The Vietnam War, and the broader 1960s, remains one of the most contentious periods of American history. Today, the public still lacks a cohesive narrative regarding the Vietnam War. This is in part due to the political infighting between "hawks" and "doves," but it is further complicated by narratives pushed forward by creators of popular culture. The goal of this project was to understand why the Vietnam War remains a contested topic in American history when scholars have, at least mostly, reached a consensus regarding the War and its legacy. In total, this project assesses 175 films from 1958 to 1988. Each of these films are evaluated by their depiction of the War, the narrative's ideological intention, and audience reception. Each film is then placed into its broader historical context.

Primarily, this project asserts that Hollywood's versions of the Vietnam War have ingrained themes and tropes into collective memory, creating enduring myths that continue to cloud the public's understanding of the War and broader era. But this project also asserts a secondary claim – the Vietnam War, which has long been held responsible for fracturing Cold War national identity, was actually the medium through which the failure of the Cold War mission in the U.S. could be seen. The cultural obsession with the Vietnam War, then, was not primarily to come to a definitive conclusion on the history of the War, but rather an attempt to reassert a shared belief in traditional American mythos.