Representation of Vietnamese Identity in "The Scent of Green Papaya" and "Battle of Dien Bien Phu"

The two films “ Battle of Dien Bien Phu” and “The Scent of Green Papaya” represent Vietnamese identities in dramatically different ways, the first being the type of film each one is. “Battle of Dien Bien Phu” is a documentary and “The Scent of Green Papaya” is a fictional narrative from a first-person perspective.

The 1979 documentary “Battle of Dien Bien Phu” recounts the months-long battle between the French and the Viet Minh, a Communist and Vietnamese regime in 1954. Documentaries normally feature one or two narrators who recount the story and this is no different, featuring one man who recounts the events leading up to and during the battle. The narrator’s perspective molds the representation of Vietnamese identities in several ways. Firstly, with the exception of interviews from two others, the narrator is the primary source of information from the spectator. He is the only one telling the story and the only one the spectator is allowed to doubt or trust. Not a single Vietnamese general or woman or citizen was interviewed to share his or her point-of-view of or experiences during the war. Lack of this personal anecdote creates an unfair representation of the Vietnamese identity. Because a Vietnamese was not featured in the film to present his or her experiences, the spectator receives a skewed interpretation solely based on what the narrator says. Moreover, when the narrator speaks of the Vietnamese, he does so in a negative light, describing them as perpetrators and lazy wrongdoers. In one scene featuring two rows of Vietnamese soldiers laboriously swinging their hammers while working, the narrator says that they worked in a manner less enthusiastic than was portrayed. The narrator also reveals that when a celebratory bottle of champagne was parachuted below from above, the Viet Minh intercepted it from the hands of its rightful owner, the French. This perspective again soils the representation of the Vietnamese identity. When addressing the Viet Minh, the narrator constantly begins each sentence with the phrase “The Viet Minh, The Viet Nimh, The Viet Nimh…” To me, this repetition created a mood that further blotched their identity because the words create a mood of annoyance as they begin to ring in the ears of the spectator. As the words ring out in your ears, you start to almost imagine the Viet Nimh’s ammunition ringing out into the sky as it did during the Battle.

Representation of Vietnamese identity is clearer in “The Scent of Green Papaya” because the story is told through Mui’s eyes and she tells the spectator the story of her masters’ lives and families and her thoughts through her actions and what she tells the spectator. The narrator of “Battle of Dien Bien Phu” does not believe that the Vietnamese work as hard as their actions say they do, but the spectator can see that the Vietnamese do work as hard as their actions say with the diligence Mui puts in to peeling the green papaya and cutting it into julienned strips. Also, when she washes the clothes and dishes for the family, one can easily see that she cares for her family and will work hard. The diligence, passion and dedication of Mui reveal major differences in work ethic of the Vietnamese from what is told about their work ethic in “Battle of Dien Bien Phu”. Work ethic is one example of how the representation of Vietnamese identity differs in these two films.

The differences of work ethic viewed in "Battle of Dien Bien Phu" and "The Scent of Green Papaya" characterize irony because one film, the documentary "Battle of Dien Bien Phu" says that the Vietnamese do not exhibit a strong work ethic, but "The Scent of Green Papaya" shows that they do with Mui's actions and how she takes care of her master and the master's family. In "The Scent of Green Papaya", Mui's character is the only dynamic one. The rest of the characters remain static because they constantly have on their minds the story of the absent father and they keep wondering when he will come home, but Mui changes not only in age, but in lifestyle as she switches masters and becomes pregnant. There is a static aspect to her character as she remains inferior in class to Khuyen's fiancee. Her status remains the same.