“Power of Memory and Memory of Power: War and Graves in Westerns and Jidaigeki” (original) (raw)

The Vietnam Memorial: A Postmodern Reflection

Inquiry Publication Board, 2002-2003 Academic Year, 2003

Complex in its cultural significance and entanglements, the Viemam War is an event that continues to reverberate with social dissonance. The Vietnam Memorial (Maya Lin) sustains multiple, often oppositional, debates surrounding the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Memorial: A Postmodern Reflection examines the significance of the memorial with regard to American cultural hisTory. The physical experience of the memorial-the decisive yet subtle geometry, the polished black marble, the chronological listing of names, and the scarring of the ground plane-is described with particular focus on the bond between material and social" reflection" This paper utilizes the Vietnam Memorial to discuss architecture's ability to evoke, through sensuality, a state of meditation that allows an individual to contemplate his/her relationship to social history. The author states: "Ultimately, the Vietnam Memorial becomes a reflection; a reflection not only of the [literal] image of the visitor, but of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs; visitors are allowed to see themselves and see inside themselves. " Architecture's role in allowing, rather than denying, multiplicity and conflicting social ideologies is discussed.

Reflections on The Wall: Unexpected Responses to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Inter-Disciplinary Press, Trauma Theory & Practice

The veterans fighting to shape the meaning of the Vietnam War found that their efforts to commemorate America's longest war were met with all of the conflicting emotions and ideologies expressed about the war itself. Instigated by veteran Jan Scruggs, and designed by Maya Lin, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a 75-metre wall that symbolically cuts into the earth of the nation's capital. Shortly after being unveiled, the memorial's representation of trauma was contested; its minimalist design considered inadequate for conveying the horrors and emotional shock of the conflict. Subsequently, two further memorials were created in order to satisfy more conservative tastes. Yet Lin's wall remained the most cathartic for surviving veterans and the families of those who died.

Mapping the Memory and the Memorialization of the Vietnam War at the Wall

Revue française d’études américaines, 2021

Sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever. That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future… Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story." 1 Telling and representing History falls not just on historians but a multiple of actors brought together. Memorials are relevant to that representation, at a national level, provided that they may be defined as "privileged site of recollection." 2 At the National Mall in Washington D.C. for instance the Washington Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial or again the Lincoln Memorial conjure up an ideal America, and elicit pride rooted in the notion of American exceptionalism. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Memorial is another symbol that extols America's ability to overcome divisions and move forward with one's divided past, America's aptitude for progress. When it comes to war memorials, state governments drive most projects, and more often than not the codes of the nationalistic approach and purpose have to be abided. In other words, war memorials must fit a "grand narrative," a glorious history of the nation that partakes of collective memory, highlighting the interconnection between politics and memory. To that regard, the case of the Vietnam War (1964-1973) deserves attention. It was a highly divisive war, heavily politically charged, polarizing hawks and doves as never before

Shades of Memory: Reflections on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

2015

Not much attention has been paid to the effect of the Vietnam War on America’s national memory. American public are as divided over the rationale for and the conduct of the Vietnam War, as they are on the proper mode of honor and commemoration for the over fifty-thousand American soldiers who lost their lives in the war. The Vietnam War Memorial has elicited as much embrace as it has drawn flak. There is a split in the literature over the form that memorials should take. There are those who view memorial as a mourning tool and those who see it as a form of nation building. While individuals who are directly impacted by the war view memorials as a form of mourning, the state treats it as an opportunity for nationalistic glory. There is official co-option of the bodies of the fallen soldiers into national cemeteries and narratives. The immense depth of the emotion triggered by the Vietnam War has led to an alternative narrative pushed in opposition to the official narrative of collect...

Memorial Architecture as the Symbol of Remembrance and Memories

South East European Journal of Architecture and Design, 2016

The aim of this study is to assess memory and remembrance in presenting important concepts that establish construction of space, architecture and memorialization of the Holocaust. Some examples of memorials as the visual arts in the evocations of the Holocaust indicate a change in the ideological image of memory and understanding approach to European heritage after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Architecturally, the memorial spaces created a system of allusions, coding of real space and new findings are part of the implementation and presentation of the architecture of memory.

Confronting Difficult Memory through Absence : Space in Contemporary Memorial Architecture

2015

Contemporary Western society often strives to confront and cope with loss through projects that commemorate various events, both long past and recent. This is particularly true in cases of the trauma-laden remembrance of modern atrocities. Memorials are perceived as spaces that can provide necessary healing environments for the victims and their relatives, but are also planned to encourage remembrance by future generations. After the Second World War, designers faced with representing the Holocaust delivered radical approaches to spaces of memory, in many cases promoting oblivion or questioning the motives of memorializing in the first place. Contemporary memorials often address the representation of difficult memory with spaces of absence as the most tangible answer to loss and trauma. To understand this approach, this article investigates several memorial spaces responding to recent traumatic events, such as the Atocha 11M Memorial in Madrid, designs for planned memorials in Oslo ...

Beyond Memorialisation: Design for Conflict Heritage (2014)/FULL BOOK

REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7) focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going behind any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘re-appropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it). The views expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Download the book or browse it on ISSUU.

Earth as Means and Metaphor in Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial

College Art Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, 2016

Placed below grade, granite surface polished to resemble the earth cut open, forcing visitors to descend and ascend, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial connects with the earth in a way that was new to memorial architecture. For critics of the VVM the design, specifically the below ground placement of the memorial, was seen as minimizing, if not negating, the contributions of veterans. My paper moves beyond a discussion of Lin’s intentions for this design and examines the effect of the memorial’s architectural and metaphorical engagement with the earth on the viewing public in both positive and negative ways. I further consider the way that the reception of the VVM is in some ways echoed by that of the National 9/11 Memorial in New York and how that memorial’s relationship to the earth also plays a critical part in its reception.

Beyond Memorialisation. Design for Conflict Heritage

REcall is a research project founded by EC Culture 2007-13 Programme (n. 2012 - 0927 / 001 - 001 CU7 COOP7) focused on the possible roles Museography can play when dealing with Difficult Heritage such as the ones coming from conflicts and wars. REcall wishes to envision new ways to the handling of Painful Places & Stories going beyond any traditional approach: there is the need to shift from the ‘simply’ commemoration attitude to a more active involvement and participation of people in/with Places & Stories, through design strategies of ‘reappropriation’ (www.recall-project.polimi.it).