While most films about the Vietnam War have extreme real-life war clips, and some with romantical twists, "Tropic Thunder" takes a less severe approach to explain the Vietnam War. The movie shows actors who are all incredibly self-absorbed and are dropped off in the middle of the jungle. After one of the cast crew is killed and shot at, these oblivious soldiers still don't realize they are actually in a firefight with an Asian terrorist group. One of the key symbols in the movie is the character Kirk Lazarus, who is played by Robert Downey Jr. Lazarus plays an actor who goes under "pigmentation alteration," which is surgery to play a black character in the film. This showed that during the Vietnam

 

War era, there was still a lot of racial tension, and in a way, the war seemed to bring races more together. "Tropic Thunder" uses humor and satire to show the extreme impact that the Vietnam War had on the culture of American society. The movie also shows how Hollywood has perpetuated myths and stereotypes about war and shows the importance of questioning Hollywood. While beloved by many people, "Braveheart," is a war movie that is inaccurate. "Tropic Thunder" is trying mimic movies like these, proving that Hollywood has produced movies with inaccurate war history.

 

Tugg Speedman, the captain of their small battalion, led the group through the jungle after the director of the movie set was blown up by a landmine. Not realizing their director had just died, the movie's cast carried on with the mission and assumed it was a prop. Then they were caught in a firefight with unknown Asian terrorists and still believed it was a part of the scene, so they continued to march on and shoot back at the enemies. It ended with Speedman throwing a grenade, causing a massive explosion. While many scenes in "Tropic Thunder" are seen as foolish and not taken seriously, this scene shows the harsh realities that Vietnam Soldiers must endure, including the bravery that one must have while in battle.

 

The director, Ben Stiller, of "Tropic Thunder" was trying to taunt the Hollywood way of making war films and how their casts are always not honestly acting as a real soldier would. Wikipedia explains that "Tropic Thunder parodies many prestigious war films (specifically those based on the Vietnam War), the modern Hollywood studio system, and method acting" (Tropic Thunder). The movie tries to portray the actors as taking the scenes almost too seriously and taunting the stupidity of some actors that they probably wouldn't see danger if it was right in front of their faces.