[Kim Seong-kon] Farewell to the vanishing John Wayne era

Perhaps young people would not know, but for the older generation, the celebrated Hollywood star John Wayne represented America on the screen.

Indeed, in the movies he starred in, John Wayne embodied traditional American values, such as the frontier spirit, true courage and unparalleled magnanimity. In his movies, Wayne was always like a caring, reliable big brother who was ready to help the weak in times of crisis, without expecting rewards, just like America in his time, which was called Uncle Sam.

In this way, viewers of John Wayne’s movies saw the images of America through him. Think about “Stagecoach,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “Rio Bravo,” “Rio Grande,” “El Dorado,” “True Grit,” “The Shootist” and others. In those movies, we can find a striking resemblance between John Wayne and traditional America.

As a person, too, John Wayne thought that America must defend weak countries against belligerent communist countries. Thus, in 1968, he made “The Green Berets,” which encouraged American soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War. In 1978 when the famous anti-Vietnam war movie “The Deer Hunter” was released, nine Academy Awards were given to “The Deer Hunter.” Ironically, they made the aging star John Wayne announce the winner at the ceremony.

Alas, the John Wayne era is over now, and we are witnessing the birth of a new America reluctant to intervene in global conflicts. Today’s America no longer seems to be willing to help weak countries free of charge. Instead, it says, “You should pay for our services to your country.”

Of course, we cannot blame America alone. After receiving invaluable help from America, whether military or financial, some countries have returned the favor with anti-American sentiment instead of gratitude. Those countries have unjustly blamed America for colonizing other countries under economic and cultural imperialism.

Another unexpected outrageous reward America received after helping weak countries was terrorist attacks, such as the bombing of US embassies, hijacking airplanes and executing American passengers, or the tragedy of 9/11. It is no wonder, therefore, that Americans no longer want to interfere with overseas conflicts to help other countries. The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan proves that America has changed tack.

Indeed, America has changed. The American graphic novelist Art Spiegelman who won a Pulitzer Prize said, “America has changed completely since 9/11.” Borrowing an English expression, Americans seem to utter these days, “No more Mr. Nice Guy!”

The problem is that if America seeks isolationism and thus gives up its role as international police, the world will immediately suffer from plundering pirates and aggressions from authoritarian, socialist countries. Therefore, many countries are concerned about the changing America, muttering, “Why does America want to change in these times when socialist countries are threatening the world?”

Another problem for America is that under the name of globalization, many American manufacturing businesses have moved to other countries. As a result, workers in the Rust Belt lost jobs and were frustrated. For this reason, many of them blamed the Democratic Party that pursuing “globalization” and voted for the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election.

To make matters worse, the rise of China gets on America’s nerves. In the eyes of Americans, China, which has greatly benefitted from American manufacturing companies’ off-shoring, is trying to take over the role of world leader from the US, declaring they will create a new world order through the China Dream. Naturally, it makes the American people uneasy and upset. However, “reshoring” is not easy due to the high labor costs in America.

Meanwhile, the moral superiority of the opposition party which led and pushed the “woke” and “political correctness” movements made conservatives and working-class people irritated. Thus, they supported Donald Trump who defied the two movements. They believed that Trump could “make America great again” through his “America First” policy.

As a result, American society is now sharply divided due to extreme polarity. To make matters worse, America is currently burdened with huge financial debts. Consequently, the American people now want a new country, bidding “goodbye” to the John Wayne era.

Under these circumstances, what, then, should we do? We should strengthen ties with America as our ally because of our precarious geopolitical situation. Since we have become an affluent country thanks to America’s help, we should return the favor by helping America overcome the current crisis.

There are many ways to do it. For example, we could use our advanced technologies and other resources, such as our world-class shipbuilding industry. We also should build up military strengths of our own, so we could deal with aggressions from neighboring socialist countries by ourselves.

Sadly, we are now watching the vanishing John Wayne era with strong nostalgia. Yet, times have changed, and the America we used to know no longer seems to exist. Instead, we are now witnessing the birth of a new America. If so, we should change, too.

Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. -- Ed.