American Lens into Vietnam: Artistic or Voyeuristic?

A quick post to share this recent New York Times article and slide show on the risks Vietnam faces from rising sea levels…

The photos in the slideshow disturb me and strike me as voyeuristic. From the creative point of view, these are some gorgeous photos. From more of a critical cultural studies perspective, the slideshow embodies America’s mystification and romanticization of a former “enemy.” No one’s face is shown clearly. Some figures are hunched or look tense and fearful. The figures physically and emotionally recall the American War in VN, particularly slides number 1 and number 3 where male bodies are distraught, splayed apart. The women make me think of departure and disapora: the woman with an umbrella taking in a last glimpse, the woman walking away from the dog, the woman paddling with her back turned from us. And why would a journalistic photographer capture a veiled view of water? Of all the articles for which slides could have been included-- why the Vietnam article? Too beautiful to pass up? Or too easy to romanticize? Thoughts?