'Vietnam, You Don't Give Answers Do You Friend?'

When it first hit the stage in 1989, Miss Saigon was a risky production, to say the least. Over 20 years after the Vietnam war ended, America still did not seem to be settled with the outcome of the war and resented any entertainment that portrayed on it. On the surface, Miss Saigon appears to be a tragic love story during a tragic period of history. However, the songs have a much deeper meaning than the love story they project.

‘Movie In My Mind’

In this song, what the girls singing don’t realise is that they are in a similar situation to the men that they feel used by. The women dream of being taken away to America by the GI’s (“and in a strong GI’s embrace/flee this land/flee this place”) whilst the GI’s use the prostitutes to escape from the War. These women imagine their lives to be perfect if they left with any of the GI’s that they sleep with, believing in the ‘American Dream.’ But deep down, they know that would never happen. ‘Movie in my Mind’ from Miss Saigon offers us a sad but true reality that many women faced in their colonized and war-ridden world: a forced hope that deep down they knew would never come true.

 

‘Why God, Why?’

One of the most poignant songs in Miss Saigon, ‘Why God Why’ creates a parallel between the horror of the Vietnam War and the joy of finding love. In the first verse, the song contradicts the negative of “Why does Saigon never sleep at night” and the positive of Kim smelling “like orange trees.” One of the best lyrics of the song is, “Why such beauty in this place?” This lyric shows that the GI had completely given up any hope with regards to Vietnam and that, even in a world of such devastation, something as positive and powerful

as love can still survive. 

‘Bui-Doi’

The term Bui-Doi literally translates to ‘the dust of life’ and applies to all the children left fatherless by the Vietnam war.  These children and their mothers became the outcasts of society and many of these families had to fight off diseases and often the children died prematurely. One of the most touching songs in Miss Saigon is Bui-Doi, a song that draws attention to the plights of these children and that they were “the living reminder of all the good we failed to do.”

The conflict of the Vietnam war led to a destruction of lifestyle and culture as well as leading to personal tragedy. War also reveals human nature in all its variations which is clearly shown in Miss Saigon. From the idealistic and the innocent (the prostitutes who dream of a better life and the children who were left behind) to those who had to do anything within their power to survive. Miss Saigon also shows us that accepting responsibility in the time of the Vietnam War was important to all those American GI’s who left children behind.

 
Sophie Worrall