrops without bothering to dig deeply into the culture. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
