I know it’s (purposely) tasteless but I couldn’t put my finger on why. I mentally rolodex back thirty years to a comic book store in South Jersey and all the pieces fell into place:įor the last two weeks, with all the cultural info now at my fingertips (unlike back in ’80 when knew nothing about that war), I’ve been pondering that cover. …and in the audience, I’m the one person who said “Oh, shit!” for a reason not related to war atrocities.
In the midst of the documentary, there’s this photograph of him:
#Alfred e neuman prince charles trial
To many, he was the face of My Lai, and controversy surrounded his trial and conviction from all sides, left and right. William Calley was a key figure in the massacre, was found guilty for his actions and sentenced to life imprisonment. I’m in theater watching an advance screening of the My Lai documentary.
Neuman and a portion of the National Lampoon cover Neuman but being only eleven years old, I didn’t understand what the joke was. I regularly trolled the used comic book shops looking for old issues, and in 1980, on one of these junkets, I came across a 1971 issue of National Lampoon, the counter-culture humor magazine that was a direct descendant of Mad. Neuman was one of my heroes, a sort of spokesman for the irreverent. Like so many people in the last sixty years, my childhood was influenced by Mad magazine (and when I write “people” I mean “guys”), and Mad poster child Alfred E. But for here and now, I’m going to put aside the American Experience and tell you about My Experience (which happens to be as American as you can get). It’s great storytelling and I strongly recommend it. Tonight, PBS’s American Experience is airing My Lai, a compelling new documentary by Barak Goodman. The massacre at My Lai occurred in Viet Nam in March, 1968, and the resulting cover-up, exposure, trial and press coverage from 1969 through 1970 greatly increased the US civilian opposition our involvement in Viet Nam.
0 kommentar(er)
