Born on the Fourth of July versus Hillbilly Elegy: A Taiwanese Veteran on American Dis- versus Re-member-ing Veterancy

Abstract

This Taiwanese veteran reflects on American dis- versus re-member-ing veterancy, specifically, on the binary oppositions of Ron Kovic and J. D. Vance, and the Oliver Stone and Ron Howard Hollywood remakes. The shared binary representations split between the trash and the treasure. In terms of trash-vagrancy, Taiwan’s laobing (老兵old soldier[s] for veteran[s]) manifests an uncanny cross-cultural kinship with America’s PTSD-plagued and disabled veterans, tragically embodied by Vietnam War vet Kovic’s paraplegia from the chest down in Born on the Fourth of July. In terms of treasure-victory, Taiwan’s no-one contrasts starkly with America’s veteran-politician supremacy, culminating in the Iraq War vet and vice president J. D. Vance, whose Hillbilly Elegy with its “magic touch” of the Marine Corps launched his political ascent.