This essay examines how society and culture constructs differing responses to memory and remembrance in producing documentary series that look back at the American War in Indochina. Drawing upon studies of memory, nostalgia, and remembrance, the primary focus is on the recent documentary series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, The Vietnam War. That series can be seen as a remembrance rather than an example of historical memory. The essay provides a close analysis, therefore, of The Vietnam War and compares it, in particular, to an earlier series, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. Also under discussion are documentaries contemporary with the war, In the Year of the Pig and Hearts and Minds. What ultimately can be seen is a shift from active memory and advocacy in human behavior and perspective within the contemporaneous documentaries to an institutionalized construct focusing on remembrance and nostalgia in The Vietnam War.

本文探讨了在制作回顾美国印度支那战争的纪录片系列时，社会和文化如何构建对记忆和回忆的不同反应。借鉴记忆、怀旧和纪念的研究，主要关注最近由肯伯恩斯和林恩诺维克执导的纪录片系列，越南战争。这个系列可以被看作是一种记忆，而不是历史记忆的一个例子。因此，本文对越南战争进行了仔细分析，并将其与早期的系列文章《越南：一万日战争》进行了比较。与战争同时出现的纪录片《猪年》和《心灵与思想》也在讨论中。最终可以看到的是，从同时代纪录片中对人类行为和观点的积极记忆和倡导转变为专注于越南战争中的纪念和怀旧的制度化结构。