Step 1

What was the controversy surrounding the building of the Vietnam War Memorial?

I want everyone to do research on this from the early 1980s.

You may use the website www.greatbuildings.com as a primary resource.

but there will be plenty of others because this was a very news making event.

See the websites below for Maya Lin.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-contemporary/v/mayalin-vietnamvetmem

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/minimalism-earthworks/a/an-introduction-to-minimalism

Check online searches for a summary of this controversy.

You are not required to use any specific website, or article to succeed in this module. You may always use your own independent research in all the assignments in this module. The websites, articles; and links, in the course are all examples of research done on the topic in this module.

Step 2

Discuss by comparing and contrasting the Vietnam Memorial with the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Memorial .

Questions:

1. What does Maya Lin do to make us feel the sadness of war?

2. Which is the most effective monument?

3. What do I mean by that? What is the purpose of a war memorial?

4. Which memorial do you personally like the best?

5. Why do you think that some Vietnam Vets had a problem with the original design?

6. Research one other memorial and describe it for the class. Why is it an effective memorial?

In the Academy Award winning movie on Maya Lin’s work, she states that she began the Vietnam Memorial in a architecture class concerned with designing memorials. It was her intention to make people react emotionally to the Memorial.